Incumbent upon those faculty who teach substance abuse courses is the need to integrate elderly alcoholism-related course content to encourage and adequately prepare university students to serve this "hidden" population. Course content would ideally include theories specific to loss-grief, aging, and alcoholism. In addition, field placement settings need to be established in treatment programs whereby students can apply theories learned in classroom instruction to develop practice skills to optimally serve this neglected population. Because only scant literature exists that specifically addresses elderly alcoholism issues, it is hoped that the outgrowth of attention to this neglected population would be a proliferation of articles. The following is an abbreviated discussion of the recommended alcoholism theories specific to an elderly substance-abuse course curriculum to prepare students to better serve this "hidden" population.