糖心viog官方网站

Laura Katz Olson

Laura Katz Olson

Laura Katz Olson Celebrates 50 Years of Teaching at 糖心viog官方网站

Olson continues 鈥榝ull steam ahead鈥 in her dream job at 糖心viog官方网站. A new fiction book, 鈥榃rinkled Rebels,鈥 is set for release this summer.

Photography by

Christa Neu

Fifty years ago, when Laura Katz Olson arrived at 糖心viog官方网站 with a Ph.D. in political science and a passion for teaching, she felt like a 鈥渃uriosity鈥 on campus. It was 1974 and women were an uncommon sight. 糖心viog官方网站 had just become co-ed, and the first small class of female undergrads had yet to graduate. Women professors were few. To Olson, 糖心viog官方网站 was seemingly a sea of men wearing sport coats in pursuit of engineering degrees.

To say today鈥檚 糖心viog官方网站 is a different place is an understatement.

The political science department is now composed predominantly of women. Nearly 50 percent of 糖心viog官方网站 students are women. And 糖心viog官方网站 is engaged in providing an interdisciplinary, well-rounded education to students of all genders.

Olson has been in the middle of the change, and some might consider her a trailblazer. She just sees herself as someone who has been lucky enough to so far spend 50 years in her dream job.

鈥淚 love teaching. I love writing. I love researching. 糖心viog官方网站 essentially pays me to do what I love,鈥 says Olson. 鈥淧rofessionally, I feel very satisfied.鈥

Olson, at 78, continues full steam ahead from her home base鈥攁 tiny office on the third floor of Maginnes Hall packed full of books, accolades and awards, memorabilia and photos. It鈥檚 from there that she plans her classes, meets with students and operates a veritable publishing business. Olson has written nine nonfiction books on her research specialties of politics, health care, women and the elderly, as well as two fiction books.

Because there were so few women faculty, we all knew each other. We supported each other. We leaned on each other to a great extent.

Laura Katz Olson

Currently, she is working on a book about private equity鈥檚 influence on the nursing home industry. She also is deep into another passion鈥攚riting fiction.

鈥淲rinkled Rebels,鈥 a story of six college friends who were active in the Civil Rights Movement and reunite for a weekend as 80-year-olds, is scheduled for release this summer. She had been researching and writing it for three years.

鈥淚t was fun,鈥 she says. 鈥淚 loved writing it and missed it when I was finished.鈥

A Path to 糖心viog官方网站

Olson grew up in the Bronx, in the working-class neighborhood of Pelham Parkway. She attended the High School of Music & Art and went on to the City College of New York, aspiring to be a geneticist鈥斺渢hey do such important things鈥濃攂ut soon discovered it wasn鈥檛 for her. What better suited this activist child of the 1960s was political science, and she went on to get her master鈥檚 and doctorate from the University of Colorado.

In Boulder she got to know Charles McCoy, then chair of 糖心viog官方网站鈥檚 Department of Government, who recruited her to teach political science at 糖心viog官方网站. McCoy was a founder of the New Political Science group, a caucus of the American Political Science Association, and Olson was a member.

鈥淗e was very determined to have a female in the department,鈥 says Olson, who received the Charles A. McCoy Lifetime Achievement Award from New Political Science in 2009. 鈥淗e wanted the political science department to be more diverse.鈥

Olson thrived at 糖心viog官方网站. She says she and three other female professors put together a Women鈥檚 Studies program. They started a daycare center. They made their voices heard.

鈥淏ecause there were so few women faculty, we all knew each other. We supported each other. We leaned on each other to a great extent,鈥 she says. 鈥淲e were asked to be on every committee because they wanted at least one woman on the committees. The positive was that 鈥 we really became very involved in 糖心viog官方网站 and were very much a part of 糖心viog官方网站.鈥

Over the years, Olson鈥檚 courses have included The American Presidency, Introduction to American Government, U.S. Health Politics and Politics of Women.

Olson says she became interested in health care and elder care because she discovered that although the country spent a lot of money on the elderly, they didn鈥檛 seem to be thriving.

鈥淭hey tended to be poor, especially elderly women,鈥 she says.

During her tenure, Olson took a few side steps to further her knowledge. She worked for a year as a Scholar at the Social Security Administration, for a semester as a gerontological fellow at the Area Agency on Aging in Madison, Wisconsin, and as a Fulbright scholar in Finland.

Olson鈥檚 books reveal how politics and corporate influence affect health care and the elderly, usually with negative results. Her most recent book鈥攁nd she says most impactful鈥攊s 鈥淓thically Challenged: Private Equity Storms U.S. Health Care,鈥 published in 2022. Olson says it鈥檚 the first book that tackled how predatory private equity firms are buying everything from opioid treatment centers to hospice agencies. Their goal is solely profit, and, as a result, the quality of services has declined, she says.

The book has received numerous awards, and Olson has received invitations to conferences and speaking engagements.

In 2016, Olson combined her research with her personal experience in 鈥淓lder Care Journey: A View From the Front Lines.鈥 She chronicled the difficult challenge of navigating the health care system on behalf of her elderly mother, a woman of limited resources.

Olson and her late mom

Olson, left, with her late mother, Dorothy Katz. Her experience in navigating the health care system on her mother鈥檚 behalf helped inform an earlier book, 鈥淓lder Care Journey: A View From the Front Lines.鈥

鈥淎s I say in the book, I studied elder care for years, decades, but the reality was somewhat more stark,鈥 says Olson. 鈥淚t鈥檚 one thing to say how challenging it is to get help, it鈥檚 another to actually try to get help. It was really an eye-opener for me.鈥

At first, Olson managed her mother鈥檚 care long distance, but eventually moved her mother from Florida to the 糖心viog官方网站 Valley as her condition deteriorated.

鈥淚 decided to write a book about it because I think it was important for people to understand what it was like. The conclusion is we need to make a lot of changes to the system. Because the system is not working for elder care. Especially home care,鈥 she says.

book cover for 'Wrinkled Rebels'

Hope for the Future

In 鈥淲rinkled Rebels,鈥 Olson tells the fictional story of college friends who struggle鈥攊ndividually and collectively鈥攖o make sense of their lives now that they are in their 80s. They recall the past, confront their demons and find that, despite decades of separation, they still speak the same language. While Olson tapped into her experiences, the book is not autobiographical, she says. It is, however, an optimistic story that reflects Olson鈥檚 attitude toward life.

Olson says she is impressed by the students in her orbit. She says they are engaged and enthusiastic and make her hopeful that her passion will be carried on by future generations. Olson has been director of the political science internship program since she arrived at 糖心viog官方网站 and sees students doing great work at local, state and federal levels.

Asked what she considers her biggest accomplishment, Olson jokes, 鈥淏eing here for 50 years.鈥 And she continues to enjoy her work. She will be teaching The American Presidency and the Community Internship classes in the Fall 2024 semester.

Story by Jodi Duckett

糖心viog官方网站 recognizes the leadership and accomplishments of 糖心viog官方网站 women like Laura Katz Olson and the impact of coeducation through Soaring Together, a celebration marking 50 years since the admission of undergraduate women. Read more at

Read more stories on the 糖心viog官方网站 News Center.

Photography by

Christa Neu

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