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CORVALLIS - Joe Hendricks has spent a career examining the socio-psychological factors influencing the way people age and relaying that information to a graying society.

Now the Oregon State University professor has been recognized by his peers for his contributions in the field. He recently received the Clark Tibbitts Award from The Association for Gerontology in Higher Education at the group's annual meeting. The award is given to individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of gerontology as a field of study in institutions of higher education.

Hendricks, dean of OSU's University Honors College and a trained sociologist, authored a ground-breaking, four-year study in the early 1990s that focused on medicine consumption and alcohol use by the elderly. The National Institutes of Health funded the study, which involved researchers from four universities. At the time, it was the largest grant in support of scientific research ever received by OSU's College of Liberal Arts. The findings received national attention, including a story in the New York Times.

In addition, Hendricks has conducted investigations into retirement satisfaction, using older volunteers to provide training, and other social factors that can influence the aging process.

"In the past 20 years, there has been a greater recognition that social factors can influence the biological process of aging," Hendricks said. "Aging is not a passive process. We can be active participants in how we age."

Hendricks has devoted much of his professional life toward relaying this message to society. As the Baby Boom generation ages, he is finding a larger, more receptive audience.

"The medical community doesn't operate autonomously when unraveling the mysteries of aging," Hendricks said. "There are social and behavioral factors that play a key role. As our society grows older, they are hungry for new ways to understand the problems associated with aging. They want to know how they can live their daily lives to age well."

As a member of five scholarly journal editorial boards, past chair of the largest gerontology organizations in the country, and publisher of a number of books and countless journal articles, Hendricks has been privy to the latest science in the discipline. He said there are certain environmental factors of which people need to be aware.

"Living life at a leisurely pace and eliminating stress can be a big factor in how you age," Hendricks said. "In contrast, rapid change and feeling like you are on the outside of society looking in can be detrimental to the process."

While he continues to study the sociological factors that influence aging, Hendricks said he's humbled by the announcement that he's the recipient of the Clark Tibbitts Award.

"The names of past award winners represent the founders of gerontological education," he said. "They produced the research and books that I studied as a student. It's certainly the pinnacle of my career."