Program Committee report

Mark your calendars. The Div. 20 program for the 2015 APA Convention in Toronto (August 6–9) is almost complete, and it looks great. The presidential theme selected this year by Sara Czaja is Aging, Diversity, and Technology, and speakers will address key issues around this theme from several perspectives. Baltes Award recipient Jutta Heckhausen (University of California, Irvine) will present “A Motivational Theory of Lifespan Development,” invited speaker Dan Morrow (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) will offer his view on “Technology as a Bridge Between Primary Health Care Systems and Older Adults with Diverse Cognitive/Literacy Abilities” and invited speaker Lynn McDonald will give us an overview of the research being done at the Institute for the Life Course & Aging. In her presidential address, Sara Czaja will tell us about “The Changing Face of Aging: The Role of Division 20.” This year, we submitted eight collaborative programs, and Div. 20 had five symposia accepted, giving us nine free programming hours (which will be scheduled by APA). We will also be hosting eight other symposia and special sessions, including a skill-building session addressing the assessment needs of the baby boomers and a symposium providing information on how to get grant funding. Forty-two posters were accepted, reflecting diverse, contemporary topics ranging from nutritional factors associated with cognitive decline, fashion and the aging self and potential signs of wisdom. We will also be co-listed on over 20 other divisional programs, reflecting topics such as career transitions in midlife, advances in conceptualizing meaning in life and mortality in older homeless veterans. We expect several of our programs to offer continuing education credits for attendees, and we invite members to meet new fellows in their presentation session. This year, it was decided to hold the programming social hour onsite immediately following the presidential address. We are still working on an additional offsite social event to enable Div. 20 members to network and enjoy the company of colleagues and the city of Toronto. The APA Convention programming office is reviewing our scheduling requests, and we should hear in June more about the finalized schedule. We look forward to seeing you in Toronto.