YSU names DePizzo Endowed Chair in Gerontology

Daniel Van Dussen, professor of Gerontology at Youngstown State University and an active advocate and leader for the region’s aging population, has been named the first YSU DePizzo Endowed Chair in Gerontology.

The faculty position was created through a $1.65 million donation to YSU by John “Jack” and Nuggie DePizzo, who owned and operated more than 30 senior care facilities across the Youngstown region and who now continue to develop and operate in Southwest Florida.

“It is an honor to be selected for this prestigious appointment and to continue our work to improve our community’s understanding of the interdisciplinary field of gerontology and the aging process. This includes all aspects of aging from the genetic to international perspectives,” Van Dussen said. “These funds will help expand our research program in Gerontology and the research profile of Youngstown State University."

The endowed position was bestowed in a campus ceremony today by Jeffery Allen, dean of the YSU Bitonte College of Health and Human Services, and Tracy D’Andrea, DePizzo’s daughter.

YSU now has 13 endowed faculty positions. The positions, which combine a traditional faculty post with enhancements funded from the interest on the principal of the gift to the university, are a major part of the historic $120 million “We See Tomorrow” fund-raising campaign at YSU.

“This endowed chair further elevates the academic reputation of our Department of Health Professions, the Bitonte College of Health and Human Services and Youngstown State University,” Allen said. “Most importantly it gives students the opportunity to work side-by-side with top researchers.”

Mr. DePizzo graduated from Ursuline High School in Youngstown before entering YSU, where he was a founding member of Sigma Pi social fraternity and a member of Alpha Tau Gamma honorary accounting fraternity. He graduated from YSU in 1971 with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration.

His business career in the long-term care industry began when he was a student at YSU and worked as a full-time Medicare auditor at Blue Cross of Eastern Ohio in Youngstown, where he audited hospitals, nursing homes and home health agencies in eight Ohio counties. From there he took a position with a small chain of nursing homes, where he organized and ran its central office. In addition, he designed a comprehensive software system that automated all bookkeeping and accounting transactions for single or multi-nursing home groups.

Van Dussen holds a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the University of Mount Union, a master’s in Sociology from the University of Akron and a PhD in Gerontology from the University of Maryland Baltimore County. He joined the YSU faculty in 2006 and founded the Gerontology major and master’s in Gerontology programs. He is the author of several scholarly articles on topics ranging from attitudes about end-of-life care to patients’ willingness to use pain medication.

He is president of the board of trustees of Direction Home, Eastern Ohio, is on the board of the Alzheimer’s Association of Greater East Ohio, and is past president of the Ohio Association of Gerontology and Education.

In 2013, Van Dussen led the effort to create YSU’s new master’s degree program in Gerontology. The degree was in response to the growing number of older Americans, many concentrated in the Ohio/Pennsylvania region. Nationally, about 13 percent of the U.S. population is 65 or older – about one in every eight Americans. Both Ohio and Pennsylvania are among the top 10 states in population of older adults.