Division 20: Adult Development and Aging End of Year Executive Committee Meeting
Friday, August 5, 2022
8-8:50 p.m. (CST)
Hilton Minneapolis, Third Floor, Board Room 1 and via Zoom
In attendance: Joann Montepare, Rowena Gomez, Lisa Brown, Courtney Polenick, Grace Caskie, Susan Whitbourne, Maggie Syme, Kaci Fairchild, Lisa Lind, Tammy English, Cecilia Poon, Abigail Nehrkorn-Bailey, Charissa Hosseini, Walter Boot, Kelly Cichy, Julie Boron, Harvey Sterns, Judith Sugar, Becca Levy, Latrice Vinson, and Kim Boller.
Division 20 President Montepare welcomed members and reviewed the meeting agenda.
Program Committee
(Maggie Syme and Kelly Cichy reporting): There are several symposia this year, including a collaboration with early career psychologists in cognitive psychology, two poster sessions, and the Baltes Award presentation. In addition, there will be a joint social hour with several aging groups in APA: Division 20 (Adult Development and Aging); Division 12 (Society of Clinical Psychology) section 2, clinical geropsychology; CoPGTP (Council of Professional Geropsychology Training Programs); CONA (Committee on Aging); and APA Aging Portfolio.
Treasurer’s Report
(Grace Caskie reporting): The balance in our account is a little high this year because there have been minimal convention costs, however the Committee on Division/APA Relations (CODAPAR) money is still in the balance. There have also been some challenges with getting the bill processed for the social hour.
Council Report
(Susan Whitbourne and Maggie Syme reporting): This has been an efficient and productive time in council. Susan will be ending her position with 18 years of service. A few issues related to graduate students were discussed, including the possibility of an additional council seat for graduate students and graduate student representation on CONA. The executive committee was asked to keep people in mind who we may be able to promote for these positions.
Membership Committee
(Charissa Hosseini and Abigail Nehrkorn-Bailey reporting): This year, there were 36 fewer total members of the division. Several strategies to expand membership recruitment were discussed, including a flyer for student and life status members, posting information about membership on the division’s listserv and Facebook page, and emailing professors who may have interested students. One suggestion was to separate student and life status members into two separate flyers. It was also noted that people may not be aware of life status memberships, and the APA membership office might be able to help increase awareness.
Fellowship Committee
(Walter Boot reporting): One new fellow (Sherry Beaudreau) was approved this year and there is a strong fellowship application that is being considered. Executive committee members who are not current fellows were encouraged to consider applying. Toni Wroolie needed to step down from the committee and Rowena Gomez (incoming Division 20 President) will appoint her replacement.
Elections Committee
(Tammy English reporting, Lisa Lind): The committee expressed gratitude for those who ran for positions this year and for the 158 members who voted. Grace Caskie is president-elect. William Haley is council representative. Kelly Cichy is treasurer. Helene Fung and Gloria Luong are members-at-large.
Awards Committee
(Cecilia Poon reporting, Jennifer Birdsall): The committee thanked everyone who reviewed applications. Six awards received applications this year and two award recipients will accept their awards in person.
Education Committee
(Kaci Fairchild reporting, Alissa Dark-Freudeman): Several new efforts (supporting D20’s Age-Friendly University AFU efforts) and ongoing initiatives were discussed, including organizing Teaching Tips over the past 10 years, an updated syllabi library, videos/multimedia resources and textbook lists, and the graduate program directory. These updates will be posted on the division website. Those who are interested in contributing to Teaching Tips for the newsletter should contact Kaci or Alissa.
Early Career Task Force – Mentor Matching Program
(Rowena Gomez reporting, Yin Liu, Victoria Guinn): The Mentor Matching Program recruited a cohort of 14 mentors and 22 mentees in February 2022. Overall, the feedback from both mentors and mentees has been highly positive, despite some challenges related to the pandemic. Mentees noted that they received some “insider” advice and many mentors expressed willingness to continue to support their mentees as needed. It was suggested that the Mentor Matching Program should update their information on the division website to share more about the program and its outcomes.
Early Career Task Force – Special Interest Groups
(Nicole DePasquale, Lewina Lee, Jamie Peven, Elizabeth Munoz, Aishwarya Rajesh, Shayne Lin, Hannah Apostolou): None of the members were in attendance; however, a report was provided which details several accomplishments including successful recruitment efforts, the first year with former special interest group leaders serving on the Early Career Task Force, the development of bylaws, and content submitted for each newsletter.
Social Media and Communications
(Alexander Erickson, Julie Boron, Toni Bisconti, Joann Montepare): It was noted that Alex has been terrific in his role. There has been good contact with staff at APA and the website has been updated.
Age-Friendly University
(Joann Montepare reporting, Rowena Gomez, Susan Whitbourne, Brian Carpenter, Celeste Beaulieu): This has been an active year for the AFU initiative. The AFU report describes several activities, including posting information about joining the AFU initiative along with the Division 20 Teaching Tips about advancing age inclusivity in Psychology on the Committees and Task Force webpage, completing data collection for the CODAPAR grant, and publishing an APA Monitor article and a paper for the special issue on ageism in the Journal of Social Issues. There are plans to refine webpages to provide more accessible information about the AFU initiative and Division 20 resources. There have also been several discussions with APA EDI staff and others about ageism and how APA can be more aware of various issues and better integrate aging-related considerations with other EDI efforts. Division 20 plans to develop an EDI statement that outlines these issues.
APA Aging Portfolio
(Latrice Vinson reporting): There was discussion of various activities such as an aging-related webinar series, website updates that include posting webinar recordings, and upcoming initiatives regarding age and race. Ideas are welcome for ways to involve students in these activities. For example, students could have opportunities to serve as interns and contribute to website and newsletter content. It was also mentioned that there should be a section of the website that is specific to student interests and opportunities for students to get more involved with APA.
APA Chief Science Officer
(Kim Boller reporting, Mitch Prinstein): Several activities were discussed, including strategies to educate the public about aging, promote aging-related research achievements and advocacy, and post aging-related scientific features on APA.org. Suggestions for other strategies to promote aging within APA include blog posts on aging topics, aging-related guests on podcasts, and future collaborations with the AFU initiative.
APA Chief Science Officer
(Karen Fingerman): A report was provided which details CONA’s activities, including collaboration with the Gerontological Society of America in a series of webinars addressing ageism, stigmas of late life, and ways of reframing late life in an aging society. CONA also plans to conduct a Clinicians Corner for CE credit which will present an overview of the new guidelines for dementia treatment. Finally, CONA is collaborating with Division 20 and Division 12, section 2, to host a happy hour social event at the APA conference.
Meeting was adjourned at 9:14 am CST.