Executive Committee meeting minutes

Aug. 2, 2012:

Attendees (in alphabetical order): Nathan Ainspan, Morgan Banks, Paul Bartone, Keith Cooke, Arwin DeCostanza, Armando X. Estrada, Jessica Gallus, Sena Garven, Steve Goldberg, Rhett Graves, Jim E. Griffith, Larry James, Kristen Kochanski, Ann Landes, Janice Laurence, Kathryn T. Lindsey, Freddy Paniagua, Rebecca Porter, Bob Roland, Arlene Saitzyk, and Bill Strickland.

 
Welcome/introductions/announcements: President Heffner was unable to attend; Past President Estrada presided over the meeting. Estrada summarized the president’s report, highlighting areas related to the division’s initiatives on travel/research grants, current work on the fellowship and advocacy grants, and changes to the division’s bylaws to (a) allow for online voting and (b) establish the Continuing Education Committee, Early Career Psychologist’s Committee, and the Clinical Practice Committee. Estrada also discussed signing the administrative services contract and sought guidance concerning the hospitality suite (e.g., use, reimbursement, term limit).

Estrada then introduced Keith Cooke of APA Division Services, who spoke briefly on the services he provides to Div. 19. These services include processing membership and renewal, publications assistance (such as editing and laying out division newsletters), as well as marketing recruitment and retention. Cooke then discussed the division services booth at the APA Convention.

Estrada brought up various concerns about problems that have arisen in the reimbursement process. Cooke agreed to pass along information on who to contact. Discussion also addressed whether and how division treasurers can get credit cards. Garven brought up issues surrounding accountability; Cooke agreed that it can be difficult to control. Bartone expressed appreciation to Cooke for what he does for Div. 19.

Secretary’s Report: Graves asked the EXCOM to approve the meeting minutes from Feb. 22, 2012. The minutes were approved.

Treasurer’s report: Lindsey reported working with members-at-large (Weber, Ervin, Banks, and Landes) on the ad hoc Financial Planning Committee, establishing initiatives for division funding. Lindsey also reported closing an inactive Div. 19 bank account. Overall, the division is doing very well financially. Total liabilities and assets were reported to be $346,065.08; total 2012 year-to-date (YTD) income, $101,839.12; total YTD expenses, $8,952.60; net income, $92,886.52; YTD dues, $15,327.00; and total royalties from the journal Military Psychology, $86,096.58. Lindsey is preparing a proposal for discussion at the Midyear Meeting in 2013 to address various funding items.

Student Affairs Committee: Kochanski reported that two students would be presented research awards at the business meeting. Kochanski also brought up possibility of having a student Facebook page similar to the division’s Facebook page, or to incorporate students into the already existing page. Estrada noted that it can be intimidating for students to approach senior folks and that it is important to be sensitive to that. Bartone added that a student Facebook page would be a good way to attract students to the division. Laurence, Garven, and Gallus discussed procedures for joining the page. James noted that it would need some oversight to monitor content. Estrada agreed with James’s point. Roland asked whether we would need a disclaimer. Garven and Estrada discussed inviting student volunteers to discuss concerns. Estrada and Kochanski discussed possibility of two student representatives, with one responsible for the Facebook page. Estrada recommended that Kochanski contact DeCostanza to get a link on the Div. 19 website, noting also that the website looks great. Kochanski also felt that the student page on the website is great. Kochanski also discussed formalizing the process of how the Student Affairs Committee could run. This plan involves three students, each with two-year tenure. Initially, there would be two students—a senior representative and a junior representative. Kochanski reported establishing an Oct. 1, 2012, deadline for applications, with the position beginning Jan. 1, 2013. Kochanski requested funding for two students to attend the midyear and annual meetings to cover airfare and hotel. The motion passed. Roland noted that it would be nice to have one clinical student and one research student on the committee. Kochanski agreed and will advertise for both. Lindsey noted that that is a great idea, but in practice, it may not always work. Garven agreed. Porter and Kochanski discussed how to decide who will be current and who will be elect. The current chair would have a two-year term; the elect would have a three-year term. Kochanski would like the next student representative in by the Midyear meeting.

Membership Committee: Garven reported 922 current members, with 312 students. Bartone asked what size of membership is needed for the division to qualify for having two representatives to the APA Council. Garven will email Cooke. Landes asked Garven how recruitment works; Garven described the process. Estrada, James, and Garven discussed fluctuations in membership over the years and the high point of approximately 1,200.

Member-at-large I: Banks asked to push back his report to 0900.

Member-at-large II: Ainspan described his efforts working with the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) and Div. 18 to assist in transitions from military to civilian employment. Ainspan is undertaking a pilot project with 20 SIOP members to train the trainers for the effort in August or early September. SIOP will decide what to do as the project grows. Div. 19 is reaching out to service members to help connect to SIOP, as this cannot be done directly through Veterans Affairs (VA). Porter suggested that Ainspan link up with current Army surgeon general’s effort, if that effort moves forward. Laurence and Ainspan discussed the time it may take for the effort to come up to scale, and that there are historical programs that may be tapped for information. Laurence agreed to provide information to Ainspan. Landes described some potential points of connection with the VA. James asked what programs are geared to folks with our education level. Landes described the Heroes to Hire program.

Steve Goldberg arrived.

Journal report: Estrada presented the report and discussed his decision-making process surrounding award of the journal contract, and he compared the various benefits and risks he perceived with each of the bidding vendors, including Taylor & Francis, APA, Sage, Wiley, and Springer. All proposals were evaluated with regard to their potential impact on (1) economic revenues, (2) print and electronic production, (3) penetration and distribution, and (4) growth and impact. All proposals were largely comparable across these criteria, with a few distinctions. The EXCOM discussed options and risks with representatives from APA Legal Counsel (Jesse Raben) and APA Journals (Susan Harris). Estrada will pursue clarification with several of the publishers to clarify economic issues and impact considerations discussed. Follow-up will be conducted by email with the goal of having a tentative agreement in place in or around October 2012.

Member-at-large II: Banks discussed his continued efforts to promote military and operational psychology, incorporating APA into joint training with uniformed operational psychologists. Banks also reported assisting in development of new training programs for operational psychologists, and discussed potential collaborative efforts with Div. 13. Additional efforts included working to expand the ethical guidance provided in the Psychological Ethics and National Security (PENS) report. Strickland added that PENS has upset a lot of people; they are working to consolidate existing policies and to get rid of old policies. The result is a two-page document with 18 pages of commentary. Plan is to ask APA to approve the two-page document and to receive the 18 pages of commentary. Roland, Banks, and Strickland discussed the format, intent and style of the document. Strickland noted that the document needs to written in the style of policy rather than guidance. Banks, James, and Strickland deliberated concerning this point.

Military Psychology Awards Committee: Estrada announced the awardees, which included Chad Morrow (Melton Award); Carrie Kennedy and James Picano (Gersoni Award); Jay Goodwin, Gary Packard and Tatana Olsen (joint Gersoni Award); Robert Roland (Flanagan Award); Thomas Williams (Nichols Award); and Paul Bartone, Jim Picano, Robert Roland and Thomas Williams (Uhlaner Award).

APA Program Committee: Landes announced the location of the hospitality suite and other points of interest at the convention.

Early career psychologists: Gallus reported that the committee had two presentations at the convention. Gallus also reported conducting a needs analysis of early career psychologists (ECPs) concerning their networking and mentoring experiences. One goal of the committee is to continue working to involve ECPs in greater numbers, to establish an informal mentoring program, and to work on travel awards. 
 
Div. 19 website: Estrada reported that the website is up and can be accessed.

Continuing education: Paniagua described potential topics for the 2013 APA Convention in Honolulu.

International military psychology: Bartone and Roland discussed their desire to increase North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) partner interface with Div. 19, particularly for Eastern European member nations. It was proposed to invite a NATO partner to the annual convention. Estrada requested that we discuss the options at the Midyear Meeting and that there may already be a process in place to do this. Laurence asked why we are limiting to NATO; Roland emphasized that he is focusing on underfunded militaries.

Listserv: Bartone described his efforts to attract Div. 19 members to the list. Bartone requested $44 to pay Division Services for two hours of work at $22 per hour to produce a list of Div. 19 members who are not currently on the list. The motion was approved. The Listserv manager will send an email to invite these members to join the list.