Professor of social welfare and public policy Fernando Torres-Gil has been named the recipient of the 2013 Legacy of Leadership Award from the White House Fellows Foundation & Association.
Torres-Gil, a former chair of the social welfare department and director of the Center for Policy Research on Aging, served as a White House Fellow in 1978-79. Fellows work as full-time, paid special assistants to senior staff in the White House, the Office of the Vice President, and federal departments.
The child of Mexican immigrants in rural California, Torres-Gil has focused his academic career on those who are less fortunate. He is the author of six books and more than 100 articles on gerontology, the disabled and immigrant populations. In addition to his academic credentials, he has served various roles in government, including as assistant secretary for aging in President Clinton's department of health and human services. President Obama named him Vice Chair of the National Council on Disability in 2010.
Torres-Gil will accept the award at the Fellows' Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C., on October 25.
You can read the entire announcement on the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs website.
