Div. 20 (Adult Development and Aging)
Executive Committee Meeting
Friday, Aug. 7, 2020
11:00am – 1:00pm EST
Via Zoom
In attendance: Jennifer Margrett, Lisa Brown, Joann Montepare, Courtney Polenick, Julie Blaskewicz Boron, Walter Boot, Grace Caskie, Kelly Cichy, Shelley Condon, Rowena Gomez, Patrick Hill, Charissa Hosseini, Lisa Lind, Yin Liu, Michael Marsiske, Lynn Martire, Colleen Pappas, Jeanine Parisi, Patricia Parmelee, Julie Hicks Patrick, Neika Sharifian, Nancy Sin, Jennifer Stanley, Brad Taylor, Nicholas Turiano, Susan Whitbourne, Toni Wrollie, Laura Zahodne
Guest: Deborah DiGilio (CONA)
Welcome and Overview
Div. 20 President Margrett welcomed members and reviewed the agenda for this virtual meeting. To kick off the celebration of Div. 20’s 75th Anniversary, she unveiled a video presentation of Div. 20 members, created with the assistance of Quinn Margrett, discussing their Div. 20 experiences and the value they see in membership, and advocating for integrating a lifespan perspective more broadly in psychology. It was recommended that the presentation be uploaded to the Div. 20 website with information about Div. 20’s anniversary planning.
Elections Committee
(P. Hill reporting, Nancy Sin) – Div. 20 saw an increase in voter turnout for this election cycle. APA verified the following results, with terms beginning August 2020:
- President Elect: Joann Montepare, PhD, Lasell University;
- Secretary: Courtney Polenick, PhD, University of Michigan;
- Council Representative: Maggie Syme, PhD, Kansas State University;
- Members-at-Large: Tammy English, PhD, Washington University in St. Louis, and Stacey Scott, PhD, Stony Brook University.
Awards Committee
(R. Prakash and J. Parisi reporting) – All awards were conferred this year:
- Abbey Hamlin (University of Michigan) - Div. 20 Undergraduate Research Award;
- Zarina Kraal, PhD (University of Michigan) – Div. 20 Graduate Research Award;
- Emma Weizenbaum, MA (Boston University) - Walter G. McMillen Memorial Award for Parkinson's Disease Research;
- Meng Huo, PhD (The University of Texas at Austin) - Doctoral Dissertation Award in the Psychology of Aging;
- Sara Honn Qualls, PhD, ABPP (University of Colorado Colorado Springs) - M. Powell Lawton Distinguished Contribution Award for Applied Gerontology;
- Eric Kim, PhD (University of British Columbia) - Springer Early Career Achievement Award in Research on Adult Development and Aging.
- The Baltes Distinguished Research Achievement Award was given to Jacqui Smith, PhD (University of Michigan), who graciously and generously donated the $5,000 monetary prize to the Div. 20 APF Fund to support early career development efforts.
Treasurer’s report
(G. Caskie reporting) – Div. 20 funds continue to be very favorable, especially given that Div. 20 will not be incurring conference costs beyond award prizes. Questions were raised about the relatively low levels of revenue from Fellows, which will be examined further in light of their current membership.
The suggestion was made to arrange select D20 reports chronologically in one “running record” file in addition to cataloguing them annually so that we can examine trends over time. J. Montepare will implement.
Membership committee
(N. Turiano reporting, Soomi Lee) – Membership trends continue to be steady with student membership remaining favorable. The committee will confer with the previous chair to discuss recruitment and retention strategies to maintain consistency in efforts that have worked successfully across the last few years.
Program committee
(J. Blaskewicz Boron reporting, Laura Zahodne) – Div. 20’s convention programming pivoted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the decision of APA to hold a virtual conference. A number of sessions were arranged to be pre-recorded, and others were organized as live sessions. Collaborative programs were once again successfully developed, and the Div. 20 program booklet showcased efforts.
Div. 20 programming hours were reduced from 17 to 14, however, it is unclear if this was a result of the unique circumstances surrounding this year’s conference and if these will be our programming parameters moving forward. APA did eliminate individual papers, which impacted how hours are used as well as increased the competitiveness of symposia.
It was recommended that the Awards Committee take responsibility for the poster awards so that awards are managed all in one place.
Education committee
(J. Tehan Stanley reporting, K. Cichy) – Productive time was spent on updating materials with useful information from the survey that was conducted. Survey data and related information have been uploaded to the new DropBox folder. Merrill Miller is the APA web editor assisting Div. 20 with updates.
It was recommended that the committee put together a position statement and overview of responsibilities and past projects for the benefit of future chairs.
Early Career Task – Mentoring Program
(Y. Liu reporting, C. Polenick) – EC mentoring work continues to be strong and steady. A total of 16 mentees and 18 mentors signed up to participate, and 26 dyads were formed. It was recommended that a process be developed to “encourage and confirm” the engagement of mentees as some failed to participate after they initially signed up.
Early Career Task Force Report: Special Interest Groups (SIGs) Initiative
(S. Condon reporting, N. DePasquale, Sprague) – The program is moving forward nicely with 17 groups presently running and several more in the works. Recruitment efforts are ongoing. It was recommended that a description of the initiative and the various groups be developed for the Div. 20 webpages to give the program more visibility.
Fellowship committee
(L. Martire reporting) – One nomination was put forward and will be reviewed at the APA Council meeting.
Listserv
(J. Montepare reporting) – Questions arose about the call for unpublished studies for meta-analyses. Although research requests are not allowed on the Div. 20 listserv (per APA recommended guidelines), it was brought to our attention that APA does allow for these requests. Thus, the request was approved and noted in our policy.
The Div. 20 Executive Committee Listserv will move back to APA (from UFL), and membership updates will be submitted following our annual meeting.
Council Report
(P. Parmelee, S. Whitbourne reporting) – Representatives provided updates about the new governance changes and their implications for APA divisions. Students’ voting privileges were also discussed, along with the results of the recent member vote and the call for a new vote that would not include specific pro and con arguments (which may introduce bias).
Committee on Aging CONA
(D. DiGilio reporting) – The Resolution on Ageism was adopted by the APA Council. The CONA conversation hour will focus on Reframing Aging, with James Appleby, GSA CEO presenting, along with others calling for collaborative efforts to address ageism. The importance and timeliness of drawing APA’s attention to ageism was also discussed in light of the 2020 APA Equity Flattens the Curve initiative in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. CONA continues its work on updating Guidelines for the Evaluation of Dementia and Age-Related Cognitive Change, with special attention to diversity/ethnicity/inclusion as a topic along with several other issues. Updates to the Roadmap to Careers in Aging initiative will bring a stronger focus to community colleges.
CONA is seeking nominations for new members. A notice will be distributed via the Div. 20 Listserv.
It was recommended that Div. 20 include a link to the Resolution on Ageism on its webpages.
Meeting was adjourned at 1:00pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Joann M. Montepare
Div. 20 Secretary
Director, RoseMary B. Fuss Center for Research on Aging and Intergenerational Studies
Lasell University/Lasell Village