Governor Sonny Perdue has named Washington's Joseph B. Harris, Ph.D., to the Georgia Council on Aging.

As a council member, Harris will serve in an advisory capacity to the Governor, the General Assembly, and other state agencies, on aging issues, and will advocate with and on behalf of aging Georgians and their families to improve quality of life. Harris is president of Washington

Area Faith In Action, Inc. He is professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

Harris is a member of the Washington Rotary Club, the Washington Wilkes Chamber of Commerce, and the Washington chapter of Learning in Retirement.

He is also a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Society of Plant Physiologists, the Georgia Gerontology Society,

Sigma Xi, and the Central Savannah River Area Agency on Aging Advisory Council.

He is the author of more than forty scientific publications on aging.

Harris earned a bachelor's degree from Emory University, a master's degree from the University of Georgia and a doctoral degree from Duke University. He is married to Dorothy Harris and has two grown children, three grandchildren and three stepgrandchildren.