Sources: Maurice MacDonald, 785-532-1472, morey@k-state.edu;
and Virginia Moxley, 785-532-5500, moxley@k-state.edu
Photo available. Contact media@k-state.edu or 785-532-6415.
News release prepared by: Katie Mayes, 785-532-6415, kmayes@k-state.edu

Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2009

MAURICE MACDONALD NAMED DIRECTOR OF K-STATE'S SCHOOL OF FAMILY STUDIES AND HUMAN SERVICES AND ELIZABETH CHAPIN BURKE CHAIR IN HUMAN ECOLOGY

MANHATTAN -- Maurice MacDonald, an expert in the economics of family, has been named director of Kansas State University's School of Family Studies and Human Services and Elizabeth Chapin Burke Chair in Human Ecology.

Prior to coming to K-State, MacDonald was a professor in the department of human development and family studies at Iowa State University, where he served as department chair for 12 years.

"Dr. MacDonald brings rich administrative and scholarly experience to his leadership work at K-State," said Virginia Moxley, dean of the College of Human Ecology. "His scholarly record in the arena of personal and family finance will be an asset to the new doctoral program in personal financial planning and to our rapidly growing programs in gerontology. His extensive administrative experience also positions him well to lead this academically diverse school, which includes several nationally prominent programs and one of the largest graduate programs at the university."

In addition to Iowa State, MacDonald has taught and conducted research with the Universiti Putra in Malaysia, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of California, Berkeley. He also was affiliated with Iowa State's Institute for Social and Behavioral Research and gerontology program.

MacDonald's scholarship in family economics spans from measures of personal and family economic well-being and income adequacy to intergenerational wealth transfer to the economic status of children, college students and the oldest old. His work has informed public policies to reduce the impact of poverty and hunger on families. He has received research grants from the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Institute on Aging. In addition, he has won numerous awards for teaching, administration and research, as well as published more than 70 book chapters, articles and technical reports over his 35-year career. In 1977, he published the book "Food Stamps and Income Maintenance," which established him as a national expert on the economics of welfare and food assistance.

MacDonald has a doctorate and master's degree, both in economics, from the University of Michigan, and a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

MacDonald replaces Bill Meredith, who is on phased retirement.