Military spouse sets lofty goals

UofL graduate student Lori Mellor has set lofty goals for herself—earn a master’s degree in social work, help establish an outreach program for older veterans at Kent School and finish both in one year. May 13, 2015

She’ll realize those ambitions through a scholarship covering her full tuition and giving her a graduate assistant position with a $1,200 monthly stipend.

The scholarship, created three years ago by UofL’s Office of Military Initiatives and Partnerships and School for Interdisciplinary and Graduate Studies, helps one military spouse a year earn an advanced degree.

 “It’s an amazing opportunity to create a program for older adult veterans, she said.

Mellor and her husband, an attorney for U.S. Army Recruiting Command, moved to Fort Knox in 2013. Since then, she has earned a UofL bachelor’s degree in social work, discovering a passion along the way for working with senior citizens.

This summer, she will begin work on a master’s degree with a double specialization in gerontology and military social work. For her practicum, she will help Kent School professor Anna Faul, director of UofL’s Institute for Sustainable Health and Optimal Aging, create a memory care initiative for older adult veterans.

For her assistantship, she will work with the Kent School's Pamela Yankeelov.

Mellor plans to continue working with older veterans even after the Army reassigns her to another location a year from now.

“Hopefully, this will be a springboard for a career in gerontology,” she said.