News & Highlights

A Note From IOA Director Victor Marshall

I sometimes wonder what a stranger might think upon visiting the Institute on Aging for the first time. They could find it bursting with people or nearly empty, depending on the day. At times we have all three conference rooms (this includes the library) occupied with seminars, research, or service outreach meetings. On other days many of the staff are in the field conducting research or attending meetings.
Some of this business is reflected in the initiatives I reviewed for the North Carolina Study Commission on Aging on March 28, 2008. A copy of my remarks forms this month's column. I gave a highly select description of some IOA activities, to better inform our legislators about the scope of what we do. These activities, and the four initiatives I also review, all speak to the importance of partnerships to the Institute on Aging. As I note in my remarks, our budget is quite small in light of our mission to enhance the well-being of older people in North Carolina by fostering statewide collaboration in research, education and service -- but we get a lot done precisely because we collaborate with some wonderful partners.
Read the entire column...

A Note From IOA Associate Director For Research Jennifer Craft Morgan

This month we showcase life history research being conducted with Viet Nam veterans by Dr. Eleanor Covan of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. The second part of the column highlights gerontology faculty research at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. Jump to column...

NCCOA 2008: Proposal Deadline Is April 7th

Reminder: Please submit presentation proposals for the 2008 North Carolina Conference on Aging by April 7, 2008. Around the theme, "Healthy? Wealthy? And Wise?—Growing Older in North Carolina", the conference tracks include: liveable, senior-friendly communities; economy of aging; healthy aging; family, intergenerational relations and caregiving; gender, race and class; elder rights and legal issues; health and the continuum of care.

IOA Senior Leadership Initiative Expands!

Candidates for the 2009 Class of Senior Leaders have been selected from the largest pool of applicants in the program's history. Nine individuals will participate, a major expansion which extends both the reach and impact Senior Leaders can have on public policy issues and aging in North Carolina.
The new Senior Leaders are: Constance Burbank (Apex); Mary Cichocki (Wake Forest); Bea Colson (Wingate); Mary Cay Core (Chapel Hill); John Hammond (Pittsboro); Helen Mack (Clemmons); Sara May (Asheville); Tom Scullion (Greensboro); Cynthia Vail (Hurdle Mills).
Each Senior Leader receives a $2,000 stipend and participates in a 15 month long leadership development program. Individual descriptions and an outline of the senior leaders' development projects will be included in future newsletters. Congratulations to those selected.

Henderson COA Takes Lead In Planning

The Council on Aging for Henderson County recently petitioned the Board of Commissioners to be named lead planning agency for older adults in the County, winning unanimous approval on February 20th. The Council has a long history of advocating for area elderly in its mission to support older adults' right to self-determination and remaining independent in their homes for as long as possible. In the last several years, COA-HC has partnered with area agencies and businesses in the Healthy Aging Coalition, a collaborative effort to better serve older adults in the community. Read the related news story on BlueRidgeNow.com.

Good News For NC Colleagues

IOA Associate Director for Public Service Bill Lamb has been elected to the board of the National Citizens Coalition on Nursing Home Reform (NCCNHR), a national citizens advocacy organization whose mission is to improve the quality of care for residents living in long-term care facilities. NCCNHR provides information and leadership on federal and state regulatory and legislative policy development, and models and strategies to improve care and life for residents of nursing homes and other long term care facilities.

IOA Associate Director for Program Development Mary Altpeter has been appointed to the Leadership Council of the National Council on Aging. Appointees serve 1, 2, or 3 year terms. The Council, formed in 2004 with leaders and experts from the fields of aging, nonprofit leadership, academia, and the private sector, advises the Board and senior management on strategy and goals. Its members have the opportunity to influence not only the mission and strategy of NCOA but the direction of aging policy and services throughout the nation. The individual and collective contributions of the 40 originating LC members have been instrumental to NCOA's emergence as a premier organization within the field of aging. Altpeter was tapped for her expertise in community-based, evidence-based, health promotion programming.

Aging Workforce Interest Group To Hear From Attorney

At its April 22nd meeting, the Aging Workforce Interest Group of the UNC Institute on Aging will have attorney Jay Warren, of Bryan Cave LLC in New York, as its speaker on "Forty Years of Age Discrimination in the Workplace". Mr. Warren specializes in employment and labor litigation in federal and state courts, and has arbitrated a number of cases focusing on age, disability, race, and sex discrimination. On the faculty of the Benjamin Cardozo Law School, he teaches courses on "Regulating the Workplace" and "Age Discrimination in Employment". Please contact Diane Wurzinger at 919-966-9444 for information on attending the meeting.

PBS Program Addresses Family Caregiving

A new 90-minute PBS program, Caring for Your Parents, will premiere Wednesday, April 2, 2008 on many PBS stations including UNC TV. The program is followed by a half-hour panel discussion, A Conversation About Caring, led by Dr. Art Ulene. Read more...

New from NC Researchers

New from the Digital Library

Upcoming Events In NC

April 3, 2008
IOA Seminar Series
Therapeutic and Non-therapeutic Landscapes of Residential Care
Malcolm Cutchin, Ph.D., Dept. of Occupational Sciences and Senior Research Scientist, IOA
3:30-5:00pm, 2nd floor conference room, 720 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Dr. Cutchin is also editor of the Journal of Applied Gerontology.

April 8-10, 2008
Priester National Health Extension Conference
"Building Healthy Communities, One Person at a Time", featuring a successful aging track
Sheraton Imperial, Durham, NC

April 9, 2008
Aging Is Good Business: Silver Technologies
Cone Ballroom, Elliott University Center, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Early registration and sponsorship/exhibitor/advertiser deadline is March 1, 2008.

April 12, 2008
"What Will Happen To Me?" A Workshop on End-of-Life Issues for Persons With Developmental Disabilities
Sponsored by Project Compassion
9:00am to 1:00pm, The Seymour Center, 2551 Homestead Road, Chapel Hill, NC
http://www.project-compassion.org/events.htm#whatwill

April 16 and 17, 2008
5th Biennial Long Term Care Policy Conference and Advocacy Day
Friends of Residents in Long Term Care
http://www.forltc.org/events.html

April 22, 2008
Aging Workforce Interest Group
Forty Years of Age Discrimination in the Workplace: Where Do We Stand Now?
Jay Warren, Esq., Bryan Cave LLP
2:00-4:00pm, DeFriese Conference Room, Sheps Center, 725 MLK Jr. Blvd., Chapel Hill

April 24, 2008
IOA Seminar Series
Hearing Loss in Adults: Cases from the Field
Stephanie Sjoblad, Aud D. Clinic Coordinator-Audiology and Assistant Professor, UNC Hearing and Communication Center
3:30-5:00pm, 2nd floor conference room, 720 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

Save The Dates

October 28-30, 2008
7th Annual North Carolina Conference on Aging
Greenville, NC
http://www.aging.unc.edu/nccoa/index.html

View our complete events calendar at www.aging.unc.edu/events/.

Community Bulletin Board and Jobs in Aging

Publication of this newsletter is announced via email listserv. Current and past issues may be viewed at any time at http://www.aging.unc.edu/news/newsletter.html . To join one of our lists, please visit www.aging.unc.edu/news/lists.html for more information. If you have information that you would like to include in this newsletter in the future, please send it to aginginfo@unc.edu at any time.