Wilkes' New Dean of Law School Planning Initiative

On May 7, 2008, Wilkes University issued a Press Release, entitled "Wilkes Takes Big Step to Creating New Law School -- Announces Dean of Law School Planning Initiative". The named dean is Loren ("Chip") D. Prescott, Jr., now of Harrisburg, PA.

Wilkes University announces that Loren D. Prescott Jr. has been appointed dean for the Wilkes University Law School Planning Initiative.

Prescott, who has served as vice dean and professor at Widener University School of Law, Harrisburg, Pa., will lead efforts to develop plans for northeastern Pennsylvania’s first law school. Preliminary plans call for enrolling between 80 and 100 first-year students in fall 2010.

As dean, Prescott will also complete an in-depth market analysis of enrollment trends, of the parameters for the law school library, and develop a trailblazing curriculum that answers many of the critiques of legal education today. He is scheduled to submit the final plans for the law school for consideration by the Wilkes Board of Trustees at its April 2009 meeting.

“If feasible, the addition of a law school represents a great opportunity for the revitalization of Wilkes-Barre and the region. Wilkes’ mentoring culture is uniquely suited to training a new generation of attorneys skilled in the practice, not just the theory, of law,” said Tim Gilmour, president of Wilkes University.

“Chip Prescott brings both experience and vision to this initiative. We’re honored to have a leader of his caliber to lead the effort.” * * *

I learned about this appointment in an email message sent by Chip on May 7th. I was surprised, and pleased.

When I first learned about the proposal to create a new law school in the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton area, to join eight existing law schools in Pennsylvania, I was skeptical. See: PA EE&F Law Blog posting New Law School at Wilkes University? (03/06/07).

My concerns were not founded in the ability of Wilkes University to create an academically suitable law school, or the need in Northeastern Pennsylvania for graduate-level education, or the economic benefits that a law school might bring in that region, or even the capability of Wilkes to attract qualified, committed faculty and eager, tuition-paying law students into a new law school.

No, my concern was simple: Where would more law school graduates find jobs once educated?

My updates to that posting reinforced my concerns, to which I urged studied consideration:

The "job market" and the implied promise made to law students when they pay (or borrow) the tuition necessary to attend law school -- that further education will increase their employment opportunities -- should be one of the elements to be considered by those charged with examining a new law school at Wilkes University.

By February of this year, the concept for a new law school, as sketched by the Wilkes University Board of Trustees, was embodied in its search for a designing dean. See: PA EE&F Law Blog posting Proposed Wilkes Law School Seeks Dean (02/06/08).

I was pleasantly surprised by the pragmatic, innovative approach adopted for the proposed new law school, as evidenced by its reliance upon a detailed report, entitled "Educating Lawyers: Preparation for the Profession of Law" (2007), issued by the Carnegie Foundation.

I concluded by noting that, "[w]ithout question, the format for an effective institutional legal education is changing." I became hopeful that such a new law school could, indeed, meet not only the needs of a university, a region, and an economy in Pennsylvania, but also of students who would become prepared, by a legal education, to function productively while paid adequate compensation.

Now I learn that Chip Prescott will be the one to guide this new law school into being.

"Well, bust my buttons! Why didn't you say that in the first place? That's a horse of a different color! Come on in!"

My skepticism had paralleled that of the gatekeeper to the grand, Emerald City in the 1939 movie, The Wizard of Oz:

[Reaching the gate into the Emerald City, Dorothy and her friends ring the bell. A Gateman appears through a porthole.]

Gateman: Who rang that bell?!

All four: We did!

Gateman: Can't you read?!

Scarecrow: Read what?

Gateman: The notice!

All four: What notice?

Gateman: It's on the door, as plain as the nose on my face! It's a [Realizes there is no notice] Oh-- Oh... [Hangs a notice on the door, then disappears]

All Four: [Reading the notice] "Bell out of order. Please knock." [Dorothy knocks on the knocker, and the Gateman reemerges]

Gateman: Well, that's more like it! Now, state your business.

All four: We want to see the Wizard.

Gateman: [Nearly falls out of his porthole from shock] The Wizard?! But nobody can see the Great Oz! Nobody's ever seen the Great Oz! Even I've never seen him!

Dorothy: Well, then — how do you know there is one?

Gateman: Because he, uh... You're wasting my time!

Dorothy: Oh please, please sir. I've got to see the Wizard. The Good Witch of the North sent me.

Gateman: Prove it. * * *

Once Dorothy displays the Ruby Slippers, the Gatekeeper says, "Well, bust my buttons"; and she, with her companions, are ushered into the Emerald City, where they prepare to do their longer & harder work.

Chip Prescott is as special as Dorothy Gale in that movie, The Wizard of Oz.

He does not wear Ruby Slippers (thank goodness), but he radiates personal characteristics that gleam just as brightly. He is honest, intelligent, resourceful, devoted, reliable, sensitive, social, respectful, and funny. He is one of the finest people I've encountered. I am privileged to consider him my friend.

He understands the need for practical legal education, responsive to the changing needs of our citizens and also targeted at graduates' productive employment.

Just as Dorothy possessed the necessary desire and qualities to perform her mission with the support of her companions, which resulted in growth and goodness in the lives of those she touched in that movie's fantasy, Chip Prescott possesses the commitment and character to materialize a new law school with the support of Wilkes University and the host that will join the effort, which will benefit Pennsylvanians in reality.

I congratulate him on his acceptance of this new challenge; and I congratulate the folks at Wilkes University for selecting him.

Scarecrow: What have you learned, Dorothy?

Dorothy: Well, I—I think that it, that it wasn't enough just to want to see Uncle Henry and Auntie Em — and it's that — if I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own backyard. Because if it isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with! Is that right?

Glinda: That's all it is! * * *

...

Glinda: Then close your eyes and tap your heels together three times. And think to yourself, 'There's no place like home'.

* * *

Update: 05/27/08:

On May 27, 2008, The Citizens Voice, in Northeastern PA, published an extensive, complimentary article about Chip Prescott, entitled "New dean of Wilkes law school initiative ready for the challenge", by Caleb Sheaffer:

This summer, Loren D. “Chip” Prescott Jr. has many things on his plate.

The first is cleaning his office of 18 years at Widener University School of Law in Harrisburg.

The second is starting as the appointed dean for the Wilkes University Law School Planning Initiative. He’s also becoming a grandfather and completing work on a doctorate in public administration.

Last, he is meeting with a consultant in Chicago to discuss the accreditation process for a law school that four years ago was only an idea.

It’s a law school that Prescott hopes will open its doors at Wilkes University by 2010, graduating its first class by 2013. It’s also a law school that Prescott sees as a bold move by Wilkes University, which will benefit Wilkes-Barre and Northeastern Pennsylvania upon its completion.

“The biggest challenge is this involves the creation of a new institution,” Prescott said. “In higher education, the opportunity to create an institution is unusual.”

Prescott, 52, of Harrisburg, starts the job as dean of the Wilkes University Law School Planning Initiative on June 2. He will be responsible for presenting a complete plan for the law school to the Wilkes University Board of Trustees by April 2009. * * *

"No Standing" for Barnes Foundation Petitioners

On May 15, 2008, the Orphans' Court Division, of the Montgomery County (PA) Court of Common Pleas, per Judge Stanley R. Ott, issued a Memorandum Opinion (8 pages) that denied "standing" to the Friends of the Barnes Foundation and the County of Montgomery in the litigation referenced as The Barnes Foundation -- Petitions to Reopen Proceedings.

And now, this 15th day of May, 2008, upon consideration of the preliminary objections and briefs and argument of counsel, the petitions filed by the Friends of the Barnes Foundation, et alii, and by the County of Montgomery are hereby DISMISSED for lack of standing. Each party to bear its own costs.

The decision was reported in news articles, such as:

• "Judge denies new hearings in Barnes Foundation move", by JoAnn Loviglio, Associated Press, dated May 15, 2008, posted on AOL News.
• "Judge again rejects foes of Barnes move", by Derrick Nunnally, Philadelphia Inquirer, dated May 16, 2008.
• "Barnes Foundation Can Move, Judge Rules", New York Sun, dated May 16, 2008.

For prior postings on this Blog regarding the Petition for Reconsideration filed in the Barnes Foundation relocation matter, providing background, see: Montgomery County PA Joins Barnes Fight (09/14/07); Petition Filed for Reconsideration of Barnes Relocation (08/28/07); and Next Round for the Barnes Foundation (06/11/07).

This was the setting for Judge Ott's ruling on preliminary objections filed by the Barnes Foundation, as stated in the Memorandum Opinion:

On August 27, 2007, a petition was filed on behalf of several individuals and the "Friends of the Barnes Foundation" (referred to collectively herein as "the Friends") seeking, inter alia, to reopen the proceedings which resulted in this Court's December 13, 2004 opinion granting permission to the trustees of The Barnes Foundation to relocate its art gallery at a new location in Philadelphia. See Barnes Foundation, 25 Fiduc. Rep, 2d 39.

On August 31, 2007, the Friends filed a petition to have citations issued to the individual trustees to show cause why the request to reopen the matter should not be granted.

The trustees filed preliminary objections to the petition, which were joined in by the Offlce of the Attorney General, as parens patriae for charities.

On September 12, 2007, Montgomery County filed its own petition to reopen the matter; and the trustees' and the Attorney General again filed preliminary objections.

Thereafter, the parties filed extensive briefs and the undersigned heard argument on the preliminary objections on March 24, 2008. * * *

Judge Ott provided some further background about the controversy presented to that court:

Before addressing the preliminary objections to both of these petitions, we must summarize briefly certain developments in this saga.

At some point after the December 2004 opinion was issued, it came to the Court's and the public's attention that a budget bill, passed by the state legislature and the Governor in 2002, contained a line item for approximately one hundred million dollars for the purpose of building a new facility in Philadelphia to house The Foundation's art collection. This revelation caused a flurry of speculation that The Foundation's trustees had knowledge of the budget item and had actively concealed its existence from the Court during the hearings on the petition for permission to move the gallery and art program from Merion. In the instant petitions, both the Friends and the County urge the Court to reopen the matter on the basis of this new information.

A second reason put forth for reconsidering our earlier decision is the proposal floated in June of 2007 by the Montgomery County Commissioners to purchase The Foundation's land and buildings for approximately $50 million, and to lease the property back to The Foundation. The County suggested that the influx of cash to The Foundation from the sale would permit the art collection to be preserved, an endowment to be established, and the gallery and art education program to remain in Merion. Shortly after receiving this proposal, The Foundation rejected it, stating the decision to move to Philadelphia was irreversible. * * *

But the threshhold issues to be decided, stated Judge Ott, related to the "standing" of the petitioning parties to be in court, requesting reconsideration of the prior decision.

With reference to the role of The Friends of the Barnes Foundation, guidance was offered in a decision rendered by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in 2006.

The preliminary objections to both petitions now before us raise the question of standing. This Court has addressed this issue in proceedings that relate to The Foundation on several occasions. We conclude that, as many who have gone before, the Friends lack standing because they have no interest beyond that of the general public.

The Friends, in their brief, all but concede as much, however, they claim the question of standing is so "enmeshed" with the merits that the preliminary objections should be overruled and the situation vetted in depth. In support of this argument, the Friends
have cited several decisions from U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal.

As tempting as the possibility of exploring the merits of these petitions might be, we are bound, not by these federal court decisions, but by the recent holding from our Supreme Court in the matter of Milton Hershey School, 590 Pa. 35, 911 A.2d 1258 (2006). There, the Court disavowed an attempt by the Commonwealth Court to rewrite the law on standing. * * *

See: PA EE&F Law Blog posting Milton Hershey School: Trustees Rule (01/02/07).

As to the legal standing of The Friends of the Barnes Foundation to participate, Judge Ott ruled negatively:

In light of the Supreme Court's resounding ratification of these historical precepts, it is clear that the Friends lack standing in this matter. While the "intensity of concern" felt by these petitioners is, no doubt, as "real and commendable" as that of the alumni in the Hershey case, they, like the alumni, lack the requisite "actual interest" in the matter sub judice. * * *

As to the legal standing of Montgomery County, Judge Ott ruled negatively also:

[B]inding precedent instructs us that a "special interest" is required to establish standing.

As the Attorney General and the trustees point out, the County's "special interests" in protecting historical resources and nurturing economic welfare are matters within the purview of the Attorney General's office. That Office as parens patriae protects the general public, and there is no authority for a second sovereign to participate on behalf of a subset of the general public.

On this point, the Commonwealth Court issued a relevant opinion after its Hershey opinion and before the Supreme Court's reversal in Hershey, in the matter of Philadelphia Health Care Trusts, 872 A.2d 258 (Cmwlth. 2005). * * *

We find this holding to be dispositive of the issue before us, and determine that the County has no standing. * * *

Accordingly, Judge Ott dismissed both petitions.

Then he addressed the significant financial issue of counsel fees, as requested by The Barnes Foundation and the Attorney General's Office pursuant to 42 Pa. C.S.A. §2503. However, the Judge found that the petitions had been filed in good faith, on issues of importance, and therefore were not so "vexatious" as to merit the award of fees against the petitioners.

For the reaction by The Friends of the Barnes Foundation to the ruling, see: "Friends of the Barnes Foundation, undaunted by Judge's dismissal of case, decries inaction of Attorney General" (PDF, 5 page), dated May 16, 2008.

Update: 05/21/08:

The Barnes Foundation expressed satisfaction with the ruling in a press release, dated May 15, 2008, entitled "The Barnes Foundation Statement on Montgomery County Orphans Court Decision".

The Barnes Foundation has stated that it is pleased with the ruling of Montgomery County Orphans Court Judge Stanley R. Ott to dismiss the petitions of the Friends of the Barnes Foundation and Montgomery County Commissioners to re-open his December 2004 decision permitting the Foundation to move its art collection to Philadelphia.

Derek Gillman, Executive Director and President of the Barnes Foundation said, "This very clear ruling ends the present distraction and we are forging ahead with plans for the new building." * * *

PBA RPPT Section's 2008 Annual Meeting

On Wednesday, June 4, & Thursday, June 5, 2008, the Real Property, Probate & Trust Law Section of the Pennsylvania Bar Association will hold its Annual Meeting & Retreat, in conjunction with the PBA's Statewide Annual Meeting, at the Hershey Lodge, in Hershey, PA.

The RPPT Section's Annual Meeting & Retreat is explained in detail in a brochure posted online (PDF, 6 pages).

This is the schedule of sessions & events:

Wednesday - June 4th

Time	Probate and Trust	Real Property
9:00-10:00	Recent Developments in Real Property and Probate Kirby Upright, Andrea Geraghty
10:00 -11:00	Wants, Wishes, and Wills- A Medical and Legal Guide to Protecting Yourself and Your Family In Sickness and In Health Wynne A. Whitman
11:00 –11:15	Break
11:15- 12:15	Special Needs Trusts Steve Feldman	Transfer Tax Changes Phil Korb
12:15 – 2:00	Lunch
2:00 – 3:00	Lawyers in the Movies (Ethics) Gordon Zubrod
3:00 – 3:15	Networking break
3:15 – 4:15	Ask the Expert: Top Ten State Tax Issues to Avoid Paul Dibert		Top Tax Tips for Real Estate Lawyers Joe Sedlack
4:15- 5:15	Real Estate Issues for Estate Practitioners Jeff Malak Dave Schwager		Planning for Entities- FLPs, LLCs, etc. Arnie Kogan Chip Mackrides

Thursday - June 5th

Time
8:00- 9:00	Annual Meeting for Members
9:00 –10:00	Vacation Homes: Tax Consequences and Estate Issues Maury Reiter
10:00 – 11:00	Orphans’ Court Rules Update Dean Philips Hon. Anne Lazarus Neil Hendershot	Inside Subprime Mortgages Irv Ackelsberg David Schwager (Moderator) Faith Schwartz

The online brochure also describes the wrap-around social activities planned by the Section's leadership, and explains how you can register & where you can stay.

If you are a Section Member, or a statewide member attending the PBA's Annual Meeting, please consider participating in the social activities and attending the instructive sessions.

Firefighters, First Responders, and Free Wills

On May 11, 2008, the Chambersburg Public Opinion published an article entitled "Firefighters can make free wills", by Rob Luff, describing a pro bono service of the Franklin County Bar Association to provide personal & estate planning documents to firefighters.

This pro bono community program by the Young Lawyers Division, of the FCBA, is described on its website:

Firefighters put their lives on the line every day to protect their communities, yet national statistics show too few of them have taken all the necessary steps to ensure the future of their loved ones should anything happen to them.

A new program by the Young Lawyers Division of the Franklin County Bar Association will help ease that burden.

Through the Florian Project, attorneys will provide basic estate-planning documents -- simple wills, powers of attorney and living wills or medical directives -- to local firefighters at no cost to them.

Firefighters interested in the program should talk with their chief. * * *

The newspaper article noted the creation, and possible expansion, of the local bar association program by lawyers for first responders.

The program already has been implemented in Cumberland County, according to Carolyn Seibert-Drager, executive director of the Franklin County Bar Association.

When the FCBA decided to offer similar services, it chose to act through the Florian Foundation, a nonprofit organization based in Arlington, Va., that specializes in offering legal assistance to public safety workers.

The program has been operating for a month. The response has been positive from fire companies; according to Seibert-Drager, around 20 to 25 individuals have signed. * * *

Seibert-Drager said the plan is to keep the program running throughout 2008.

"We decided to start with firefighters," Seibert-Drager said. "We may look to extend to EMS (Emergency Medical Services professionals) and police officers." * * *

The article concluded with an invitation to that county's firefighters who qualify to benefit from the public service program:

The Florian Project is available to all firefighters in a fire company in Franklin County, as long as their estates do not exceed federal taxable guidelines.

Firefighters interested should talk to their fire chief or contact the FCBA at 717-267-2032 or info@franklinbar.org.

The model, pro bono project of the Cumberland County Bar Association, conducted in cooperation with the Floridan Foundation, was described in a Press Release, dated September 9, 2005, entitled "Cumberland County Bar Association, Board of Commissioners, Partner in Florian Foundation Project to Help" (Word format, 2 pages).

These projects by the FCBA and the CCBA may be new to Pennsylvania. But this idea is not new, nationwide.

Bar associations (either state or local) in at least eleven states already offer such programs in cooperation with the Wills for Heroes Foundation, based in South Carolina.

Wills for Heroes programs provide essential legal documents free of charge to our nation’s first responders, including wills, living wills, and powers of attorney.

By helping first responders plan now, they ensure their family's legal affairs are in order before a tragedy hits. * * *

The roots, rationale, and rewards of the Wills for Heroes public service program were described in a lengthy article published in USA Today on April 21, 2008, entitled "Attorneys lend a hand to emergency workers", by David Unze.

The ABA's Young Lawyers' Division program, offered in conjunction with the Wills for Heroes Foundation, is described on the ABA's website. Listed there are additional "states currently developing templates" -- Connecticut, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Ohio, Oklahoma, & Tennessee. See also: "Giving Back to First Responders --The ABA YLD 2007–08 Public Service Project" (September, 2007), by Daniel McKenna.

The American Bar Association promotes such pro bono projects, as evidenced by a Media Advisory, dated February 4, 2008, entitled "Young Lawyers to Draft Wills for Local First Responders".

The American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division, together with the Wills for Heroes Foundation and the Beverly Hills Bar Association Barristers, will be drafting free wills for about 100 Beverly Hills firefighters and police officers on Saturday from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. PT at the Beverly Hills Fire Department’s Fire Station 1.

Part of the YLD’s 2007-2008 public service project, Wills for Heroes, this event will be held in conjunction with the ABA Midyear Meeting in Los Angeles, Feb. 6-12.

A creation of the Wills for Heroes Foundation, this unique pro bono program provides free wills and other basic estate planning documents to emergency first responders, their spouses and domestic partners.

To date, the Wills for Heroes Foundation has assisted more than 7,000 emergency first responders in several states including Alabama, Arizona, California, Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia.

If there are any other such programs operating or organizing in Pennsylvania, in conjunction with either of these two coordinating foundations, I would be interested to know details for posting here.

Update: 05/06/09:

In 2009, the Pennsylvania Bar Association, through its Young Lawyers Division, now sponsors a Wills for Heroes program, which "provides no-cost wills, living wills, and health care and financial powers of attorney to first responders and their spouses/partners."

The PBA-YLD web page for its "Wills for Heroes" project explains the new project, in planning since last summer.

For further information, see: PA EE&F Law Blog posting PBA's Young Lawyers Sponsor "Wills for Heroes" (05/06/09).

Update: 08/03/10:

See my further posts regarding the Wills for Heroes program and workshops held or scheduled in Pennsylvania: PBA's Young Lawyers Sponsor "Wills for Heroes" (05/09/09) and "Wills for Heroes" Workshops Multiply in PA & DE (08/03/10).

Your Life Expectancy, Calculated Online

A blog entry, dated May 12, 2008, entitled "I'm going to live to be 97: How about you?", by Rita R. Robison, posted on the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, highlighted a Life Expectancy Calculator available on The Spirit of Now website, hosted by Peter Russell.

It calculates your current virtual age, which will differ from your current actual age, and then projects your remaining life expectancy.

Your Virtual Age is a reflection of your health and vitality. The lower your Virtual Age the better shape you are in.

It is used to calculate the Life Expectancy of someone of your current physical age.

In her blog posting, Rita announced that she would live to the age of 97. I used it too, but I am less pleased with the results.

Russell's Life Expectancy Calculator asks 34 questions, beginning with your actual age. Then you identify your gender (checking "male" immediately increased my virtual age by one year), your race, your weight/build, your educational level, personal habits, medical conditions, hereditary conditions, personal attitudes, and other risk factors.

After the interview, it calculated that I would live 10,500 more days, that is, to the age of 85.

But I wanted some confirmation about this. So I checked a second Life Expectancy Calculator (one provided by MSN-Money), which is text based. I didn't like it as much -- mainly because it gave me a life expectancy of 81 instead -- only four years over average.

So then I checked a third Life Expectancy Calculator, one provided by Living to 100. Its data entry questions were more detailed, asking, for example, whether I often eat charred barbecued food, whether I floss every day, and how often I move a stool (all of which seem to be related in some way, I think). Although embarrassed by some of the questions, I liked its result the best: 86.

I finished my quest for longer life through the Life Expectancy Calculator provided on a webpage of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. It was the most heady, requesting responses from referenced tables on fitness, food groups, and occupations. Because of this impressive statistical approach, but its allowance for me to respond "I don't know" often and tell it where I live, this last calculator appeared most authoritative. It confirmed that I will live to the age of 85.

But it also noted that, statistically, a quarter of people with scores like me will live to be 95, instead; and that is really hopeful.

For the time being (and at least until I reach about 80, when I might reconsider), I'll plan on dying at 85.

If I do reconsider, and choose to live longer, that fourth calculator would allow me to review and then address specific health risks that I could improve, such as:

Smoking
Alcohol
Driving
Stress
Exercise
Nutrition
Sexual Partners
Sleep

How long do you have left here? And what are you willing to change so you can stay here longer?

Me? I'll look into sleeping more.

Update: 06/12/08:

On June 10, 2008, Fortune Magazine posted an article on CNN Money entitled "How long will you live?" by Geoff Colvin, who asserted:

In retirement planning, everything is based on one number: your guess about your lifespan.

It's harder to estimate than you may think -- and there's a greater chance than ever that you'll be wrong. * * *

Lectures Online about Elder Abuse

On Tuesday, May 13, 2008, at 9:00 a.m. EST (12 noon PST), the first of two 30-minute lectures about elder abuse will be broadcast over the Internet, as produced by the University of California at Irvine.

According to a recent email message posted on the listserv of the National Commission on Elder Abuse by Elaine A. Chen (Email: eachen@uci.edu), Coordinator, Elder Abuse Prevention Programs, Center of Excellence in Elder Abuse & Neglect, Program in Geriatrics, at the University of California at Irvine, these two lectures are "part of the Coming of Age Lecture Series produced by UCTV."

Two 30-minute lectures on Elder Abuse by Laura Mosqueda, M.D., Director of Geriatrics and Professor of Family Medicine at the University of California, Irvine * * * will be viewable in several formats:

• online through a live stream and then by video-on-demand at www.uctv.tv and YouTube,
  
• locally on cable television throughout California, and
  
• nationally on Dish network.

They are scheduled to air initially on May 13th and 26th to commemorate Elder Abuse Awareness Month in California and to kick off activities for World Elder Abuse Awareness Day.

The videos are described as follows:

Forensic Markers of Elder Abuse (first airdate 5/13/2008, 12:00 pm PST [9:00 am EST]):

• This program details the forensic signs of elder abuse. Dr. Mosqueda's presentation is essential viewing by anyone who treats this vulnerable population. In this program, Dr. Mosqueda explains how to discern the normal signs of aging from signs of abuse.

Elder Abuse (first airdate 5/26/2008, 7:30 pm PST [4:30 pm EST]):

• The lecture "Elder Abuse" addresses the lay public, describes the nature and scope of elder abuse, explaining some of the vulnerabilities to mistreatment and posing some ethical questions to ponder.

The online availability for these videos will be through www.uctv.tv. The feed will also be available through a dedicated YouTube link for UCTV.

For those selecting an online mode to view the lectures, Elaine noted:

There is an advantage to watching on YouTube for people who prefer that the size of the screen can be enlarged to full screen for viewing archived programs, if one clicks on the little box on the lower right hand corner. This cannot be done from the UCTV website for watching the live streaming programs online.

After their initial broadcasts, these two programs should join other archived lectures for online, on demand, video replay through the website of the Coming of Age Lecture Series.

2008 World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, the third such recognition on June 15th annually, as sponsored by the International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse, is designated for Sunday, June 15, 2008.

According to the U.S. Administration on Aging's webpage about "Elder Rights & Resources", that day "serves as a call-to-action for individuals, organizations and communities to raise awareness about elder abuse, neglect and exploitation."

Update: 05/19/08:

This email message was posted to the NCEA Listserv by Elaine A. Chen:

Recently I sent an email announcement regarding two 30-minute lectures on Elder Abuse by Laura Mosqueda, M.D., Director of Geriatrics and Professor of Family Medicine at the University of California, Irvine are featured as part of the Coming of Age Lecture Series produced by UCTV.

They are now available to view online.

YouTube has a feature that allows you to view in full-screen mode.

You may also access the online videos via the UCTV website [or here].

• Forensic Markers of Elder Abuse -- (first airdate 5/13/2008, 12:00 pm PST) * * *
  

• Elder Abuse --(first airdate 5/26/2008, 7:30 pm PST) * * *
  

Please pass this information on to your colleagues and partners. We are eager for as many people as possible to be exposed to these seminal presentations. These lectures may be used by others in the field as long as they are not altered and UC Irvine Center of Excellence in Elder Abuse & Neglect (or UC Irvine Program in Geriatrics) is given attribution.