Epsilon Sigma Phi is presenting Joseph A. Mikels, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in the Department of Human Development as the guest speaker at the Thursday morning breakfast. Dr Mikels's talk is entitled The Positive Side of Aging: Changes in Emotion-Cognition Interactions across the Life Span. His brief desceiption of the talk follows. All conference participants are encouraged to attend this breakfast that will take place in the Statler Ballroom from 7:00 to 9:00AM
Decades of research in cognitive aging have documented steady decline in later life. Effortful, deliberative, resource- intensive processing shows marked and reliable decline. In contrast to this downward trajectory, research in emotional aging portrays an upward trajectory; many emotional processes are maintained in older
age, and select processes and experiences appear enhanced. Furthermore, recent findings are converging on an age-related positivity effect such that older adults attend to and better remember positive information relative to negative information, which is strikingly juxtaposed to a negativity bias in younger adults. In my talk, I will discuss a motivational theory that addresses the age- related changes in emotion-cognition interactions, followed by
paradigmatic demonstrations of such changes. Finally, I will present data from recent decision making work suggesting that a reliance on "gut feelings" may improve decision quality across the life span. An
understanding of age-related changes in emotion-cognition interactions promises to provide a new perspective on the later years of life.

Dr. Marion Nestle will be the after dinner guest speaker at the CCE System Conference Awards Banquet on Wednesday, October 10th. Dr.Nestle is the Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University, in the department that she chaired from 1988 through 2003. She is currently an honorary Visiting Professor in the department of Food Science at the Cornell University College of Human Ecology Her degrees include a Ph.D. in molecular biology and an M.P.H. in public health nutrition, both from the University of California, Berkeley. Her research focuses on analysis of the scientific, social, cultural, and economic factors that influence the development, implementation, and acceptance of federal dietary guidance policies. She is the author of Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health (University of California Press, 2002) and Safe Food: Bacteria, Biotechnology, and Bioterrorism (University of California Press, 2003), and is co-editor of Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Issues in Food and Nutrition (McGraw-Hill/Dushkin, 2004). Her latest book, What to Eat (North Point Press, a Division of Farrar, Straus & Giroux), has just been released in paperback. Dr. Nestle will speak on What to Eat: Agriculture, Food Systems, and Public Health

We are very excited to offer a plenary session to kick off the CCE System Conference, and are encouraging all CCE staff and faculty to become involved in this highly relevant and interactive event. Keynote speaker and facilitator, Professor George Morse, Department of Applied Economics, University of Minnesota Extension, will lead the CCE System Conference plenary session on The Public Value of Extension. Participants will learn about the concepts underlying ?Public Value? and begin working on statements of the public value of specific program areas. Approximately 10 to 15 programs will be identified, allowing participants to select programs of interest. Articulating the public value of Extension is critical to funding in the near and foreseeable future, and we need the input of the entire system to generate compelling statements. We will be working to involve faculty from campus, and hope that each Association will be represented in the plenary session by a cross section of staff, including both administrative and programmatic.

In addition to the plenary session, a block of two sessions will be used for follow-up to the public value iscussion, also lead by Professor George Morse. This smaller group of participants will develop business plans for two to three of the narrow program areas addressed during the plenary session. We expect those program areas will fall under childhood obesity and local foods. Participants will report out at lunch on Friday, providing examples for developing business plans in other program areas.