Call for Proposals

Call for Proposals is Closed

Thank you for your interest in submitting a proposal for the 2012 Priester Conference, but submissions are now closed. If you have already submitted a proposal and would like to contact someone concerning your proposal, please email Bonnie Braun.

2012 Information

This is the call for Abstracts and Presentations for our 15th Annual Priester National Extension Health Conference that is scheduled to be held April 10-12, 2012.

Location: Marriott Renaissance, 999 Ninth Street NW, Washington, District Of Columbia 20001 USA

Deadline: The deadline for Submission of Proposals is February 6, 2012@ 5pm EST

Call for Presentations
We invite Cooperative Extension professionals, federal, state and local health partners, public health professionals, and students to submit proposals related to the conference theme Proposals should be related to the theme and one of the four tracks described below.

Conference Theme
The 2012 conference theme, Leveraging Partnerships to Improve the Health of the Nation, was chosen to:

Expand or begin partnerships that can make a difference in the health and well-being of our nation’s population.
Acknowledge that collaborative and cooperative approaches are needed for health improvement along with achievement of goals of multiple public health policies.
Celebrate Cooperative Extension’s long history of working with others to promote health and prevent disease for individuals of every age and background, in families of all types, living in rural, suburban, and urban communities.

Conference Tracks

National Health Goals and Objectives
Local Evidence-Based programs
Translational Research
The Role of Communication, Marketing, Health Promotion and Health Literacy

These tracks focus on:

Collaboration and partnerships across universities, agencies, associations;
Translational research to change the health of the nation, applying research to the real world;
Creating networking and connecting opportunities;
Using effective, evidence-based strategies and processes for effective health promotion leading to behavior change and better health outcomes;
Understanding, communication, marketing, health promotion and health literacy
Aligning research practice with national goals and objectives.

Proposals are sought that address, but are not limited to, the descriptors of the tracks

National Health Goals and Objectives
Use of Healthy People 2020; National Health Literacy Action Plan; National Prevention Strategy and/or the Affordable Health Care Act in programming, research and practice; Examples of attaining high quality, longer lives free of preventable disease, disability, injury, and premature death; achieving health equity; eliminating disparities, and improving the health of all groups. Creating social and physical environments that promote good health for all and promote quality of life, healthy development, and healthy behaviors across the life span.

Local Evidence-Based programs
Practice, programs, research and policies to improve health and prevent disease in the community. Policy interventions that have proven effective along with the costs of effective interventions and the likely return. Results from evidence-based research or programming.

Translational Research: Applying Research to the Real World
Examples of research studies and interventions that used research findings in their design, delivery and evaluation; of relationships between researchers, clinicians and community that have been transformed as a result of translational research; and information, resources and tools that professionals and community members can use to promote health and change health behavior.

The Role of Communication, Marketing, Health Promotion and Health Literacy
Use of social and other media to communicate with any targeted population; fundamental principles of health communication and health literacy applied to health education; Examples of communication tools used and evaluation of research results.

Conference Purpose
The Priester National Extension Health Conference offers professionals from Cooperative Extension, their federal, state, and local professional and community partners, and students an opportunity to share health-related educational programs and resources, applied research, and collaborative strategies. The annual conference is named in honor of retired USDA National Program Leader, Jeanne Priester.

An Invitation to the 2012 Conference
Join us in our Nation’s Capitol to celebrate the 15^th anniversary of the National Priester Extension Health Conference! Having “come of age,” this year’s conference will bring together Extension health educators and public health professionals to celebrate the many successes accomplished through research and community partnerships and to explore new ways of working together to improve health outcomes of the people of our nation.

This year’s conference views community and networking through the lens of geographic communities of interest, communities of practice and communities bound together through the virtual world of social networking. The Priester Conference will build on Extension’s long history of “boots on the ground” work in most counties and cities across the nation. It will capitalize on Extension’s reputation for being change agents in local communities by celebrating existing partnerships and making new ones. This year’s conference highlights Cooperative Extension’s coming out party for its online resources and newest virtual eXtension community of practice: Creating Healthy Communities!

Join us to Connect, Learn, Contribute, Leverage, Celebrate, and Re-Charge

Conference Participant Objective
Participants in the 2012 Priester National Extension Health Conference will:

Increase their knowledge of Healthy People 2020 health goals and objectives as a framework for program planning.
Increase their knowledge of how to use the National Prevention Strategy to justify programs, grants and plans of action.
Increase their knowledge of effective translational research and local evidence-based programs.
Be encouraged to generate articles for publication in professional journals.
Increase their knowledge of the Affordable Care Act and its policies.
Increase their understanding of how to use the National Health Literacy Action Plan to develop personal, partnership and community goals.
Develop a network of colleagues and partners for initiating or expanding health initiatives.
Explore use of Social Media in health promotion.
Develop new partnerships or strengthen existing partnerships between Extension health educators and public health professionals.

Conference Format
Proposals are invited for workshops, presentations, contributed papers, roundtable discussions, share fair/poster displays and exhibits. Contributed papers are designed to encourage student participation. Students may also participate as co-presenters. The proposal submission form follows.

Submitted proposals should focus on programs that educate community members or policy makers about research in one of the focus areas, individual behavior change strategies, health care access and quality, health policy, community health infrastructure, and/or health literacy. Programs in the areas of healthy lifestyles, chronic disease prevention and management, health literacy, and health policy that relate to conference tracks are strongly encouraged.

We are seeking workshops that provide skills development and presentations that demonstrate innovative ideas, promising practices, and outcomes and impacts based on evaluation that are:

a) Designed to reach diverse or targeted audiences, for example: limited resource, low literacy, urban, rural, Hispanic/Latino, African-American, new immigrants; b) Focused in a particular specialty area or that utilize integrated programming, i.e. that combine the efforts of Extension’s traditional program areas of 4-H youth, family and consumer sciences, agriculture and natural resources, and community health and rural development or fields of practice such as public health, dentistry, nursing, medical, social work, etc; c) Addressing critical and emerging health issues; or d) Are community, needs, or assets-based.

Workshop
45, 60 or 120 -minute sessions (indicate your preference) intended to share established and innovative curriculum, programs or evaluation resources, or community or policy development strategies through interactive activities and presentations that build skills.
Presentation
60-minute sessions intended to present information, research or evaluation results in a lecture format with some time for discussion. Note: This category may be presented by an individual, a partnership or team.
Contributed Paper
15-minute presentations given during a session with other presenters of accepted papers. Note: Presenters will be grouped by subject matter for session. Students are encouraged to submit.
Poster Sessions
An opportunity to showcase successful programs, projects, research, evaluation strategies or resources. Poster boards will be provided (two 4×4 posters per board). Note: Presenters are expected to be at their poster most of the Networking Reception.

Breakfast Rounds
Presenters are encouraged to share sample materials, brochures, etc. during one of the two breakfast hours. One person/team will be sharing at each table. Indicate which day you prefer—Wednesday or Thursday.
Exhibits
Cooperative Extension educators, health associations, not-for-profit organizations, publishers and companies are invited to exhibit. Exhibits will provide participants with an opportunity to explore possible new program options and find out about available resources. Note: Fees will be assessed. Exhibitors must be present during the exhibit hours on Wednesday and Thursday. Information will be provided on the website: http://priesterconference.org/

Proposal Review Process
Conference tracks are being planned by subcommittees. Subcommittee members include state and county Extension educators, university faculty, and their state and federal partners. Tracks may include presentations or workshops selected through the RFP process as well as sessions specifically planned by the subcommittee. Proposals that are submitted will undergo a blind review using the following criteria.

Proposal Review Criteria

relates to the conference theme—emphasizes existing or potential partnerships
relates to one of the identified tracks (or if skills-based, is relevant to health programming/research)
has at least two clearly defined learner-focused objectives that tie to one or more conference participants’ learning objectives
describes a program/policy/activity that uses a research or evidence base with implications for application, addresses identified needs in communities, uses a collaborative approach involving partners, provides participants with skills, knowledge, and abilities, engages participants in active learning, has clearly stated participant objectives, presents information in a new or creative way, provides information that is replicable and applicable to other areas or populations, provides evaluation data (where applicable) and is appropriate for conference audience and objectives.

The quality of writing will be reviewed as well. The writing criteria include:

grammar and spelling
clear and concise writing

2012 Priester Award

In addition, please consider submitting your program/activity for the Priester Award. The Priester Award is made in honor of the accomplishments and contributions of Jeanne M. Priester to the Cooperative Extension System. Ms. Priester was a leader in advancing health education within CES during her tenure at the United States Department of Agriculture.

The purpose of the award is to honor Extension programs that are positively impacting the health of people in communities across the United States and are expanding Extension’s capacity to effectively provide health programs. The Priester award will recognize sound and innovative health education programs on the county/multi-county and state/multi-state level. Look for award nomination forms and procedures online at http://priesterconference.org/.

Call for Proposals is Closed

Priester Conference