Midyear division executive committee meeting minutes

In Attendance

Manfred Diehl, Harvey Sterns, Joe Gaugler, Pat Parmelee, K. Warner Schaie, Susan Whitbourne, Dave Chiriboga, Karen Kopera-Frye, Pat Parmelee, Julie Hicks Patrick, Tom Hess, Lisa Hollis-Sawyer, Allison Bielak, Grace Caskie, Debbie DiGilio, Joann Montepare, Jennifer Bellingtier (student representative)

Welcome and Introductions

Manfred Diehl

Committee Reports

• Program Committee announcement (Allison Bielak) – The committee recommended featuring recognition of the CREATE team, whose members received the inaugural APA Prize for Interdisciplinary Team Research. APA requested that Div. 20 donate time/hours from its programming schedule for the award recognition. Options were discussed and a motion was made to schedule a plenary session and use one Div. 20 hour; motion was unanimously accepted.
• Treasurer Report (Karen Kopera-Frye) – Present budget reflects pre-conference status (as of July 31, 2006). Balance is in the black at $7,175, not including net total that included most recent charges. As has been discussed in the past, membership renewal revenue is not sufficient to maintain the budget. Joe Gaugler is speaking with several potential sponsors regarding support for the student travel awards and one of the professional awards. Manfred spoke with Greg Neimeyer about options such as CE workshops, which have possibilities as well as challenges and limitations as revenue generating options. Generating books (e.g., handbooks, training series, etc.) was discussed as a new option. Along similar lines, Manfred suggested developing CE materials around clinical training and ABPP certification. Joann Montepare raised questions about the goals of increased revenue and the need to articulate these goals alongside specific strategies in a more systematic revenue generating plan. As a first step, Pat Parmelee suggested looking at our financial trends across the last 10 years to identify cost patterns and estimate cost projections. Tom Hess suggested developing a donation model linked to specific goals (etc. student scholarships) that Div. 20 members would be willing to support in giving campaigns (similar to what the Behavioral and Social Science section of GSA has done successfully).
• Program Committee (Allison Bielak) – Collaborative programming continues to be a challenge, but Div. 20 continues to be successful. This year Div. 20 was the lead on three proposals with six other divisions and collaborated on 11 other proposals. Individual proposal submissions are due Dec. 1, 2016. There is a concern that fewer submissions will be received and attendance will be low because IAGG is being held so close in time (July).
• Elections Committee (Julie Hicks Patrick) – Upcoming positions for election are president-elect, two members-at-large, and secretary. Past/present/elect presidents will speak about invitations for the next presidential nominees and consult the member and fellows lists for suggestions. Questions were raised about the Div. 20 handbook and various election/position policies. Joann will send an electronic copy of the most recent handbook file she has.
• ABPP (Harvey Sterns reported) – Becky Allen agreed to continue as representative. Harvey moved that we approve her position; motion was unanimously accepted. Susan Whitbourne suggested we look more closely at filling positions on the American Board of Geropsychology (ABGERO), affiliate of ABPP.
• Fellows Committee (Manfred reported) – Four new members were confirmed. Manfred indicated that he wanted to speak at more length with Alan Stevens (new Div. 20 committee chair) about detailing more streamlined and accessible information for nominators and nominees.
• Membership Committee (Manfred reported) – From Gloria Luong's report, membership is steady but not growing. David Chiriboga cautioned that the membership data are incomplete because APA no longer provides regular reports. There was discussion around a joint membership with D12-2 and the need for a planned membership drive. The committee also discussed the pros and cons of increasing membership dues. Joann urged that we look at suggested increases in light of a more strategic budget/revenue planning process. Tom Hess noted that if we decide to make a change, we must develop a clear message about the value of increasing dues for members.
• Continuing Education Committee (Jennifer Moye) – Farzin Irani will be stepping down as co-chair. CE discussions continue around what the financial consequences are for Div. 20 and what APA gets. Harvey recapped that we have CE status, which means that we can sponsor events outside of APA. Joe and Manfred noted however that this model is changing and unclear; however, preconference workshops are still a viable option.
• Education (Julie Boron, Jennifer Moye) – Final updates for all the graduate materials are in motion.
• Executive Committee Directory/Listserv Issues (Joann Montepare) - The Listserv continues to function smoothly, except for one recent hitch in which a “spam/fraud” reply was received by senders indicating that messages were being blocked. It was reported to APA webmasters; no word received back yet about the nature or impact of the warning.
• Newsletter (Grace Caskie) – Deadline for next newsletter is March 1, 2017. Possible topics for articles were discussed. Grace will follow up.
• Awards (Tom Hess) – The new deadline for student awards is Dec. 15 (not Nov. 15). Tom noted that we need to do a better job of communicating about award winners to APA, related organizations, the public and awardees host institutions. Joann suggested we develop a standard letter from the Div. 20 president to be sent to department chairs, communication offices, etc.
• Graduate Student Representative (Jennifer Bellingtier) – Several ideas were offered to highlight graduate student members, including (a) having a graduate student lounge area at conferences; (b) having student flags for name tags; and (c) sending special notices to graduate students about APA programs of interest.
• Council (Warner Schaie, Pat Parmelee) – Good governance discussion is still ongoing. On the table are a series of bylaw and amendment considerations. Manfred asked Pat to draft a note for the Div. 20 Listserv about these considerations.
• Social Media (Lisa Hollis-Sawyer) – There are 264 LinkedIn members and 130 Facebook members. Manfred suggested Lisa develop an invitation to Div. 20 Listserv members about how to join these groups.

Other Business

• Anthony Sterns needs to update information on the website.
• ECP – We presently do not have a representative and do not have criteria for the position. Pat suggested we fold it into a member-at-large position. Susan urged us to strategize about how we could position ECPs on other APA committees (like APAGS).
• Harvey reported that the recent CODAPAR presentations were of very good quality and that we need to figure out how to make them available.
• CONA (Debbie DiGilio) – APA is advising that clinicians offer more information about dementia and related psychological issues. Discussions are emerging about how to involve gerospychologists more in work in immigration and how to expand advocacy and training to graduate students and early career psychologists around elder abuse. The 125th Anniversary of APA is approaching. Debbie will be in contact about suggestions for a panel being convened. CONA will be expanding materials for family caregiving resources. Div. 20 should be sure it is represented as a media referral in the Public Affairs database (i.e., need a “one-pager”).
• The meeting adjourned at 10 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Joann M. Montepare
Div. 20 Secretary
Director, RoseMary B. Fuss Center for Research on Aging and Intergenerational Studies
Lasell College/Lasell Village