Elizabeth A. Kutza

Elizabeth Ann Kutza, a Portland State University professor for nearly twenty years and director of its Institute on Aging for more than a decade, was an expert on social and public policy issues affecting the elderly. Dr. Kutza served on numerous state and federal task forces formed to study and implement policies that would help government agencies serve the growing population of aging citizens. 

The author and editor of dozens of books and articles exploring such topics as social welfare, health care policy for the elderly, and the implications of the aging baby boom generation, Dr. Kutza was widely sought after as a consultant for congressional and cabinet-level offices. 

Over the several decades before her death on June 9, 2006, at the age of sixty-one, Dr. Kutza had been commissioned by U.S. Senate and House of Representative committees to prepare papers on aging and health policy. These included “The Impact of Technology on Aging in America” for the congressional Office of Technology Assessment, “Age as a Criterion for Focusing Public Programs” for the congressional Federal Council on Aging, “Passed Over by Progress: Women at the Bottom” for the House Select Committee on Aging, and “Women in Midlife: Security and Fulfillment.” 

Dr. Nohad Toulan, the founding and emeritus dean of the PSU College of Urban and Public Affairs, with whom Dr. Kutza worked during her career at PSU, said, “What she has done for the Institute on Aging and the Adult Learning Center is truly remarkable. … For me as a dean, whenever I needed somebody to step in for a difficult task, she never said no. … It is a major loss for the college, the university and all of us who knew her.” 

Dr. Kutza taught graduate- and undergraduate-level classes in such fields as “National Long-Term Care Policy,” “Theoretical Foundations of Policy Analysis,” “Economics of Aging,” and “Social Gerontology.” Her colleagues and students described her as having been an outstanding mentor, teacher, and guide who provided intellectual challenge and compassionate direction as well as being deeply committed to helping her students succeed.

Dr. Margaret Neal, who became director of PSU’s Institute on Aging after Dr. Kutza ran the institute for sixteen years, said, “After initially experiencing awe and fear, her students grew to love and respect her; the awe never left.” Dr. Neal referred to Dr. Kutza’s service on many task forces and committees related to long-term care policy, and added, “Her opinions and problem-solving skills were highly sought after by local, state, and national policy makers, and her influence will be felt for years to come.” 

Another colleague, Dr. Sherril B. Gelmon, a professor of public health in PSU’s Mark O. Hatfield School of Government, said, “Much of what I do today as a senior faculty member, particularly working with doctoral students, has been shaped by learning from Beth and her graciousness and dignity.”

One of Dr. Kutza’s graduate students, Brenda Sulick of Portland, said of her, “She took the time to get to know her students, and understood when you needed a little push to move forward, and when you needed support.”

A long-time friend and colleague, Dr. Ruth Ann Tsukuda, associate director for education of a center at the Portland Veterans Administration Medical Center, described her as having been “charismatic, but even more so, I think of the aura of competence and sense of control and confidence she brought into a setting.” 

Dr. Tsukuda sometimes accompanied Dr. Kutza during some chemotherapy sessions, “Once the IV was going, we would set up a work area and plan the conference, write the grant, or think of a new project.” On other occasions, the two women would “enjoy a liverwurst sandwich and a root beer” or break out laughing at some “ridiculous idea,” she said. “I am not sure the oncology nurses had ever seen anything like this.”

An avid tennis player and fan, Dr. Kutza is described by her friends as being a determined competitor who hated to lose. Bill McGrath of Portland, one of her regular tennis opponents, said, “But she left that drive to win on the court. As a friend, she was so generous, always willing to listen and offer wise counsel.”

She was also an accomplished cook and seamstress, who impressed her colleagues with her handmade, intricate suits, blouses, and dresses. In addition, she had been a member of the St. Mary’s Cathedral Choir. 

In her professional life, Dr. Kutza was a member of the Gerontological Society of America where she was a candidate for its presidency, and the American Society on Aging and the Association for Public Policy and Management.

In her service to her field she was a member of the National Advisory Committee on Interdisciplinary, Community-Based Linkages, Bureau of Health Professions, Health Resources and Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Gerontological Society Publications Committee, Commonwealth Fund of New York Advisory Committee, and Oregon’s Department of Health Institutional Review Board. She also served as the chair of Editorial Board of Generations for the Journal of the American Society on Aging and of the Social Research, Policy, and Practice Section of the Gerontological Society of America.

Her service to the community included being a member of the Older Women’s League (OWL), the VA Assisted Living Consumer Relations Board, the Consumer Advisory Council of OMPRO (a federally-designated Quality Improvement Organization for the Medicare program in Oregon), the Older Driver Advisory Committee for the Oregon Department of Transportation’s DMV Services, Citizen’s Review Panel of Adult Foster Care and Strategic Planning Steering Committee for Oregon Senior and Disabled Services, “Aging Challenges of Tomorrow” committee for Multnomah County Aging Services, and a member of the Advisory Council for Providence ElderPlace. She served as a chair for Catholic Charities, the Program and Planning Committee for the Urban League of Portland, and the chair for the advisory committee for the Alzheimer’s Disease Center of Oregon.

Dr. Kutza received numerous awards and grants, including being a regional finalist in the White House Fellowship Program, receiving a Health Policy Fellowship Award from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a National Fellowship Award from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, and a Woman of Achievement Award from the Portland YWCA. 

On June 1, 2006, the College of Urban and Public Affairs gave her the “Deans’ Career Excellence Award,” which was created by Dr. Toulan and Dean Lawrence Wallack “in recognition of exceptional contributions in teaching, research, and service.”

Born in Chicago on March 4, 1945, Dr. Kutza received a bachelor’s of science degree in psychology and sociology from Loyola University in 1966. She received a master’s of social work degree from Boston University in 1969, and a doctorate in policy analysis from the School of Social Service Administration of the University of Chicago. 

From 1976 to 1987, she taught at the University of Chicago before moving to Portland and becoming director of the Institute on Aging in 1987. She has been a professor in the School of Community Health since 2003. In 1986, she married Robert “Mac” McCormick, and they moved to Portland. He died in 1996.

Written by Judson Randall and James Kutza