Dangers of Eating Disorders

Thu., Feb 23

Don't miss this presentation, "Andrea's Voice," a powerful talk on eating disorders from the perspective of parents whose daughter struggled with bulimia. Through photographs, journal entries and stories, Andrea Smeltzer's parents share what they've learned from her and knowledge they've gained from experts in the field about the family perspective and the treatment of eating disorders.  

Come hear this powerful presentation on Feb. 23 from 5-7 p.m. in Engleman A120. The presentation will include a keynote address by Tom and Doris Smeltzer and a Q&A.

The Smeltzers will also do a workshop from 2-3 p.m. in the Adanti Student Center 306: "Things We Wish We'd Known...Insights that Inform and Improve the Care of Students with Eating Disorders."  In the 12 years since her daughter's death from an eating disorder, Doris Smeltzer has identified the information that would have been the most valuable for her to learn during her daughter's treatment. This workshop presents the "missing ingredients" in the recipe to improved care garnered from the epiphanies provided not only by extensive personal research but the often more illuminating view of parental hindsight .

Andrea Lynn Smeltzer, 19 (above), was trained in opera, enjoyed the theater, was an avid dancer, a masterful jewelry-maker and poet. After studying in Spain for a year as an exchange student at the age of 14, she spoke Spanish fluently. At the time of her death she was proficient in German and planned on mastering Japanese next.

Prior to college, Andrea was elected president of her high school's Amnesty International group and was an outspoken advocate for human rights. She was the representative chosen to present the student petitions to the Guatemalan consulate in San Francisco in 1996. At Pitzer College she was awarded the prestigious Fletcher Jones Scholarship, worked as a dorm hall Resident Assistant and Mentor, majored in International Business and Politics -- and looked forward to saving the world. She died tragically on June 16, 1999 after 13 months of bulimic behaviors.

Tom and Doris Smeltzer (right) co-founded Andrea's Voice Foundation following the death of their daughter. Since then they have created various eating disorder prevention/educational presentations (which have now been given as keynotes at hundreds of universities, conferences, and organizations nationwide and internationally) and a website to educate others on this so often misunderstood illness.

Andrea's Voice Foundation, a not-for-profit corporation, is dedicated to promoting education and understanding toward the prevention, identification, diagnosis and treatment of disordered eating and related issues. 

Sponsored through a Faculty Development Grant by the departments of Marriage and Family Therapy, Education, and Public Health, and University Counseling Services.