PHILADELPHIA -- Richard Estes, a University of Pennsylvania School of Social Work professor, has been elected president of the International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies.

Estes has been the recipient of many awards and grants for his research on international social work and comparative social development, including two Fulbright-Hays Senior Research Awards and a Distinguished Fulbright Scholar Award to Yonsei University in Seoul.  In 1992, he was elected Social Worker of the Year by the Pennsylvania Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers for his international activities, and in 1997 he was awarded the Distinguished Recent Contribution to Social Work Education Award by the Council on Social Work Education.

The International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies promotes and encourages research and provides an organization through which all academic and professional researchers interested in QOL studies may coordinate their efforts within various disciplines.