She focuses on creating supportive environments for older adults, particularly those living with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia.
CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, OH, February 01, 2024 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Maggie Calkins has been included in Marquis Who's Who. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
With more than three decades of excellence as a leader in the field of environments for aging individuals and those living with dementia, Dr. Margaret P. Calkins has earned distinction as the president and board chair for the IDEAS Institute. Having been the president of IDEAS: Innovative Designs in Environments for an Aging Society since 1991 she has focused her efforts on serving as an environmental behavior researcher with a spotlight on creating supportive environments for older adults, particularly those living with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia. She is presently a co-principal investigator on three grants and is a member of the Facility Guidelines Institute's Health Guidelines Revision Committee. Added to these, she serves as the secretary for the Center for Innovation which oversees the Green House Project and raises golden retrievers that are certified as therapy dogs.
Prior to her current position, Dr. Calkins began her career as a design specialist with Heather Hill in 1987. During her tenure there, she also was a member of the Environmental Design Research Association from 1985 until 2010. She was a founding member of SAGE: Society for the Advancement of Gerontological Environments, which formed in 1993, and over time served in all officer positions. She lent her expertise as a lecturer for the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in 2011-2013 and for Kent State University in 2013-2015. She subsequently worked as a program director for the master's degree in healthcare design for the Kent State University College of Architecture and Environmental Design in 2014, taking a role as the executive director for The Mayer-Rothschild Foundation in 2016.
Among her professional accomplishments, Dr. Calkins received a Gold Recipient Award from the Alumni Association University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a Volunteer of the Year Award from the Cleveland chapter of the Alzheimer Association in 2004. She is a certified aging-in-place specialist with the National Association of Home Builders and was honored with a Platinum Touchstone Award in 2021 from the Center for Health Design for work on the design and configuration of grab-bars, work that is being incorporated into regulations and guidelines. Additionally, she was named Researcher of the Year for the Ohio Association of Gerontological Education and was admitted as a fellow to the Gerontological Society of America. She is also proud to have authored and published the very first book on designing for people with dementia in 1988, and has since authored or co-authored six additional books, 24 book chapters and over 80 articles, monographs or other invited publications.
To prepare for her professional journey, Dr. Calkins earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from Kenyon College in 1981 and a master's degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1986. Following these achievements, she attained a Doctor of Philosophy in architecture from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Architecture and Urban Planning in 1996. Eminently qualified in her field, she was awarded a Changemaker of the Year Award from The Center for Health Design in 2022.
Dr. Calkins has been working diligently on developing an environmental assessment tool for long-term care settings, recognizing the need for a consistent and valid tool that can be used by researchers across multiple settings and studies. This will help increase the rigor of environmental research being done while reducing the cost and difficulty associated with it, with a version of the tool available for care communities and architects to use when planning renovations or new construction projects. She intends to secure a five-year grant from the National Institute on Aging for further development and testing of this tool.
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