Careers in Aging with Michele Martinez Thompson 

Please join OGA for our 2024 Careers in Aging Event, featuring Michele Martinez Thompson. OGA Board Member Jenny Sasser will facilitate a discussion with Michele about her career pathway.

Presenter: 

Michele Martinez Thompson, MSW is an Associate Professor of Practice in the School of Social Work at Portland State University with expertise in working with Latine/a/x communities, integrated health care, aging services, case management across the life span and clinical social work. Michele’s primary role as an Associate Professor of Practice at the SSW is teaching. She currently teaches the graduate aging courses offered from the School of Social Work as part of the graduate certificate program through the Institute on Aging as well as Spirituality In Social Work Practice, Loss and Grief and Social Work Practice with Individuals and Families Theory and Engagement.

Michele serves as the Coordinator of the Aging Certificate Program for students in the SSW, a focus of Associate Professor Martinez Thompsons work is to increase curricular content on aging across the SSW course offering spectrum in order to help all social work students understand purposeful/ healthy aging from a lifespan perspective not bound by one stage of life instead enriched by the continuum. Another focus of Michele’s work has been to increase internship opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students with the Department of Aging and People with Disabilities, Oregon Department of Human Services and other non-profit agencies that serve older adults. This work has been statewide, in order to broaden the effect and expertise of practitioners across Oregon.

An example of community work and research Associate Professor Martinez Thompson engages in, is the inaugural Better with Age Initiative, Gerontology Education and Research Initiative Faculty Grants Program. “Exploring the impacts of the Neighborhood Story Project in intentional, intergenerational communities” 2022/23. Associate Professor Martinez Thompson served as Co-PI with Dr. Amie Thurber. 

Intended Audience: 

This session is intended for anyone who is thinking about pursuing higher education in gerontology, current students of gerontology, and individuals working in the field of aging and gerontology.

 Registration Fee

• OGA members: Free!
• Students: Free! 
• Non-members: $10
• Non-member seniors and registrants with limited financial means: $5

Why do we ask for a fee?

OGA is a non-profit organization run by volunteers. Events and donations are our main sources of income to fund our educational and networking programs.

Reduced or complementary event registration is one of the great benefits for OGA members! If you like our educational programs - we strive to offer at least one event per month - becoming a member will pay off quickly! To learn more about OGA membership, please visit our Membership page.

No one will be turned away! If you cannot afford $5 at this moment, please contact us at [email protected] - thanks to the generous donations of OGA members and friends throughout the year, we can cover a small number of registrations for each event.

Please note that we offer CEUs only for our annual conference in October, not for our regular events. However, we are happy to issue a Certificate of Attendance upon request for those who attend this webinar for its entire length. To request one, please send us an email after the event.

PLEASE REGISTER HERE to receive the Zoom link. Should you encounter any difficulties registering online, please don't hesitate to contact us at [email protected].