Anthropology & Aging Quarterly 2010: 31 (1-2) 6 AAGE Member News MEMBER NEWS COLUMN Two long-time AAGE members recently won major awards! Congratulations on behalf of the entire membership to: Athena McLean, PHD, winner of the Society for Medical Anthropology’s 2009 New Millennium Book Award for her book, The person in dementia: A study of nursing home care in the US. University of Toronto Press. The New Millennium Book Award was established by the Society for Medical Anthropology to recognize and promote excellence in medical anthropology and is given annually to a scholar within the field of medical anthropology for a solo-authored (or co-authored) book published since the beginning of the new millennium. The New Millennium Book Award is given to the author whose work is judged to be the most significant and potentially influential contribution to medical anthropology. Maria Vesperi, PhD, recipient of the AAA/Oxford University Press Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching of Anthropology. This award was established in 1997 to recognize teachers who have significantly contributed to and encouraged the study of anthropology: “The successful teaching of anthropology is at the core of producing successful anthropologists. By transferring knowledge and encouraging interest and study, the teacher is able to contribute significantly to the increasing success of the field of anthropology. Without such people the growth of anthropology would be stifled.” Recipients of the award are nominated by their peers and must demonstrate excellence in terms of their impact, creativity, and influence on the field of anthropology. To share vicariously in Maria’s award ceremony, see the YouTube clip: http://www. youtube.com/watch?v=Pg0vrEdD53w Anthropology & Aging Quarterly 2010: 31 (1-2) 7 AAGE Member News Introducing President-Elect of AAGE, Dr. Lori L. Jervis (Ph.D. University of Minnesota, 1998). Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Oklahoma; Associate Director, Center for Applied Social Research, University of Oklahoma. Research: Principal Investigator, Exploring the Mistreatment of Native Elders (funded by the National Institute on Aging). Co-Investigator, Sociocultural Validity in the Context of DSM Comorbidity (funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, Jan Beals, PI). Principal Investigator, Native Elders, Dementia, and Family Caregiving (funded by the National Institute on Aging). Co-Principal Investigator, Winter Camp: Care in a Tribal Nursing Home (funded by the Administration on Aging, Spero M. Manson, PI). Co-Investigator, Epidemiology and Service Utilization: American Indians (funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, Spero M. Manson, PI). Recent Publications: Jervis, L. L. (2001). Nursing home satisfaction, biography, and the life worlds of psychiatrically disabled residents. Jour- nal of Aging Studies, 15(3), 237-252. Jervis, L. L. (2001). The pollution of incontinence and the dirty work of caregiving in an American nursing home. Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 15(1), 84-99. Jervis, L. L. (2002). Working in and around the chain of command: Power relations among nursing staff in an urban nursing home. Nursing Inquiry, 9, 12-23. Jervis, L. L., & Manson, S. M. (2002). American Indians/Alaska Natives and dementia. Alzheimer Disease and Associated Disorders, 16 (Suppl. 2), S89-S95. Jervis, L. L., Beals, J., Arciniegas, D. B., & Fickenscher, A. (2007). Performance on the Mini-Mental State Examination and Mattis Dementia Rating Scale among older American Indians. Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, 19(2):173-178. Jervis, L. L., & Manson , S. M. (2007). Cognitive impairment, psychiatric disorders, and problematic behaviors in a tribal nursing home. Journal of Aging and Health,19(2): 260-274. Jervis, L. L., Shore, J., Hutt, E., and Manson, S.M. (2007). Suboptimal pharmacotherapy in a tribal nursing home. Journal of the American Medical Directors. 8:1-7. Jervis, L. L., and the AI-SUPERPFP team (2009). Disillusionment, faith, and cultural traumatization on a northern plains reservation. Traumatology, 15(1):11-22. Jervis, L. L., Beals, J., Fickenscher, A., Arciniegas, D. B., Cullum, C. M., Manson, S. M. (in press). Predictors of performance on the MMSE and the DRS-2 among American Indian elders. Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences. Professional Activities: Advisory Committee Member, Alzheimer’s Association’s 2002 Invited Conference on Research in Diverse Groups of Older People: Issues and Barriers, 2002. Scholar, Advanced Research Institute in Geriatric Mental Health, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, 2005-2006. Organizer and Program Chair, Seventh Annual Meeting of the Association for Anthropology and Gerontology’s Annual Meeting, Aging and the Indigenous People of North America, 2009. Reviewer, Gerontological Society of America 2009 Annual Meeting. Guest Editor, Special Issue of Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology, 2010. Statement: Although very much a medical and gerontological anthropologist, I have spent my career in a variety of interdisciplinary contexts, collaborating primarily with nurses, psychologists, and psychiatrists. To my mind, bridge- building with like-minded practitioners, scholars, and researchers both inside and outside of anthropology is key to growing and sustaining a dynamic organization such as the AAGE. Organizing last year’s annual AAGE meeting on Anthropology & Aging Quarterly 2010: 31 (1-2) 8 AAGE Member News Aging and the Indigenous People of North America presented an excellent opportunity to see this process up close, as there are only a small number of anthropologists currently working on this topic, creating an imperative to connect with others outside of the field. In addition to continuing the work of previous AAGE leaders in fostering interdisciplinary connections, as President Elect I hope to further their efforts to attract new scholars and researchers to the field of anthropology and aging—especially crucial given the demographic shift to remarkably older populations both within the U.S. and many other nations as well. The AAGE is well positioned to play a role here, with connections to some of the best mentors many newer scholars could hope to find. I am eager to help facilitate the continued growth of the organization and broadening of the field through the resources of the AAGE. Visit AAGE on the Web! http://aage.clubexpress.com/ You can renew your membership, read Anthropology & Aging Quarterly, stay up to date on the Margaret Clark Award, and learn about AAGE’s annual workshop.