Dr. Stephen Golant
Professor Emeritus
(352) 294-7505
Focus Areas
Areas of Specialization
- Gerontology
- Quality of life of older people
- Housing, neighborhood, and community needs of the U.S. older population
- Strengths and weaknesses of alternative shelter and care settings
- Transportation problems and behaviors of older persons
Educational Background
- PhD, University of Washington, 1972
- M.A., University of Toronto, 1969
- B.A., University of Toronto, 1968
Recent Courses
GEO 2410 Social Geography of the City (Fall, 2016)
GEO 3611 Housing, People, and Places in a Spatially Diverse Society (Fall, 2016)
GEO 4612 & GEY 6341 Shelter and Care Options for U.S. Elderly (Spring, 2017)
In My Own Words
STEPHEN M. GOLANT, Ph.D., a gerontologist and geographer, is now a Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Florida (1980 – present). Previously, he was a faculty member in the Committee on Human Development (Department of Behavioral Sciences) and in the Department of Geography at the University of Chicago (1972 – 1980). He received his Ph.D. in social geography and social gerontology from the University of Washington and his B.A. and M.A. degrees in geography from the University of Toronto.
Dr. Golant has been conducting research on the housing, mobility, transportation, and long-term care needs of older adult populations for most of his academic career. He is a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America and a Fulbright Senior Scholar award recipient. In 2012 he received the Richard M. Kalish award from the Gerontological Society of America in recognition of his insightful and innovative publications on aging and life development in the behavioral and social sciences. This was for his article: “The Quest for Residential Normalcy by Older Adults: Relocation but one Pathway ” published in Journal of Aging Studies, Vol. 25, No. 3, 2011, pp. 193-205. The print and internet media have often featured his research and ideas and he has appeared on numerous television and radio programs, including ABC’s national news program
20/20.
He has written or edited about 140 papers and books, including: The Residential Location and Spatial Behavior of the Elderly (Department of Geography, University of Chicago Monograph Series, 1972); Location and Environment of Elderly Population (Wiley, 1979); A Place to Grow: The Meaning of Environment in Old Age (Columbia University Press, 1984); Housing America’s Elderly: Many Possibilities, Few Choices (Sage Publications, 1992); The Columbia Retirement Handbook (Columbia University Press, 1994); Encyclopedia of Financial Gerontology (Greenwood Press, 1996); The CASERA Report (Creating Affordable and Supportive Elder Renter Alternatives (Margaret Lynn Duggar & Associates, Inc., 1999); and The Assisted Living Residence: A Vision for the Future (The John Hopkins University Press, 2008). His latest book is Aging in the Right Place (Health Professions Press, 2015).
Dr. Golant serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Aging Studies, Research on Aging, Journal of Housing for the Elderly, Seniors Housing & Care Journal, and The Gerontologist. He was formerly Secretary-Treasurer of the Behavioral and Social Sciences Section of the Gerontological Society of America, and Editor-in-Chief of the magazine, Responses to an Aging Florida, published by the Florida Council on Aging.
He is frequently called on by corporations, universities, state government agencies, and national organizations as a lecturer or an adviser and he earlier served as a consultant to the Congressionally appointed Commission on Affordable Housing and Health Facility Needs for Seniors in the 21st Century (Seniors Commission). The Seniors Commission was a bipartisan 14- member panel created by an act of Congress to study the housing and health care needs for the next generation of elderly Americans and to offer specific policy and legislative recommendations to the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.
Websites of Interest
Media coverage of my book, Aging in the Right Place (Health Professions Press, 2015)
For publisher’s web site, and the initial reviews of the book, see:
http://www.healthpropress.com/product/aging-in-the-right-place/
For Washington Post story:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/local/wp/2015/03/05/aging-in-place-concept-has-
been-oversold-professor-argues/?wpisrc=nl_headlines&wpmm=1
For Forbes story:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/nextavenue/2015/03/23/do-you-really-want-to-age-in-place/
Three other stories of interest:
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news/where-do-you-plan-to-get-old-030615.html
http://wealthmanagement.com/retirement-planning/aging-place
http://agedcarereviews.com.au/info-centre/aging-at-home-might-be-a-bad-idea/49
Recent Publications
Research Papers
Golant, S. M. “Housing,” In Pittock, Edwin J. (Ed.), Working with Seniors: Health, Financial, and Social Issues. Denver: Society of Certified Senior Advisors, 2005, 201-236.
Golant, S. M. “Subjective Health and the Dangers of Absent Individual Effects and Crude Contextual Proxies of Causal Mechanisms,” Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, Vol. 60b, No. 4, 2005, pp. S191-S192.
Golant, S. M. “Specialized Housing/House with Supportive Services,” Encyclopedia of Aging, Fourth Edition, New York: Springer Publication Co., 2006.
Golant, S. M. “Supportive Housing for Frail, Low-Income Older Adults: Identifying Need and
Allocating Resources, Generations, Vol. 24, No. 4, pp. 37-43, 2006.
Golant, S. M. “Housing and Long-Term Care Needs of Florida’s Older Women: Acknowledging the Gender Gap.” Life Issues of Florida Women Mid-Life and Beyond. Florida Commission on the Status of Women, Tallahassee, FL, 2007.
Golant, S. M. “Low Income Elderly Homeowners in Very Old Dwellings: The Need for Public
Policy Debate,” Journal of Aging and Social Policy, Vol. 20, No. 1, 2008, pp. 1-28.
Golant, S. M. “Affordable Clustered Housing-Care: A Category of Long-Term Care Options for the
Elderly Poor,” Journal of Housing for the Elderly, Vol. 22, No. 1/2, 2008, pp. 3-44.
Golant, S. M. “The Future of Assisted Living Residences: A Response to Uncertainty,” In Stephen
M. Golant and Joan Hyde (Eds.), The Assisted Living Residence: A Vision for the Future. Baltimore, MD: The John Hopkins University Press, 2008, pp. 3-45.
Golant, S. M. “Irrational Exuberance for the Aging in Place of Vulnerable Low-Income Older
Homeowners: A Commentary.” Journal of Aging and Social Policy, Vol. 20, No. 4, 2008, pp. 379-
397.
Golant, S. M. “The Gender Inequalities of Eldercare.” Aging Today, Vol. 30, No. 2, March-April,
2009, p. 3.
Golant, S. M. “Aging in Place Solutions for Older Americans: Groupthink Responses Not Always in Their Best Interests.” Public Policy & Aging Report, Vol. 19, No 1, 2009.
Golant, S. M. “Aging in the American Suburbs, Aging Well, July/August, Web Exclusive, 2009.
Golant, S. M. with Pamela Parsons and Peter A. Boling). “Assessing the Quality of Care Found in
Affordable Clustered Housing-Care Arrangements: Key to Informing Public Policy.” Cityscape,
Vol. 12, No. 2, 2010, pp. 5-28.
Golant, S. M. “The changing residential environments of older people,” in Handbook of Aging and the Social Sciences (7th edition). Edited by Robert H. Binstock and Linda George. New York: Academic Press, 2011, pp. 207-220.
Golant, S. M. “The quest for residential normalcy by older adults: Relocation but one pathway.” Journal of Aging Studies, Vol. 25, No. 3, 2011, pp. 193-205. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0890406511000259
Golant, S. M. “Out of their Residential Comfort and Mastery Zones: Toward a More Relevant
Environmental Gerontology,” Journal of Housing for the Elderly, Vol. 26, No. 1/2. 2012, pp. 26-43.
Golant, S. M. “Continuing care retirement communities,” in The Encyclopedia of Housing. Edited by Andrew T. Carswell. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publishing, 2012, pp. 87-101.
Golant, S. M. “Out of their Residential Comfort and Mastery Zones: Toward a More Relevant Environmental Gerontology.” In Rick Scheidt and Benyamin Schwarz (eds.), REPRINTED IN Environmental Gerontology: What Now? Philadelphia: Routledge/Taylor & Francis. 2012, pp. 26-43.
Golant, S. M. Age-Friendly Communities: Are We Expecting Too Much? IRPP Insight 5 (February
2014), pp. 1-19. Montreal: Institute for Research on Public Policy.
Golant, S. M. “Residential normalcy and the enriched coping repertoires of successfully aging older adults,” The Gerontologist, 55(1), 2015, 70-82.
Golant, S. M. (with Joan Hyde). “Assisted living,” Chapter 10 in Long-Term Care in an Aging Society. Edited by Graham D. Rowles and Pamela Teaster. New York, Springer Publishing, in press, 2015.
Golant, S. M. “Residential normalcy and the aging in place behaviors of older Americans, Progress in Geography (Chinese Academy of Sciences journal). To be published in both Chinese and English. Forthcoming, 2015.
Books
The Residential Location and Spatial Behavior of the Elderly. The University of Chicago, Department of Geography Monograph Series. Chicago: 1972. 226 pages.
Location and Environment of Elderly Population. Washington, D.C.: V. H. Winston and Sons (distributed by John Wiley and Sons), 1979. 214 pages.
A Place to Grow Old: The Meaning of Environment in Old Age. New York: Columbia University Press, 1984. 425 pages, hardcover and paperback.
Housing America’s Elderly: Many Possibilities, Few Choices. Sage Publications, 1992. 354 pages, hardcover and paperback.
Creating Affordable and Supportive Elder Rental Accommodations (The CASERA Project). Tallahassee, FL: Stephen M. Golant and Margaret Lynn Duggar & Associates, Inc., 1999. 44 pages.
Assisted Living: A Potential Solution to Canada’s Long-Term Care Crisis. Vancouver, BC: Simon Fraser University, Gerontology Research Centre, 2001, 85 pages.
(with Joan Hyde). The Assisted Living Residence: A Vision for the Future. Baltimore, MD: The
John Hopkins University Press, 2008, 464 pages. Foreword plus fifteen chapters.
Aging in the Right Place. Baltimore, London, Sydney: Health Professions Press. February 2015 (415 pages)