Div. 20 Executive Committee mid-year meeting minutes

Present: Bill Haley, Sue Whitbourne, Neil Charness, Warner Schaie, Shevaun Neupert, Julie Boron, Joann Montepare, Michael Marsiske, Joe Gaugler, Pat Parmelee, Becca Levy, Lisa Miller, Dave Chiriboga, Karen Kopera-Frye, Grace Caskie, Kristen Condeelis, Lynn Snow, Elizabeth Handling, Harvey Stern, JoNell Strough, Victor Molinari, Sara Czaja, Deb DiGilio, Pat Kobor

Committee Reports

Treasurer's Report (Joe Gaugler)

Five-year trend analysis shows decline in revenue and stability or increase in costs which causes us to draw on our short-term investment fund more and more. Various ways to achieve fiscal health are being considered (e.g., electronic newsletter, membership drive, fees paid to APS). Regarding newsletter printing and mailing costs, several ideas were considered. Grace said the newsletter is already on the website so making it available online not an issue. If we were to consider offering mail and digital options, it would be difficult to know who wants which version at this point. Michael suggested we use postcards to prompt members to go to the website and read the newsletter. Although we could lose readers if we cut the mail options, we'd save a good deal of money. An appealing idea is to send out an email with introductions to the articles/sections along with hot links to “read more” might work well. Consensus among committee members was to convert to a paperless process as soon as possible. Grace will work on converting and Michael will help with web-related issues. Over time, we will also need to ramp up membership drive and/or fund raising and identify the most important expenses. The division should continue to consider how to help the council representatives pay for travel to the convention. Joe will put list of suggested cuts and expenses for all to consider and will redo budget with proposed changes. This will be discussed at our February 2014 conference call.

Membership Committee (David Chiriboga, Ann Pearman and Lynn Snow)

Membership appears to be dropping but it's not clear how far it has dropped this year because 2014 numbers are incomplete as of this date. Joe Gaugler, as former Membership Co-Chair, has provided the Committee with materials that he used. We need to be more active at gaining and retaining members. One idea is to work on retaining fellows to be active/paid members, for example inviting them to lunches or social events with speakers, inviting them to be the speaker, or offering webinars that would be of interest to this and other group. Bill will check in with membership committee monthly to see how things are going.

Newsletter (Grace Caskie)

As noted above (Treasure's Report), there was discussion surrounding converting to a digital-only format. Bill would like to have a shorter newsletter for the next issue and make it clear to members that this is the last paper version of the newsletter. Next deadline for contributions is Feb. 15. It would be good to include more articles highlighting why Div. 20 is important. Grace and Bill have worked together to add some pieces to the newsletter where members emphasize these issues.

Awards (Karen Roberto and Karen Kopera-Frye)

Student travel award call is posted. Div. 45 (Society for the Psychological Study of Ethnic Minority Issues) is co-sponsoring travel award with us. We need to find ways to ensure that students use the fund to attend the conference. We agreed that, in the future, students will not receive payment for their travel awards unless they attend the conference. The Awards Committee will propose a solution, e.g. requiring attendance at the Div. 20 Business Meeting, or submitting receipts, before travel funds are disbursed to students, for our February conference call.

Program Committee (Joann Montepare and Chris Rosnick)

The process has changed for collaborative programming. Eight collaborative symposia were submitted (these are not invited, but division driven); APA reviews them, then they go back to divisions to see if they want to devote the hours. Ideas for social events are being discussed (e.g., a rooftop event at the Hotel Washington). The division has19 hours for the next convention.

Education (Tina Savla and Julie Boron)

The committee is updating syllabi and graduate program information. Despite the committee's tenacious attempts to gather all new information, more updates from graduate programs are needed. Bill will send a last call to inform individuals that old information will be purged so members are urged to update now.

Council (Warner Schaie, Sue Whitbourne)

Many are concerned that power is shifting in APA toward centralized authority within a board of directors, away from division and state associations. Streamlining is undisputedly needed but it's unclear how this should be done. The plan is to have one representative per division or state, regardless of size of membership, and then have other elected individuals across divisions/states.

Elections Committee (Becky Allen via Bill)

Recruiting candidates to run for president is challenging. MALs and secretary are also needed for the upcoming year.

ABPP (Becky Allen and/or Victor Molinari)

Twelve individuals were examined, but we still need 21 others to become a fullfledged speciality.

Fellows Committee (JoNell Strough )

JoNell would like us to be more active in recruiting candidate fellows. Some letter writers were having trouble with new online system but these issues seem to be resolved. Dec 1 is deadline. Handbook needs updating in this (and other) areas.

Continuing Education Committee (Shevaun Neupert and Farzin Irani)

Robin West‘s proposal was submitted (train the trainer on memory improvement). This is not revenue producing, however, webinars can be. Adam Davey may have a webinar idea for the coming year and Shevaun will follow up with him.

Listserv Issues (Lori James, Joann Montepare)

There was discussion surroudning moderator issues, for example, journal editor's requests for reviewers needs to be general and specific to a specific paper or topic. Div. 20 policy is to not put through requests for research participants.

Early Career Psychologists (Adam Davey and Kate FIori)

Pat reported that a formal mentoring program is in the works.

Historian (Harvey Sterns)

The division has a collection of historical materials and we should consider having the materials archived. We might also consider updating the academic lineage project that Liz Stine-Morrow produced with Betty Birren. We'd need volunteers to get this going. This is a great project for individuals who are interested in getting involved with the division.

APA Liaisons

Debbie DiGilio (CONA)

Deb is grateful to the division for donating time to CONA and for volunteering on committees. Several announcements were made; details can be found at the CONA website.

Pat Kobor – Science Director

Video and online resources for members to communicate with members of congress. Richard Suzman of NIA is looking for ways to collaborate with Div. 20.

Becca Levy (Committee on Women in Psychology)

There is an award, nominate self or others.

Special Projects

Web Page (Michael Marsiske)

Content updates are ongoing. In response to Harvey's comments about having historical materials archived, Michael said we can consider archiving our own historical materials on the website. We had wanted a members-only section of website, but APA cannot do this as we had wanted so all information is in the public domain. We need to update the EC directory.

Graduate students/Postdocs (Elizabeth Handling, Kristen Condeelis, Elizabeth Hahn)

The students have been brainstorming ideas for the newsletter. The students and postdocs have been appointed to the Education Committee, and Bill asked if they can help with membership issues as well.

Video Project (David Chiriboga)

The Betty Birren video editing is ongoing. We could collect these types of videos for our archive so individuals could use these in teaching and other uses. We could also bring in more senior fellows who could do interviews for the archive. Please send links and ideas for more videos to Dave.

President's initiatives: 2014-2015 (Sara Czaja)

Walter Boot is incoming program chair. Sara said that it is important for the division to increase visibility in interdisciplinary contexts. We need to use other associations and boards as spring boards.

Housekeeping

Graduate Student Directory update (Savla)

Bill reiterated that programs need to respond to the update request or their information will be dropped.

Quarterly conference calls (Haley)

Bill would like to aim for a telephone meeting after Feb 22, which is when the next council meeting will be held.

Meeting adjourned at 9:30.