The Southern Gerontological Society is a network of the South's most respected gerontology professionals. Southern Gerontological Society (SGS) members are educators, aging network personnel, researchers, health professionals, and policy makers. SGS provides the bridge between research and practice, translating and applying knowledge in the field of aging. The Southern Gerontological Society had its roots in the Southern Conference on Gerontology. This informal organization, founded in 1951 under the leadership of staff from the University of Florida’s Institute on Gerontology, was comprised of pioneer individuals interested in and concerned with aging issues. This organization was the first regional and one of the first national aging interest groups organized in the United States. It was organized ten years before the Handbook of Social Gerontology was published and fourteen years before the Older Americans Act of 1965 was enacted. In 1982, SGS envisioned the need for a new scholarly journal and became committed to publishing articles dealing with timely applied problems and issues in aging. SGS entered the field of journal sponsorship with the Journal of Applied Gerontology, reflecting cooperation of and interaction between practitioners and researchers. Subscription to the journal is one of many of our membership benefits. Each year, SGS hosts an annual meeting and invites everyone, members and non-members alike, to attend, present their work, and to netwrok. SGS membership is not limited by geographical boundaries, and twenty states are represented in the membership. The 36th Annual SGS Meeting will be held from April 15-18, 2015 in Williamsburg, Virginia and is themed "Communities Engaging Aging: A Two-Way Street". The "Call for Presentations" is now open and accepting abstracts through November 21, 2014. Please check out www.southerngerontologicalsociety.org for more details and submission links.