The first six months of my Div. 20 presidency have gone by quickly (perhaps too quickly), and there are a number of activities and developments to share with you. I begin with what has emerged as perhaps my core presidential initiative, and that is ensuring the sustainability of Div. 20. Like many of you, I have come to see Div. 20 as a professional home, and my over 20 years of membership in it has coincided with so many important career milestones. Perhaps most poignant to me is remembering how the many members of Div. 20 provided such critical guidance during my early career and how such mentorship as well as opportunities for involvement in the division propelled my professional development. It is these experiences, as well as critical reflection of how far we have to go as a division to better reach out to and engage with early career psychologists, that have led to the initial phases of a Div. 20 fundraising campaign.
The Div. 20 Fund will help to support early career outreach initiatives, including larger travel awards, early career honors and mentoring activities and a range of other strategies to help bolster early career psychological engagement in adult development and aging. To this end, a fundraising committee, including Sue Whitbourne, Bill Haley, President-Elect Michael Marsiske, Treasurer Karen Kopera-Frye and I have partnered with the American Psychological Foundation to plan the fundraising drive and initiate it this spring. We hope to have much more news to share in the upcoming months and at the annual American Psychological Association meeting.
Closely aligned with the Div. 20 Fund is the reconstitution of the Early Career Psychologist Task Force. Courtney Polenick and Nicole DePasquale have assumed leadership of this important task force and have generated some excellent ideas. In the upcoming weeks, they will be sending out a survey to Div. 20 members interested in serving as a mentor or mentee for a new “mentorship matching” program. In addition to matching interested mentors and mentees, Polenick and DePasquale will also begin work on identifying ways to further engage mentor-mentee pairs at the annual meeting and throughout the year. Formalizing a Div. 20 mentorship program has long been discussed as a goal of our division and various mentorship activities have occurred over the years, but I am excited about the long-term potential and sustainability of the Early Career Psychologist Task Force’s mentorship program.
A number of other developments have occurred since our mid-year Executive Committee teleconference in November. Jennifer Margrett has successfully submitted our continuing education application to allow Div. 20 to once again develop and hopefully broaden more consistent continuing education offerings for our members and for others interested in key adult development and aging issues. Michael Marsiske is currently developing what I believe will be a set of important and in-depth initiatives that will re-emphasize the importance of Div. 20 and what it adds to our members’ and potential members’ professional identities. Allison Bielak and Tina Savla have done a fabulous job of assembling a compelling Div. 20 program; our cross-division seminar on how aging has influenced our personal and professional lives as psychologists is one particular event I am looking forward to moderating.
Also, please join me in remembering Todd (TJ) McCallum, who passed away on December 5, 2017. McCallum was an associate professor of psychology in the Department of Psychological Sciences at Case Western Reserve University since 2002. He was a long-serving member of Div. 20, and since 2006, he has served as the Executive Committee’s education liaison. He received multiple awards for his excellence in teaching and mentorship. McCallum’s colleagues, students and family remain in our thoughts.
I wish all members of Div. 20 a warm and productive spring.