There’s More to Health Literacy That Meets the Eye!
Monday, March 16

Accessing health information is a challenge for all older adults. Regardless of one’s literacy level or native language, if the information is not accessible, it is useless. This lecture will present guidelines for print and color contrast of materials and the environment and will identify technology solutions for older adults who experience normal age-related vision changes. It also will address needs of older adults with vision impairment who are disproportionately represented by persons of African-American, Hispanic and Native-American origin.

Presenter: Dr. Cynthia Stuen, Senior Vice President, Policy and Evaluation, Lighthouse International.

The Nexus of Aging and Immigration: Prescription for Policy Reform and Program Practices
Monday, March 16

This session will examine an important yet controversial arena: aging and immigration. The changing demographics facing the U.S. will involve the aging of the population and the growing diversity of the nation. Immigration—legal and illegal—is a fraught with visceral and contentious debates, yet the continued movement of people to the U.S. from other nations will be crucial aspects of how we respond to the aging of the baby boomers cohort. This session also will explore the myriad and complex issues associated with these trends and proposes policy reforms and program practices.

Presenters: Fernando Torres-Gil, PhD, Associate Dean, Academic Affairs, Professor, Social Welfare and Public Policy, Director, Center for Policy Research on Aging, UCLA School of Public Affairs; Judith Treas, PhD, Professor of Sociology, Director, Center for Demographic and Social Analysis,University of California, Irvine; Frederick R. Lynch, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Government, Claremont McKenna College

Panel of Pundits 2009
Tuesday, March 17

The 2009 Panel of Pundits presentation will focus on current aging public policy initiatives with an emphasis on aging and healthcare policy and the future of the aging network.

Moderator: Robert Blancato, MPA, President, Matz, Blancato & Associates, Inc. 

Opening Gerontology Education, Research and Practice to the Subject of Spirituality
Wednesday, March 18

Gerontology needs a multidimensional view of spirituality as it bears on issues of aging. This lecture will describe an experiential approach to spirituality and will present concepts, exercises, queries and perspectives that can be used to examine spirituality and aging in a variety of settings, both secular and religious. It is based in the presenter’s most recent book, Spirituality and Aging.

Presenter: Robert C. Atchley, PhD, Professor Emeritus, Miami University Scripps Gerontology Center.

The Aging Network and "Re-Balancing" LTC: Whose Mission and Who Decides?
Wednesday, March 18

Advocates for home and community-based services have been trying to "re-balance” long-term care systems in this country since 1975. As the fiscal crisis in Medicaid across the country looms larger and larger, "re-balancing" has moved to a central concern of governors, state legislators and federal policymakers. This lecture will explore the questions: whose job is this, and whose job is it to decide whose job it is?

Presenter: Richard Browdie, MA, BA, President/CEO, Benjamin Rose Institute.

Growing Old in a Diverse Global Society
Wednesday, March 18

This lecture will explore implications for growing old in the United States or elsewhere in our global society. Baby boomers are a central part of the “age pool” that sets the tone for global aging lifestyles. A plethora of diverse elements such as faith, gender, race/ethnicity and LGBT concerns will be affected by global influences. Ease of travel, communication, technology and opportunities to forge personal relationships heretofore not readily possible are now more commonplace.

Presenter: E. Percil Stanford, PhD, Chief Diversity Officer, AARP.