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Innov Aging
Innov Aging
innovateage
Innovation in Aging
2399-5300 Oxford University Press US 

10.1093/geroni/igaa057.1797
igaa057.1797
Abstracts
Session 5080 (Symposium)
AcademicSubjects/SOC02600
Evaluating Professional Networks in a Gerontological Pre-Dissertation Initiative Using Social Network Analysis
Murphy Erin 1 Mauldin Rebecca 2 Greenfield Jennifer 3 Kusmaul Nancy 4 Fields Noelle 5 Wladkowski Stephanie 6 Gibson Allison 7 1 
UT Arlington, School of Social Work, Arlington, Texas, United States
2 
University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas, United States
3 
University of Denver, Denver, Colorado, United States
4 
UMBC, Baltimore, Maryland, United States
5 
The University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas, United States
6 
Eastern MIchigan University, Ypsilanti, Michigan, United States
7 
University of Kentucky, College of Social Work, Lexington, Kentucky, United States
2020 
16 12 2020 
16 12 2020 
4 Suppl 1 Program Abstracts from The GSA 2020 Annual Scientific Meeting “Turning 75: Why Age Matters”549 550
© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America.2020This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Abstract
Professional networks are critical for PhD students and early career faculty, yet there is scant research on the development of their professional networks. Social network analysis is a useful approach to describe the development of professional networks. This methodological paper explains its use and benefits, using a social network analysis of alumni from the first three cohorts of the Association of Gerontological Education in Social Work (AGESW)’s Pre-Dissertation Fellowship Program (PDFP) as an example. We present results, challenges, and recommendations. Alumni (n = 12) reported meeting an average of 20 scholars (SD = 13.2) through AGESW. These professional relationships led to collaborations on conference presentations and manuscripts as well as opportunities to leverage the relationships for future professional needs. Suggested applications of social network analysis for program evaluation, such as co-author and citation networks, are also presented with a focus on training programs designed to support robust professional network development.