As I near the end of my term as the president of Division 20, I realize how important mentorship was in shaping my own career and how powerful of an impact mentorship can have. We can recognize the gift of time and investment when others take the time to mentor us or when we take the time to mentor others. I’ve been fortunate to have many mentors along my professional journey, including but not limited to G. Alfred Forsyth, Abigail Panter, Sherry Willis, and K. Warner Schaie. Without each of these individuals’ influence on my career and life, I know I would not be serving as your division President today, and I am grateful for their mentorship. I work every day to re-invest the time and opportunities given to me by these mentors by now mentoring my own students and junior colleagues.
In particular, without Warner Schaie and Sherry Willis offering me my first post-doctoral job (which I started just 10 days after I defended my dissertation in quantitative psychology!) and beginning my work on the Seattle Longitudinal Study and ACTIVE, I never would have entered the field of gerontology. One of my presidential initiatives was to increase mentorship opportunities that Division 20 offered, and although I hadn’t intended to make fundraising the primary focus of my presidential term, I’m proud to let you know that Division 20 has nearly completed our fundraising for the fund renamed in Warner’s honor and impact on the field ˗the K. Warner Schaie Memorial Fund for Adult Development and Agingopens in new window. Once it is fully funded, Division 20 will be able to support more students, post-doctoral scholars, and other emerging professionals in the fields of adult development in aging. We aim to support additional conference travel and provide funding for research. I encourage you to honor your own mentors by considering a donation to this fund, which would help us get over the finish line. I’m also happy to have the opportunity to honor Warner’s legacy with a symposium I will be chairing at the APA convention on Friday, August 9, from 3 to 3:50 pm at which several of his past mentees will speak about his influence on their own careers in gerontology.
Division 20 will also offer multiple opportunities for mentorship at the APA convention this August. In collaboration with Division 12-2, we are hosting a brunch that the Early Career Task Force has planned for both those who would like to receive mentoring in adult development and aging and those who would like to provide this mentoring. The event is scheduled for Friday, August 9, 2024 from 10:15 am to 11:30 am at The Spruce Cafe, 724 Pine St., Seattle, WA 98101 (just a couple of blocks from the Convention Center). Please RSVPopens in new window as a mentee or as a mentor as space is limited. In addition, on Saturday, August 10, our post-doctoral representatives Anastasia Canell and Shelbie Turner have planned a critical conversation to talk about opportunities for those considering a career in geropsychology. Please plan to attend if you can! I know that some Division 20 members might not attend the APA convention this year with the annual meeting of the Gerontological Society of America also being held in Seattle this upcoming November, so our social media team will keep you posted on all the Division 20 happenings so that you can feel connected even if you are not able to be there physically.
Division 20 also continued this year to support mentorship activities via its Mentor Match program. If you’ve never participated in the Mentor Match program, I strongly encourage you to do so! The time commitment is minimal with only one required meeting, although mentor-mentee pairs may meet more often than that, if they choose. I’ve greatly enjoyed meeting my mentees via Zoom and then getting to see them at APA and GSA afterwards.
In conclusion, I want to give my thanks to all who served Division 20 this year and who championed aging in so many ways. I’m particularly grateful to past-president Rowena Gomez for her continued involvement in the Division’s mentoring program and for her mentorship of me during my presidential term. I also want to acknowledge our program chairs, Tammy English and Gloria Luong, for their hard work in putting together an excellent program for convention, and our Council representatives, Bill Haley and Maggie Syme, for making sure the voice of aging is heard at APA. I look forward to seeing you in Seattle this August!