A Note From:
IOA Director Victor Marshall

I invite comments and suggestions from our readers about the statewide mission of the Institute on Aging. We note elsewhere in this newsletter that a reconstituted Statewide Advisory Council has been appointed effective March 1. We have moved to a much smaller Council of 13 members, to replace a very large Statewide Advisory Committee of 26 people. This change will reduce the financial and administrative costs of gaining advice, and I am confident that this can be done without a reduction in the quality of advice. The names and contact information of the new Council members are now posted on our website, and you should feel free to pass your ideas to them—but also to me directly at (919) 843-8067 or victor_marshall@unc.edu

The Council will focus on the IOA’s statewide mission, including our activities on the Chapel Hill campus but only in the statewide context (we have other mechanisms that focus on our Chapel Hill-specific mission). Over the past several years the Institute has developed a portfolio of statewide activities, including the North Carolina Conference on Aging, the North Carolina Gerontology Consortium, the Senior Leadership in Aging Program, and the North Carolina Healthy Aging Consortium. The Institute does not ‘own’ the conference or the consortia in the education and healthy aging areas—rather, we support them. These activities belong to all the partners in common and the IOA, in helping initiate or sustain these activities is simply fulfilling its mission. We also support, when we can, the activities of other university-based programs and centers in aging. This list makes it clear that we work in partnership mode with other universities and a host of service agencies, the Division of Aging and Adult Services, and age-related organizations. We consider our library and information services and our electronic newsletter to be resources serving the state (indeed, while they focus on the state, these have a reach that is national and even international). In addition, much of our research agenda involves partnerships with community organizations, nursing homes, hospitals, and businesses. In my view we have not only benefited from our multiple collaborations, but contributed to the spirit of collaboration that is such a strength of the ‘gerontology network’ in North Carolina.

How can you help us to meet our broad statewide objectives? And how can the Institute help you? With the renewed Statewide Advisory Council about to spring into action, your advice and counsel on these questions will be extremely helpful and timely.