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Memoir
Dorothy H. Coons
Regent's Proceedings
Regent's Proceedings
Dorothy H. Coons, Associate Professor of Education, and Program Director, Institute of Gerontology, has retired from active faculty status as of December 31, 1982.
Born in Lewisburg, Ohio, she received her B.S. in Education from Wittenberg College in 1936.
Her employment at the University began in 1940 as a Statistical Clerk. During the period of World War II, she was an interviewer in the Veterans Service Bureau and, in 1948, joined the Division of Gerontology as an Assistant in Research. Mrs. Coons pioneered in research which focused on the adjustment of older people in institutional settings, and she is internationally known for the concepts of milieu therapy developed as a result of her studies in nursing and old age homes, county medical facilities, and state institutions. Through her consistently superior teaching in the School of Education, the hundreds of in-service workshops she has conducted on this campus and at locations throughout the United States and in other countries, her publications, and the innovative multimedia training materials she has been instrumental in developing, her contributions will unquestionably have a lasting impact on the quality of care and the opportunities for productive living within institutional walls.
In 1961, she became Director of Programs for the Institute and, in 1975, was appointed Director of Continuing Education. She expanded the Continuing Education program to include many of the schools and departments within the University and, for the first time, involved the humanities and the arts. She was appointed a lecturer in the School of Education in 1970 and became associate professor in 1980.
Professor Coons continues to be active professionally and currently is principal investigator for a research project related to Alzheimer's disease. In recognition for past achievements and continuing interest in the field of Education and Gerontology, the Regents of The University of Michigan now salute her for her dedicated service by naming her Associate Professor Emeritus of Education.