About SGS

Our Mission

SGS is an inclusive membership association of diverse individuals and organizations with interests in gerontology. Members seek to improve the quality of life for older adults through education, research and practice.

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Our Vision

“Bridging gerontological education, research and practice to serve our aging society”.

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What is the Southern Gerontological Society?

In 1979, a diverse group of professionals established a forum to share their ideas on aging. From its beginning, SGS has been dedicated to accelerating the process of getting information from the hands of researchers and academicians to the hands of practitioners for practical application.

Since its incorporation, SGS has worked to proactively envision and respond in strategic and applied ways to problems and issues in aging by engaging the cooperation and interaction between members who reflect a diverse audience of researchers, students, older adults and practitioners. In 2019, SGS adopted its 14th state into its regional identity by adding the great state of Texas. Currently, SGS’s regional representation includes the following states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and West Virginia.

Today, 40 years later, SGS is a vibrant and thriving regional gerontological membership organization that continues to work towards building bridges between research and practice in the field of aging. As the only regional membership society on aging, SGS focuses on aging related issues, challenges and strengths unique to the Southern region of the United States. SGS’s region, the South, invites and nurtures collaborations among stakeholders in order to find solutions and best practices for the South’s unique aging-related challenges. While the society focuses on regional, Southern aging issues, its reach is international in scope through the dissemination of educational material through the Journal of Applied Gerontology, the open access, peer-reviewed Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine and the Southern Gerontologist newsletter. The society also hosts its annual conference and webinars with program content developed specifically to continue to support and enhance networks and collaborative works.

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The Expertise of SGS

Aging is one of the most dynamic fields of study. New developments are shared among educators, advocates, practitioners, and policy makers in search of innovative techniques and applications to improve the experience of growing older. SGS is a valued partner in this progress.

The continued vision of SGS is guided by the Southern Gerontological Society’s original Articles of Incorporation filed with the State of Florida in 1979, and are as follows:

1. to provide a membership organization for people who are interested in education, research, service delivery, and other areas in the field of gerontology.
2. to promote communications among all individuals concerned with enhancing the status of older people.
3. to assume leadership in the southern region for bringing about better understanding of developments in the field of gerontology.
4. to advocate for the development of sound strategies to move toward the implementation of meaningful public policy in aging within the southern region and in the nation.
5. to encourage, and in some cases initiate, educational and training programs that serve older people and those who with and in behalf of older people.
6. to help identify areas of study and, where possible, to assume leadership in the development of research strategies and research designs.
7. to take an active role in the clarification and implementation of the results of demonstration projects, experimental programs, and research.
8. to develop plans for an annual regional meeting; other meetings as appropriate; to systemically address current issues in the field, research developments, political developments; and other matters deserving of systematic attention.

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SGS Membership Benefits

A subscription to Journal of Applied Gerontology (JAG) is included with your Southern Gerontological Society membership. JAG is devoted to the publication of articles that focus on research applications intended to improve the quality of life of older persons or to enhance our understanding of age-related issues that will eventually lead to such outcomes.
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Members of SGS are also eligible to receive significant discounts on the publication fees, if accepted for publication by our newest peer-reviewed, open access journal - Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine (GGM). For more information on this journal, please visit: http://journals.sagepub.com/home/ggm.

Additional SGS membership benefits include discounts to the annual conference and exclusive access to the SGS online membership directory.

Perhaps most importantly, membership in the Southern Gerontological Society provides professionals with a forum, via the annual conference, for discussing important practical issues relating to older adults in our region. The annual conference is intended to facilitate intense programming content from many professional perspectives, all of which directly relates to the lives of older adults residing in the Southern region.

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Additional SGS Membership Benefits include:

• Annual Awards including those awarded for:
  Applied Gerontologist
  Gordon Streib
  Rhoda Jennings Older Advocate
  Best Practices
  Media
  Student Paper
  Student Poster
  Student Travel Scholarship
  Encore Recognition Award
• Also Available: Professional Continuing Education Units

For additional information, please contact:

Amanda James, SGS Executive Director
PO Box 80786, Conyers, GA 30013
(866) 920-4660
admin@southerngerontologicalsociety.org