Karen Hooker College of Health and Human Sciences
Liz Levaro Student | College of Health and Human Sciences
An unconventional pursuit
Liz Levaro is not a typical student.
While working in Berlin for 15 years before the Wall fell, Levaro earned a bachelor’s degree and then a master’s through overseas branch campus programs. After returning to the U.S., she had a private practice in counseling, then spent another 20 years in magazine and book publishing before deciding to embark on a new career “that would engage me, where I could make a contribution,” she says.
Like many Baby Boomers seeking a career change, Levaro went back to school, this time pursuing a Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Sciences (HDFS). In Karen Hooker’s graduate course on social gerontology, she found both her focus and a mentor.
Again, Levaro took an unconventional approach. While there is abundant research in gerontology related to issues of decline in late life, she wanted to study new romantic relationships among older adults. “People still long for that intimate connection later in life,” Levaro says.
Hooker has been an enthusiastic supporter of Levaro’s research. “There’s not a lot of research in that area, and there’s going to be growing public interest — let’s learn more about it,” she says.
For Levaro, Hooker’s support from the beginning of her program has not just been an encouragement, but an example as well.
“It may sound odd to talk about ‘potential’ in a 59-year-old graduate student, but Karen recognized something in me and encouraged it to unfold,” Levaro says. “I will approach teaching and working with students with more compassion, tolerance and insight because of her willingness to look beyond what I lacked to see what I could become.”
