ORONO – Margaret Cruikshank, part-time Women’s Studies faculty member at the University of Maine, has been awarded an honorable mention by a national human rights center for her latest book, “Learning to Be Old: Gender, Culture and Aging.”

The book, published in 2003 by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc. of Boulder, Colo., was one of fewer than 50 books honored recently by the Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights, housed at Simmons College in Boston.

In “Learning to be Old,” Cruikshank analyzes gender, culture and aging, and explores a variety of lifestyle issues that Americans rarely consider until they begin to approach old age.

Cruikshank discusses cultural myths about aging women and their changing social roles as they age.

“Aging is really about our bodies and it’s about philosophy and theology,” Cruikshank said. “I’m looking more at the meaning of aging.”

Cruikshank, a resident of Corea, is an adjunct lecturer in women’s studies at UMaine and faculty associate of the Center on Aging at the university. Her introduction to working with older people came when she was did a graduate studies internship in gerontology at San Francisco State University.

The book is available at many libraries and booksellers, including Rowman and Little Publishers, www.romanlittlefield.com.