May 7, 2013
Centennial conference to focus on community, healthy living
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Indiana Extension Homemakers Association's Home and Family Conference will celebrate its 100th year with workshops, tours, food and music celebrating health, community and positive living.
The conference, which will be June 12-14 on the Purdue University campus in West Lafayette, will include more than 25 sessions on nutrition and food safety, relationships, community, history, fashion, and technology.
In addition to daily concurrent sessions, attendees can tour the Purdue art galleries and horticulture gardens, visit Mackey Arena, participate in a floral arranging workshop or tour the campus by bus.
"There are so many new discoveries happening in the College of Health and Human Sciences and across the Purdue campus," said Angie Abbott, Purdue Extension program leader and assistant director. "This conference highlights those discoveries that focus on health, wellness and enhancing one's quality of life. This year's conference will celebrate 100 years of providing quality research-based education related to home and families to the residents of Indiana and the nation."
The conference's featured speakers include Will Miller, a psychotherapist, campus minister and lecturer, hospital and police chaplain, and former stand-up comedian who has appeared on "The Today Show," "Good Morning America," "Larry King Live" and "The O'Reilly Factor." He will speak on "Refrigerator Rights: Creating Essential Relationships."
Also featured is former NBC Indianapolis news anchor Anne Ryder, a former Emmy Award-winning journalist who reported from war zones, interviewed the Dalai Lama and conducted Mother Teresa's final interview in Calcutta. A medical emergency prompted her to step away from her career and spend more time with her family, and she is now writing her first book. She will present "Your Golden Thread: Weaving a Tapestry of Connection when Life Changes in an Instant."
The conference's centennial will be celebrated with a gala dinner at 6 p.m. June 13 in the Purdue Memorial Union, featuring guest speaker April Mason. Mason, who received her master's and doctoral degrees from Purdue, serves as provost and senior vice president of Kansas State University. She will present "Look What We Have Accomplished," a tribute to the history and accomplishments of the Indiana Extension Homemakers Association over the last 100 years and a look ahead to the future.
The Indiana Extension Homemakers Association was founded in 1913 by a group of homemakers and Purdue professors with the goal of providing social and educational opportunities for homemakers and encouraging the teaching of "domestic science," or home economics, in schools. In its first year, the group contributed to the passing of the Smith-Lever Act, which created the Cooperative Extension Service to provide instruction in agriculture and home economics.
Registration for the full conference is $185, and single-session registration is $95. There are additional fees for parking, the gala banquet and tours. For more information or to register online, visit http://www.conf.purdue.edu/homeandfamily.
Writer: Jessica Merzdorf, 765-494-8402, jmerzdor@purdue.edu
Sources: Angie Abbott, 765-494-8252, abbottar@purdue.edu
Michele Baker, 765-494-8252, baker177@purdue.edu
Rosalind Richey, rprichey@ndwave.com
Ag Communications: (765) 494-2722;
Keith Robinson, robins89@purdue.edu
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