Feb. 16, 2011: Alexandria, Va.

Attendees (in alphabetical order): Morgan Banks, Diane Elmore, Armando Estrada, Sena Garven, Rhett Graves, James Griffith, Tonia Heffner, Larry James, Heather Kelly, Kristen Kochanski, Kathryn Lindsey, Mike Rumsey, Dale Russell, Kristine Olson, Steve Sellman, and Bill Strickland.

Welcome/Announcements: A. Estrada opened the meeting and introduced himself as the new President. He asked those present to introduce themselves. He reported that K. Lindsey would be arriving late and that APA liaisons would be visiting around lunchtime and that S. Sellman would be leaving early.

President’s Report: A. Estrada presented three core issues the Division needs to address: (a) ways to spend money the Division has on hand, (b) how to keep students on as members of the Division after graduation, and to increase membership among early career psychologists, and (c) developing/providing Continuing Education for clinicians who serve military clients. Addressing (a), the President asked that the Division assemble a group to consider ways to spend/invest the Division‘s funds and to develop a process to judge the merit of what the funds are spent on. Highlighting that the average age of Division members is 55 and that 65 percent of members fall above this age, the President asked that the R. Graves, K. Kochanski, and members of the Division EXCOM address (b) by forming an ad hoc committee to encourage recruitment, retention, and engagement among students and early career psychologists. Noting that 42 percent of Division members are health service providers for military populations and operational psychologists (uniformed health service providers) he asked that Brad Johnson and Carrie Kennedy establish a 3 to 5 year plan, for Division 19 potentially to support, concerning continuing education. Discussion concerned making sure the website is up-to-date, and that a search on Google for ―military psychology‖ will bring up the Division‘s website, and to inquire about whether the contract for tech support has expired. S. Garven proposed that materials be included on the website in the form of a FAQ, addressing questions such as what it is like to be in the military from the perspective of a client (addressed to health care providers) and materials to help military clients become more savvy consumers of mental health services. M. Banks and S. Garven discussed possibilities that included a reading list to give experimental and clinical military psychologists insight into the Soldier Zeitgeist. The Division might also benefit from a survey of clinicians concerning what mental health service providers know about veterans. The President will draft a message to Division 19 to make formal proposals to address these issues.

Secretary’s Report: R. Graves introduced himself as the new secretary, having assumed duties in Jan 2011. He provided an overview of his objectives, carrying forward those of the previous Secretary. R. Graves motioned to Approve Minutes for the 2010 meeting. Motion was approved, with caveat from B. Strickland that the revised By-Laws from the 2010 meeting be included [Current Bylaws have been included in the draft of the meeting report for 4 August 2011]. Referring back to the Early Career Psychologists committee, EXCOM discussed the possibility of establishing a Facebook page for the Division to help with recruitment/retention and with disseminating information about Division 19.

Treasurer’s Report I: A. Estrada presented the report for K. Lindsey. He reported a successful turnover from B. Porter, past Treasurer, to K. Lindsey. Overall, the Division is doing well financially. Total Liabilities and Net Assets are $196,815.33; total 2010 income was $84,264.94, with expenses totaling $46,346.80. Net Income was $37,918.14. Royalties from the Journal of Military Psychology were $59,810.20. Estrada proposed that we need a strategic investment plan and that the Task Force (noted above in the President‘s Report) should set criteria and procedures to evaluate requests to be addressed at the Business Meeting in August. B. Strickland noted that efforts from these committees need to be coordinated to ensure a focused mission among the Strategic Investment plan group and the Early Career Psychologist and Continuing Education committees.

Membership Committee: S. Garven reported that membership is good and has been increasing over recent years. The greatest increase in membership is typically seen around the time that potential new members of the Division are submitting proposals for the APA Convention. S. Garven noted that she would like to see greater interest in the Division from operational psychologists. A. Estrada asked S. Garven if the growth in membership could be attributed primarily to students? There was some discussion of how this question could be answered by Keith Cooke. Discussion turned to overall APA membership, which has dropped 5% in 2010, and issues concerning the practice assessment fee. A. Estrada asked S. Garven to provide an email list for student groups to K. Kochanski. Additional discussion turned to ways that Division 19 might provide better support to clinical psychologists working for the VA by providing continuing education as a recruitment incentive. L. James proposed that J. Johnson should be asked about a dual fees agreement, offering joint membership with Divisions 18 and/or 21. Discussion developed around joint membership policies of other professional organizations, such as between APA and APS, with SIOP. M. Banks elaborated on historical relationship between APA and military and how APA may be misperceived by some military psychologists, discouraging their willingness to join the organization. Promoting the ways in which APA has supported the military — with initiatives concerning suicide prevention, PTSD, etc., for veterans — may help to improve APA‘s reputation among potential members in the uniformed services.

Treasurer’s Report II: K. Lindsey presented additions to A Estrada’s discussion of the Treasurer‘s Report (above). She covered in brief the balance sheet from 2010. A primary focus of the Treasurer‘s investment plan is to focus on ways to invest in the membership, such as increased money for students to travel to the convention as well as early career faculty grants ($2,000 to $5,000 per grant was suggested). In order to bump up the transition from student to full member in the Division, it was suggested that the Division focus more on supporting early career psychologists with research grants. A. Estrada asked the group to forward ideas to K. Lindsey concerning "what would make it worthwhile for you to join the Division?" M. Banks suggested that it was be useful to invest in technological support and put links to useful resources on the website to draw attention from potential new members. A. Estrada asked Heather Kelly to put together a fact sheet, "What has APA done for me lately?" The fact sheet could be distributed to military psychologists who may be unaware of what APA is doing for the discipline of military psychology.

Members-at-Large Committee: M. Banks presented the Members-at-Large report. The committee is working to establish guidelines for training programs for operational psychology and working with the ethics committee. He also proposed that to recruit new members to the Division, we need to focus on how the Division can support them in going about their day to day work, such as providing a service like access to relevant publications. A. Estrada suggested that a series of white papers to address particular issues — that would be accessible to operational psychologists deployed overseas. One way to obtain these white papers may be to compete out grants. K. Koshanski added that if training were made available at the convention, this might also increase attendance by operational psychologists.

APA Initiative on Standards for Testing and Measurement: A. Estrada introduced this topic for discussion, concerning how Division 19 might inform/assist APA in their periodic effort to establish/update standards for testing and assessment. S. Sellman had been responsible for a similar effort when he worked for the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), who had policy oversight for testing and measurement standards in the military services. OSD approached the problem by consolidating comments and recommendations, and sending these to APA. Jane Arabian was identified as the person who may currently be in charge of the initiative. It was suggested that Division 19 could establish an ad hoc committee to request input from the Service Labs, and provide them an opportunity to comment officially. T. Heffner, M. Rumsey, and S. Garven supported an informal process to allow the military labs to provide input. Names mentioned in association with the standards for testing and assessment were Janet Held, Sofiya Velgach, Lisa Hughes, Ken Schwartz, Tom Carretta, and Kathy Moreno. The question was addressed whether Division 19 should contact the military labs to get input.

Student Affairs Committee: K. Kochanski presented the Student Affairs Committee report. In 2010, 9 travel awards in the amount $750 were awarded as well as one research award of $1,500. All 10 students who received travel awards from Division 19 attended the Business Meeting at the convention. This year, up to 11 students have already been accepted to the Convention. K. Kochanski presented an argument for providing travel awards to each of the students who have already been accepted to the Convention, highlighting the positive response in 2010 with high attendance and interest expressed in military internships, as well as the significance of networking for students. A. Estrada noted that while providing a travel award to all students accepted to the Convention could not be a continuing policy, given increasing submissions, extending travel awards to the 11 possible students this year—11 awards at $750 each equaling $8,250—is reasonable. A. Estrada motioned to provide travel awards to no more than 11 students this year; the EXCOM approved the motion. A. Estrada presented a second motion to provide 2 research awards rather than 1 (one award for clinical and one for experimental research), both oriented toward future research, with a requirement to submit a report when the research is completed, detailing the research findings. EXCOM accepted the motion. Additional discussion points concerned the proposed Division 19 Facebook page. K. Kochanski suggested that managing the Facebook page could be a student job, and the page could include information about military internships/links to other sites. S. Garven expressed concern that the Facebook page would need to be monitored for postings or be by invitation only, with a vetted membership. Steve Danish was mentioned as a potential person to contact. A. Estrada said he would come up with a strategy to address the website and Facebook.

APA Visitors Presented on Lobbying Initiatives: Diane Elmore and H. Kelly presented APA‘s current lobbying concerns re the Defense Research budget — which is up overall, although there have been decreases in 6.2 and 6.3 budget allocations. They have solicited information on programs that may be defunded. One problem that they have had to combat in The Hill are bills that are informed by myths and media reports rather than scientific data and a true awareness of the situation of veterans. They feel that there is a great deal of ignorance on the Hill concerning veterans‘ issues. There is also a great deal of programs being recreated when they already exist. They want to share talking points with policy makers based on Division 19 input. One area that has received a great deal of attention is caregivers, families, children of military veterans. They reported that 2.8 million has been allocated to focus on family caregivers and respite care. A request has been made to congress to fund a study of caregivers, working with the National Alliance for Caregivers. Another issue addressed concerned DADT—the LGBT Office at APA has been working with the DoD to provide support during the DADT repeal and new policy formulation. Suicide prevention is being addressed by David Rudd at U of Utah. He is organizing a conference in Sept 2011 to provide experts to educate about suicide. S. Garven argued that suicide is a problem that requires a solution that takes account of perspectives from across the discipline and not just clinical perspectives, especially when the objective is to make policy. Internship issues were also addressed. D. Russell noted a problem he has encountered with applicants who lack an APA accredited internship, but appear otherwise qualified. There was discussion of the importance of proper accreditation and students being aware of the impact attending an accredited program can have on their careers. The discussion also addressed post-doctoral slots within the military. D. Elmore presented a handout summarizing APA policy priorities related to service members and veterans. A. Estrada requested a copy in digits to distribute to the Division membership. The final issue addressed concerned an event at the Convention to follow-on to last year‘s Navy Day. The event would include military psychologists from across the services to present issues and APA would comment on what they have been able to impact and what they are seeking to address. T. Heffner suggested moving the social hour to 4 to 6 on Friday to provide an open slot for the Event. The Event would consist of short briefings and then open discussion. Some discussion concerned making the event invitation only.

The EXCOM then broke for lunch at 1202. The meeting resumed at 1300.

APA Counsel of Representatives: B. Strickland presented the report. He reported on proposed changes to the dues structure for APA, which may result in an overall reduction in dues by $40. He noted that while the overall reduction, this change may present an increase in dues for researchers. The question was asked whether this is due to decreases in APA membership. The reduction in cost may increase membership numbers, although APA is bringing less money per member. This change in dues will correspond with the dual membership discounts with members of APS, CPA, and the state/regional associations being rescinded. He reported that 2010 was a good year financially for APA, but this was largely due to reductions in staff and a pay cut last March; 2009 was driven largely by sales of the new Publications Manual. A final issue concerned a motion to seat voting representatives of four ethnic minority psychological associations on the APA Council of representatives. B. Strickland and the EXCOM discussed the main and substitute motions (these are detailed on page 103 of the Counsel of Representatives enclosures for the Midyear meeting). There was also discussion of the history of political and professional relations between Association members and ethnic minority psychologists.

Fellows Committee: M. Rumsey presented the report. Two new nominations have been approved by the Fellows Committee, have gone to APA, and will be voted on this summer by those Division 19 Fellows who attend the Division Business Meeting. EXCOM discussed the nomination process and its complexity. M. Rumsey proposed a deadline for nominations to be February 7, 2012 to allow sufficient time for the nomination process. A. Estrada suggested making an announcement in the August meeting to bring the deadline, etc., to the attention of the membership.

Nominations and Election Committee Report: T. Heffner presented the report. She reported that she has a slate of candidates for two positions: president-elect and member-at-large (clinical focus). The slate has been submitted. Becky Porter and Eve Weber were slated for president-elect. Steve Danish, Jeff Fite, Anne Landis, Nathan Ainspan, and James Greenstone have been slated for the member-at-large position.

APA Program: T. Heffner presented the report. She covered the program statistics; submission included 14 Symposia, 1 Skill Building Session, 1 Discussion/Conversation Hour, and 52 Individual submissions. Eight Symposia, 2 poster sessions, and 3 invited sessions were scheduled. In addition, the reviewer list continues to expand. She is working to establish a single EXCOM meeting at the Convention to free up additional hours for other programs. Finally, she covered future Convention locations through 2020, which include: Orlando, Fla., in 2012; Honolulu, HA, in 2013; and Washington, D.C., in 2014. The three invited sessions include speakers Larry James, Jay Goodwin, and Carl Castro. Anne Landis will be taking over as Program Chair; A. Landis is with the VA in Gainesville, FL. Discussion also included issue with verifying IRB approval for accepted research. Informed consent/human use information should be provided on the website for researchers that are operating apart from an organization that may not have a formally established IRB. EXCOM considered possibility of asking for proof of IRB approval for travel awards. K. Kochanski asked T. Heffner about the possibility of students assisting with the peer review process for the APA program. Some potential scenarios were discussed to involve advisory professors or doctoral level researchers in the process to review the content of the students‘ reviews and verify that the students‘ reviews are appropriate. SIOP allows ABD students to review — there was some discussion concerning what exactly ABD means, which could be defined differently in different programs. D. Russell proposed that among the three reviewers, one could be a student—he described being afforded a similar opportunity in graduate school and found the experience very informative, although the student reviews tended to be given less weight. K. Kochanski suggested that it may be useful to have students review other students‘ submissions. T. Heffner responded that it may be useful to have students who won the Division awards review the student submissions the following year. T. Heffner suggested that K. Koshanski pose the question on the student listserv to gauge interest. A. Estrada proposed that EXCOM table the discussion for the incoming program chair to address.

Mid-Year Meeting/Program: A. Estrada proposed to the EXCOM to retain mid-February as the time for the mid-year meeting.

Military Psychology Journal: Kristine Olson presented the report. Online submission has streamlined the article submission process. She is working to get more people to serve as reviewers, and explained the process of signing up as a reviewer online. The Journal has gone fully digital, and all Division members can access it online for free. There were 53 papers published in the past year. Journal stats: 85% rejection. There have been some problems noted with the automation, primarily the uploading process. S. Garven suggested having peer review documents provided to the reviewer in a form other than noncommentable pdf or html. She suggested doc format, so that the balloon comments/editing functions can be used. A. Estrada said that the reason he chose not to use that format was that it compromised the anonymity of the reviewer. M. Banks described an Adobe add-on that can overcome the problem with being unable to anonymously comment within pdf documents. With the expansion of the Journal from 4 to 6 per year, annual royalties are likely to increase; guaranteed royalties are $45,000/year. A. Estrada and K. Olson are working with the publisher to develop marketing for the Journal. K. Estrada asked the EXCOM what the Division should do with the income coming from the Journal. He had some questions about compromising non-profit/tax exempt status of the Division. B. Strickland advised that it should not be an issue. The EXCOM discussed increasing amount being invested and what minimum should be kept in reserve for the Division. Around $200,000 was discussed as a possible amount to maintain in reserve. EXCOM discussed investing in membership and investing to maintain a reserve.

New Business Items: A. Estrada presented the report. A. Estrada reiterated the president‘s goals (noted above). He felt the EXCOM needs to explore who can take the lead on the Newsletter and talk to the publisher. L. James added that, while nice, the e-version of the newsletter was difficult to get done, especially for any one individual. S. Garven suggested a website that presents six articles, with two new articles coming out per month, cycling the oldest two items into an archive each month. This should be an easier process given that we have someone to work on the website. A second issue concerned funding for EXCOM travel. It was suggested that the Division may cover air fare and lodging (but not per diem). A. Estrada asked the EXCOM to consider how much and other recommendations around the issue. For student representatives, the travel has always been local, but this may not always be the case and they may require funding from the Division. There was some discussion of monitoring listserv messages and the particular messages received by Presidents and past Presidents. Finally, the term limits for Student Representative were discussed. The Student Representative is an ad hoc committee that serves at discretion of the President. K. Kochanski was asked to provide feedback to the President when and if the position becomes a burden or a problem.

Continuing Education: A. Estrada presented the report. Two continuing education programs were conducted in 2009. These cost $1,821.97 to run; yielded $510.00 in revenue. To renew the Division‘s authority to run CE programs costs $300.00 per year. Need to identify 2 or 3 members who are willing to lead the way. The division should renew its efforts or reconsider whether to continue.

Military Psychology Website: A. Estrada presented the report. He opened with the question ― what do we want the website to provide?‖ The content must be appealing, current, and accessible, there must be linkages to tangible information, such as literature sources and information about funding. The possibility of Facebook was again discussed as well as adding a student link to the webpage. In addition an FAQ was proposed to cover concerns such as "how do I get into applied research in the military?" and "how do I do research with/for the military?" S. Garven and T. Heffner also suggested that the website would be a good place to put information about IRB issues. M. Banks suggested a web-portal format. The issue of the state of the contract with Innovative Media Concepts, LLC, was addressed. A. Estrada will look into the contract. Discussion also covered whether to move the newsletter to the Web-based format and how to break out different functions/responsibilities among members to cover different areas of the Division, such as having an APA Council Representative section and another area for Students.

Awards Committee: L. James presented the report. In addition to the five current awards the Division presents, a sixth has been added: the Uhlaner Award. The Uhlaner focuses specifically on award research on selection and recruitment. B. Strickland suggested that a monetary award given with the Uhlaner (focused on specific research) alongside honorary awards (which are career-focused) might create a wrong impression. Discussion focused on possible ways to divide the $5,000 allocated for the award over a period of years or whether to award the full amount. Estrada asked the EXCOM what would be the right amount? What would have to be invested in order to be able to present a $500 to $1,000 award each year? B. Strickland proposed that a $25,000 would be sufficient endowment to maintain such an award. A. Estrada concurred. The motion was made by L. James to present each of the awardees for the Divisions six awards $250 this year and then adjust the value of the awards next year. There was some debate among the EXCOM. The substitute motion was, for this year, to award the Uhlaner in the amount of $250 drawn from the Uhlaner funds and to then also award $250 to each of the other awardees, drawing the required $1,250 from Division funds. A. Estrada proposed the motion and the EXCOM approved the motion.

Aug. 4, 2011: Washington, D.C.

Attendees: (in alphabetical order): Marianne Ernesto, Morgan Banks, Armando Estrada, Sena Garven, Rhett Graves, Tonia Heffner, Arwen Hunter-DeCostanza, Larry James, Heather Kelly, Kristen Kochanski, Ann Landes, Kathryn Lindsey, Becky Porter, Mike Rumsey and Bill Strickland.

Welcome/Introduction/Announcements: A. Estrada opened the meeting with a brief discussion of his priorities as President, including the Continuing Education Committee and the Early Career Psychologists Committee. Following his introduction, the rest of the Executive Committee introduced themselves.

President’s Report: A. Estrada discussed the Strategic Investment Planning Task Force, the Committee on Early Career Psychologists, and the Continuing Education Committee, focusing on Uniformed Clinicians. A. Estrada named appointees to these Committees.

Secretary’s Report: R. Graves motioned to approve the minutes from the Midwinter EXCOM Meeting, dated 16 February 2011. The minutes were approved. Discussion centered on the Early Career Psychologists (ECP) Committee. The EXCOM provided feedback and suggestions for how to pursue the ECP Committee‘s objectives. M. Banks described uniformed clinicians as coming from a particular cluster of graduate schools and that it may be advantageous to get practicing clinicians to visit other graduate schools to recruit. The group also discussed having a section for ECPs on the developing Div 19 website, going to poster sessions to talk to young psychologists as ways to expand membership.

Treasurer’s Report: K. Lindsey reported that the Division is financially stable, and passed around a page summarizing the report she submitted to the EXCOM. K. Lindsey discussed her areas of focus to increase the financial health and viability of Division 19 as an organization. The discussion included funding EXCOM Mid-Year attendance for some members, having a Junior Faculty Research Grant, or a Junior Clinician Training Grant. Discussion also included an ethics casebook, and instructions for developing proposals, with a presentation format modeled on that of other APA Divisions. The EXCOM discussed developing relationships with International Organizations and Joint Meetings with other organizations. A. Landes started discussion concerning the possibility of having a Division 19 specific conference. B. Strickland reported that George Mason had helped put together a Division specific conference in the past, and that it became student-based. B. Strickland also reported that the Air Force used to host a research conference, which was held every two years, stopped doing it. A. Estrada noted that APA is looking to provide services to Divisions. A. Landes noted that conferences draw in doctoral students, and S. Garven noted that conferences can be very good networking opportunities for professors and graduate students.

Research Advocacy/Lobbying: Heather Kelly presented the work that she and Diane Elmore concerning the public interest directorate, government relations, and coordination of DoD and VA work. The highlights of her discussion included various bills including the Defense Authorization Bill, NSF Bill, and the VA Funding Bill. She also discussed her meeting with Science Committee Chair at the House of Representatives. There are some problems in responding to amendments to bills until they are introduced on the floor. H. Kelly also discussed Navy Day. A. A. Estrada discussed the goal of institutionalizing Navy Day into something like a Military Hour at the annual conference. A. Estrada noted that having a Military Hour would help get word out to Division 19 about support provided by APA.

Membership: S. Garven described the growth in Division 19 membership. Membership is approaching a highpoint, moving toward the N=900 to N=1,000 range. A. Estrada noted this was the size of the membership at its high point in the 1990s. B. Strickland noted that there are more student members now than in the 1990s.

Members at Large: M. Banks discussed a joint military course for military psychologists, which would include inviting someone from the ethics office. He noted that some medically oriented civilians have shown up, but that attendance is mostly uniformed.

Military Psychology Awards Committee: L. James noted that the Board of Membership Affairs noted a drop in membership for Divisions that have gone all online. He noted that we need a print-up, a brochure, or something like that. L. James also noted that the Division 19 Newsletter has not been published in a while. Some discussion returned to the topic of Navy Day and how something like that would benefit the outreach efforts of Division 19, as we could piggyback on what is happening by having a table or a speaker, etc. We could get someone from the APA ethics office. Steven Behnke (Director, APA Ethics Office) was mentioned as a possible POC.

Student Affairs: K. Kochanski discussed increasing the number of student awards; currently 11 are approved, with 8 travel awards and 1 research award. Outreach was discussed concerning going to poster sessions and getting applicable student information on the Division 19 website, such as opportunities for becoming a research psychologist and information on internships, and advertising the awards in a psychology bulletin targeting graduate students.

APA Counsel of Representatives: B. Strickland reported that he had been nominated to be on the Board of Directors of APA, after having completed his Council term. He reported being ineligible for reelection. Discussion moved to the APA Strategic Plan. Strickland discussed 2.1 million made available to fund 7 initiatives over three years, including building Division web pages, member engagement and value, analysis of the workforce, treatment guidelines, public education, professional development, reducing health disparities, and strategic alliances. 1 million had already been funded, and an additional 1.1 million was added. The discussion then moved on to problems related to decrease in APA membership. While APA is doing well, it has lost members and has had to cut back staff from 630 to 546. There was a recent dues reduction of $40, but no longer get a dues credit for membership in related professional organizations. Currently, there are approximately 50,000 full members of APA. Overall, APA is healthy, owning two buildings, and about 6 million in net cash flow. 2.5 million goes into the APA Strategic Plan. Another issue discussed related to changes to the Convention—reducing hours from 1,400 to 1,000. Division 12 was given as an example, having a 32 percent reduction in program hours. No Division is supposed to lose more than 30% of its hours. A. Landes asked if we will continue to have a member on the Council. Division 19 will have a member on the council for FY12 and FY13. With respect to the Convention, it was also noted that once APA gets below 1,000 hours, this opens the possibility to go to more cities, and also fewer conflicting programs.

Fellows Committee: M. Rumsey delivered the report. He noted that there were two new fellows. He also discussed reconsidering the criteria for those who are fellows in other Divisions. Currently, if one is already a Fellow in another Division, then all that is needed is a CV. The question he posed concerned whether we want to make it harder to bring in Fellows. They are already members of Division 19, and they could be assigned duties/activities. B. Strickland noted that we might also consider requiring the endorsement of existing Fellows at the Business Meeting. A. Estrada referred to the bylaws, noting that EXCOM approves nominations, using statement or endorsement approved by existing Fellows at the Business Meeting. S. Garven noted that we start approval of nominations at the mid-year meeting. Estrada asked if we can get the material to EXCOM earlier, A. Landes asked how many applications are there typically. M. Rumsey responded that there are 1 to 3. A. Estrada noted having new fellows vetted by existing fellows, and that there is some interest in tightening the process for existing fellows.

Awards Committee: L. James delivered the report. Nominations for awards include BG Rhonda Cornum, Anthony Artino, Mike Rumsey, and Gregory Gahm.

Program Committee: T. Heffner delivered the report. The program is complete. Responsibilities have been transferred to A. Landes.