Submit Your Workshop Proposal Online!

The 34th Summer Institute on Aging will be held June 5-7, 2012 at Waterfront Place Hotel and Conference Center in Morgantown, WV. The 2012 theme, "Redefining & Celebrating Aging: Today, Tomorrow and Beyond", highlights the transformative times in which we live. On many different fronts the demographic and awareness of aging is changing and the 34th Summer Institute on Aging is a place to share your expertise with colleagues.

This Institute is designed to provide high quality training in aging services for beginning and experienced social workers, nurses, counselors, supervisors, administrators, and professionals in related disciplines.

We invite your assistance in creating an informative, creative, and stimulating conference. We encourage you to submit proposals for workshops that will help participants build new skills and enhance existing competencies. Criteria for submitting proposals are outlined below:

Objectives:
This call for workshops is for practitioners, academicians, and qualified individuals who have pertinent information for the aging field. We are interested in presenters being able to:

• stimulate and challenge participants
• provide information to increase practitioner’s knowledge base and practicing skills
• design innovative, experiential, outcome-driven opportunities for participants
• creatively communicate topics in a practical meaningful manner
• connect participants to other practitioners in the field
• teach participants relevant evidence-based research in the field of aging so as to be able to advocate appropriately for those who are aging

Length/Tracks: We invite proposals for 90 minutes (with an option of two-part sessions totaling 3 hours) and 1 hour informational networking sessions. Workshop proposals should indicate whether they are “Introductory” or “Advanced” topics. In addition, proposals should be categorized in one or two of the following tracks: Clinical/Mental Health Practice; Management/Administration/Policy; Cultural Competence/Diversity; or Core Practice.

Focus Areas:

• Holistic healthy aging
• Mental health/substance abuse/drug aversion
• Service delivery competencies
• Effective/innovative programs for providing aging services
• Aging and health policy
• Timely topics related to the field of aging
• Caregiver issues
• The role of race, culture and spirituality in aging services
• Safety and environmental issues
• Ethics
• Engaging post-retired adults
• Aging in rural areas
• End-of-life care
• Creativity in aging
• Enhancing communication and collaborative efforts among professionals
• Achievements of older individuals and their contributions to their communities and/or the field of aging

Selection Criteria:
In addition to the specific focus area requirements and relation to the conference theme, proposals will be rated on the engaging format, style, clarity, originality, ability to be replicated, compliance to submission guidelines, quality, cultural competencies and relevance to introductory or advanced learners.

Guidelines for Submission:
All submissions must be made online. Go to www.wvsioa.org and submit the following:

1. A 50-100 word description of the workshop to be advertised in conference brochures.
2. An abstract of the workshop to include: brief summary of content, presentation format, outline of learning objectives, and
   target audience.
3. An online proposal submission form is available on the website.

Deadline: Proposals must be received by December 31, 2011.

For additional questions about the Call for Workshops or online submissions please contact Jacki Englehardt at the WVU Division of Social Work at 304-293-3280 or via e-mail at jacki.englehardt@mail.wvu.edu.

Submit Your Workshop Proposal Online!