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President's Welcome
Congratulations to Past President Donna Wagner, the 2016 Program Chairs Kelly Niles-Yokum and Shannon Mathews, AGHE and GSA staff, and the entire program committee on a fabulous AGHE 2016 meeting in Long Beach, CA! There were so many highlights for me from the opening plenary with clips from the documentary
Still Dreaming
and the
panel discussion with the film making team, Hank Rogerson, Jilann Spitzmiller, and Tim Carpenter to the closing plenary with Fernando Torres-Gil sharing his thoughts on Celebrating the Legacy of Gerontology and our Collective Future. As always, I am energized by the informal networking and reconnecting that characterizes our AGHE meetings as well as the activities that get generated and move forward through our working committees.
Let me be the first to invite you to AGHE's 2017 Annual Meeting and Educational Leadership Conference, our 43rd Annual Meeting that will convene in Miami, Florida, March 9-12, 2017. Take note: 2017 is a big year! Our March meeting is a prelude to the International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics (IAGG
) World Congress of Gerontology and Geriatrics set for July 2017 in San Francisco. AGHE, as the Educational Unit of the Gerontological Society of America (GSA), is proud to be a co-host for that Congress. In addition, a special international issue of
Gerontology & Geriatrics Education,
the official journal of AGHE, will be published that year with an emphasis on education and training worldwide. Nine countries were represented at AGHE 2016; we hope to build on that momentum and have the global perspective infused across the Miami conference program. The theme for 2017 is "The Future is Here: Educating a New Generation of Professionals in Aging Worldwide." I am pleased to announce that the 2017 Program Committee will be Co-Chaired by Kelly Fitzgerald and Lydia Manning. Watch for the Call set to go live this Friday with Abstracts due June 1st!
Happy Spring!
Nina Silverstein, Ph.D.
AGHE President
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Gerontology and Geriatrics Education: The Nips & Tucks That Helped the AGHE Standards & Guidelines Come of Age
Marilyn R. Gugliucci, Ph.D.
Professor & Director for Geriatrics Education and Research
University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine
mgugliucci@une.edu
Bradley J. Fisher, Ph.D.
Professor, Psychology
Gerontology Program Coordinator
Missouri State University
The Association for Gerontology in Higher Education (AGHE) continues to be the only national institutional membership organization with an international focus that is devoted to gerontology and geriatrics education. Its mission provides for the development and sponsorship of education and training initiatives to advance the field of aging through its focus on education in gerontology and geriatrics. In reference to this, the AGHE
Standards and Guidelines for Gerontology and Geriatrics Programs, Sixth Edition (2015) is integral as a resource for those implementing and revising programs in liberal arts, the sciences, and health professions education.
It is clear that this publication has met the test of time. This document presents a set of standards and guidelines for the development of gerontology and geriatrics instructional programs in institutions of higher education. The criteria were derived from: (1) studies of gerontology programs throughout the country, (2) competencies in gerontology and health professions education, and (3) individual and collective experiences of the members who have served on the AGHE Standards and Guidelines Sub-Committee since 1986. This has been an iterative process, each edition building on the one before it, while incorporating new standards and guidelines as they are established in the field.
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Critical Thinking and Interprofessional Geriatric Education
Halcyon St. Hill, Ed.D., M.S.,MLS, (ASCP)CM, FASAHP
Professor, Interdisciplinary Health Sciences
Florida Gulf Coast University
Critical thinking is associated with cognition and one's ability to intensely analyze circumstances, proactively engage in resolving issues and transform problems into workable solutions. Critical thinking is a means to reach the heights of organized learning, with applications to professional practice, societal problems and life in general.
Interprofessional education (IPE) prepares graduates to work within and outside of traditional disciplinary silos through collaboration involving professionals in two or more disciplines. Additionally, services for older adults and geriatric education cut across several disciplines especially in healthcare, business and technology. Geriatric education programs embrace and should exemplify IPE by reaching out to academic disciplines that intersect in terms of consumer needs.
For instance, older adult populations are large consumers of business, healthcare and technology; therefore, medicine, nursing and allied health professions such as physical therapy, occupational therapy, and others including social work have geriatric education components specific to the discipline's curriculum. Additionally, technology cuts across these and many disciplines that impact older adult services in business and healthcare simultaneously. For instance, can there be the development of surgical equipment without the expertise of the engineers, users of that technology, and the business experts who cost out and market the equipment? So disciplinary expertise is unique, but clients (older adults) are service users - key stakeholders that educators prepare graduates to serve.
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Advancement Committee News
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Endowment Founders Fellow
& Innovation Fund Updates
David C. Burdick, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology & Director, Stockton Center on Successful Aging, Stockton University
Currently Funded Project Updates
AGHE's Endowment Founders Fellow for 2014/15, Leonard W. Poon, Ph.D., DPhil, h.c., University of Georgia Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus, continues to work with colleagues from several universities on his project,
Aging with Grace: Development of Video Documentary-based Courses on the Living and Aging Experiences.
Three committees or task forces applied for and received funding for their Innovation Fund projects this year. Each was aligned with key AGHE priorities of global development, accreditation, and gerontological competencies.
Going Global with AGHE: Development of AGHEurope,
submitted by Kelly Fitzgerald, Global Aging Committee Chair. On October 14-16, 2015, the planned AGHEurope meeting was held at the Ibrahim Sencan Gerontology Center on the Akdeniz University Campus in Antalya, Turkey. Special thanks to Jo Ann Damron-Rodriguez for representing AGHE at this meeting.
Read more about this project here...
Translating AGHE Competencies for Programmatic and Classroom Alignment was a Pre-Conference Workshop sponsored by the Faculty Development Committee at AGHE's recent meetings in Long Beach, CA. Funding defrayed various costs associated with the institute. The proposal was submitted by Pamela Elfenbein (Faculty Development Committee Chair), with Laura Donorfio, Keith Barker, and Steve McDermott.
Development of a Set of Suitable Standards and Elements to Evaluate and Accredit Programs of Gerontology in Higher Education was submitted by Accreditation Task Force Co-Chairs Marilyn Gugliucci and Bob Maiden, with support from task force members Donna Schaeffer, Donna Weinreich, Robert Knight, Lydia Manning, and Harvey Sterns. Funds provided seed moneys to hire an expert consultant to evaluate the Task Force's draft Accreditation for Gerontology Education Council (AGEC) Handbook.
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Colleen R. Bennett, M.S., M.A.
Doctoral Candidate, Doctoral Program in Gerontology
University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC)
The K-12 Gerontology Education Committee was once again busy at the 42nd Annual Meeting in Long Beach, California! This year, the Committee honored three awardees for Best Children's Literature on Aging, which recognizes positive portrayals of older adults in children's literature. The Book Award subcommittee, consisting of chair Elizabeth Bergman, Mary Newman, Cynthia Hancock, Sarah Schellenger, and Kathleen Bennett, selected the 2016 winners based on the following criteria: portrayal of meaningful aging; portrayal of positive intergenerational relations; diversity; appeal; and realism of storyline.
Honorable Mention was chosen for the Primary Reader category as well:
Nana in the City by Lauren Castillo.
The Elementary Reader (3rd through 5th grade) category winner was:
The Turtle of Oman by Naomi Shihab Nye.
Congratulations to our 2016 Book Award for Best Children's Literature on Aging winners! Look for book reviews of our winning texts in the coming issue of the
AGHExchange!
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AGHE 2016 Highlights
Long Beach, CA
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| Incoming AGHE President, Dr. Nina M. Silverstein, with Closing Session speaker, Dr. Fernando Torres-Gil. |
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Congratulations to Dr. Pamela Pittman Brown, the 2016 Rising Star Junior Faculty Honoree.
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Incoming President, Dr. Nina M. Silverstein, thanks Past President, Dr. Donna L. Wagner for her service.
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Members of AGHE's Global Aging Committee.
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University of La Verne Gerontology students with Donna Wagner, AGHE Past President, at the Fellows Mentoring Session.
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Program Chair, Dr. Kelly Niles-Yokum, and Pre-Conference Workshop Coordinators, Dr. Tom Teasdale and Dr. Pamela Brown.
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TEACHING & LEARNING RESOURCES
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2016 AGHE
Award Recipients
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The Association for Gerontology in Higher Education recognized awardees at its recent 42nd Annual Meeting and Educational Leadership Conference in Long Beach, California.
Clark Tibbitts Award
This award was established in 1980 to recognize individuals who and organizations that have made outstanding contributions to the advancement of gerontology as a field of study in institutions of higher education:
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Hiram J. Friedsam Mentorship Award
This award, named for an outstanding mentor in gerontology, is given to an individual who has contributed to gerontological education through excellence in mentorship to students, faculty, and administrators:
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Jan Abushakrah, PhD, Portland Community College
Administrative Leadership Award
This award honors administrators on AGHE member campuses who have made exceptional efforts in support of gerontology or geriatrics education:
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Pinchas Cohen, MD, University of Southern California
Distinguished Faculty Award
This award recognizes persons whose teaching stands out as exemplary, innovative, of impact,or any combination thereof:
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Elizabeth M. Zelinski, PhD, University of Southern California
Part-Time Faculty Honor
This award recognizes part-time and/or adjunct faculty for their contributions to gerontological education at an AGHE member institution:
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Gregory D. Bearce, MBA, MAG, University of Southern California
Rising Star Junior Faculty Honor
This award recognizes new faculty whose teaching and/or leadership stands out as impactful and innovative:
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Pamela Pitman Brown, PhD, Winston-Salem State University
Student Leadership Award
This award recognizes students whose leadership has advanced the goals and mission of AGHE as well as the respective goals of their AGHE-affiliated institutions:
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Amy J. Plant, MA, Youngstown State University
Graduate Student Paper Award
This award recognizes excellence in scholarly work by a student at an AGHE member institution who presents his or her work at the annual meeting:
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Reath M. Melendez, MLIS, California State University Long Beach
Mildred M. Seltzer Distinguished Service Recognition
This award honors colleagues who are near retirement or recently retired. Recipients are individuals who have been actively involved in AGHE through service on committees, as elected officers, and/or have provided leadership in one of AGHE's grant-funded projects.:
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Barbara Gillogly, PhD, American River College
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Lynne G. Hodgson, PhD, Quinnipiac University
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Bob G. Knight, PhD, University of Southern California
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Leslie A. Morgan, PhD, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
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Sheldon E. Steinhauser, Honorary DPS, Metropolitan State University of Denver
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Congratulations to
three outstanding leaders in gerontology and geriatrics education were awarded
fellow status at AGHE's 2016 Annual Meeting:
Jan Abushakrah, Ph.D., Portland Community College
Kelly G. Fitzgerald, Ph.D., Western Kentucky University
Kelly Niles-Yokum, Ph.D., University of La Verne
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AGHE needs your financial support! Find out how you can contribute
here!
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