CliftonBarber

Career

After completing PhD in Human Development & Family Studies from the Pennsylvania State University in 1978, I held faculty and administrative positions at Colorado State University (1978–2004), Washington State University (2005–2009), and the University of Wisconsin-Madison (2009-2015). My research, teaching, and Extension work was nationally recognized through the awarding of “fellow” status in the Gerontological Society of America, a 2005 distinguished teaching award from the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education, and a 2013 Lifetime Extension Career Achievement Award from the Division of Family and Consumer Sciences, National Institute for Food and Agriculture. I am currently a Professor Emeritus in the School of Human Ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Faculty website: https://humanecology.wisc.edu/staff/barber-clifton-e/

Research

My research centered on aging in the context of intergenerational family relationships; with a particular focus on family caregiving. Published work in this area includes studies of coping styles and strategies employed by adult children caring in caring for aged parents, predictors of subjective and objective burden in caring for loved ones afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease, comparisons of older husbands and wives caring for dependent spouses in in-home versus institutional settings, and the role of gender and generational relationship on caregiver outcomes. During my last few years on the faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, my research was centered on the impact of acculturation and marginalization on the well-being of Mexican American caregivers, and the role of religiosity in Hispanic families caring for elderly parents.