Program Committee Report

This year's presidential theme selected by Bill Haley was “Translating Aging Theory and Research to Intervention and Practice”. In line with this theme, the Baltes Award recipient, Roger Dixon (University of Alberta), spoke about “Epidemiological Approaches to Cognitive Aging: Trajectories, Transitions, Modifiers, and Mechanisms”, and invited speaker David Roth (Johns Hopkins) spoke about “Updating Randomized Trials of Interventions for Older Adults with Needed Methodological Innovations”. An invited symposium, The Coming of Age of APA's Committee on Aging: Influencing Aging Research, Practice, and Policy, featured past/present CONA members, reviewed major milestones in CONA programming, and contributions since its establishment.

This year, we had 12 symposia including 4 symposia accepted under the new collaborative programming: Successful Aging from Molecules to Mental Exercise with D6 & D3; Sex Under Someone Else's Roof Promoting Sexual Rights and Well Being in Residential Settings with Div. 22; Geropsychology, Technology, and Tomorrow with Div. 21; and Peer Consultation and Mentoring in the Professional Development of Integrated Care Psychologists with Div. 12. Ultimately, we filled more programming hours than last year, but did not exceed our allotted hours because the collaborative symposia were designated as “free”. We again co-hosted “Speed Mentoring: Building Research Careers in Geropsychology and Neuropsychology” developed with Div. 40 Society for Clinical Neuropsychology and CONA. In addition, we offered three Continuing Education sessions, and Dr. Robin West gave a workshop (Train the Trainer: Memory Training for Seniors) that also offered CE credits. We were co-listed on programs with over 10 other divisions on topics such as research with transgender people across the lifespan, lifespan traffic and transport psychology, and discrimination and health among women at midlife.

We look forward to another exciting program for the 2015 convention. The 2015 Program Co-Chairs are Chris Rosnick, Department of Psychology, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Wally Boot, Department of Psychology, Florida State University, and Richard Pak, Department of Psychology, Clemson University.