2012 minutes
Eastern Psychological Association
Board of Directors Meeting Agenda
12:00 PM March 1, 2012, the Butler Room
Westin Convention Center, Pittsburgh PA
Elected Officers
Andrew Delamater, President
Debra A. Zellner, President-Elect
Appointed Officers
Frederick Bonato, Executive Officer
Norine Jalbert, Treasurer
Diane Finley, Program Committee Chair
Wade Pickren, Historian
Elected Board Members
Rachel Barr
Bruce Brown
Dana Dunn
Bonnie Green
Lewis Lipsitt
James Macdonall
Susan Nolan
Vincent Prohaska
Susan Krauss Whitbourne
1. Call to order
President Andy Delamater called the meeting to order at 12:30 PM. He welcomed the Board and summarized the year and the preparations for the 2012 EPA conference.
2. Election Committee Report
Fred Bonato summarized the Election Committee Report that was prepared by the Committee chair, Ruth Colwill. He reported that the election for president-elect was extremely close. The following individuals were elected to office:
Elected President-Elect
Thomas Zentall
Elected to the EPA Board of Directors
Chris Hakala
Irene Pepperberg
Steven Sloman
Andy Delamater suggested that moving forward we should start the nomination/election process sooner. The timing was discussed and a consensus was reached that elections should perhaps be finished before winter break.
Motion: Newly elected officers (president-elect and board of directors) will have their hotel night covered by EPA for the night of the Board of Directors meeting.
The motion passed unanimously.
3. Treasurer’s Report
Treasurer Norine Jalbert reported that EPA is in good financial health. She recommended that EPA keep it’s current dues rates intact for the coming year. She recommended that any surplus funds be put back in to events for the membership, such as a reception or breakfast for early morning sessions. Susan Whitbourne supported the idea of spending additional funds on student related activities.
Rachel Barr suggested that EPA might want to ask for publishers to sponsor events.
Debra Zellner suggested that in some cases a small honorarium for speakers could be beneficial in attracting people to our meeting. Several Board members agreed that attracting excellent speakers was instrumental in making our meetings successful.
4. Membership Committee Report
Deb Zellner summarized the Membership Committee report. The procedure for selecting and inviting was described and the list of proposed new fellows discussed.
Andy Delamater provided some history about the fellow selection process and stated that we now have a more formal process and a specific committee and that these are included in the proposed bylaws changed. We now receive candidate Curriculum Vitae and statements about why an individual should be considered for fellow status.
Motion: To approve the list of fellow nominees provided by the Membership Committee.
The motion passed unanimously.
5. EPA Graduate Student (EPAGS) Association Report
Susan Nolan gave the EPAGS report. She indicated that although EPAGS was less proactive with planning events for this years meeting compared to last year, EPAGS did organize an academic career workshop for this year’s conference and also had some events to increase awareness in EPAGS. Also, they are going ahead with awards, a Facebook page, a blog, and an information sheet for new members on how to organize.
Susan Nolan informed the Board that she would be passing the torch to Bonnie Green, with the suggestion that they might need additional motivation to improve their programming for next years meeting. All agreed that Bonnie would be perfect in this role.
6. Historian’s Report
Wade Pickren gave the Historian’s report. He reported that he has sent materials to the Center for the History of Psychology to be archived but that we should continue to submit materials (e.g., presidential addresses).
He also suggested that in the future we list APA Division 26 in our program as one of our sponsors.
A discussion of archiving materials ensued and there was some concern expressed about the need to maintain our archived materials at the facility in Akron, in lieu of placing all relevant materials on our website. Wade suggested that it was important for material to be preserved in a searchable form, and not all pdf file creating programs have such features. In addition, he suggested that the previous Historian sent approximately 3-5 boxes worth of materials and it was impossible to determine what materials those boxes contained. Norine Jalbert suggested that we look into finding old documents of possible historical value as much as possible.
The idea of monetary donations to support EPA’s involvement with the archives was discussed. Lew Lipsett recommended that we not tie monetary gifts to any specific action. Vincent Prohaska suggested that after we get a sense of the finances we can consider emailing membership for possible donations after more information is obtained from the archives. The issue was tabled until all pertinent figures can be accumulated, but it was agreed that a sub-committee consisting of Wade Pickren, Lew Lipsett, & Vincent Prohaska would be charged with obtaining this information.
7. Program Committee’s Report
Diane Finley summarized the Program Committee report. She recommended that we continue to start our conferences with a talk given by a well-known speaker.
Some submission issues were discussed such as abstracts getting accepted without results, instructions for preparing abstracts, and submission ‘fields’ on the submission site to make it easier for submitters.
The question of parallel programing came up. Currently, we do not have events or sessions scheduled against some other sessions. Andy Delamater suggested that we rethink whether or not we should have parallel programming, and whether we might wish to decrease the time for invited talks from our current 90-min slot to 60 or 70 min.
Diane Finley stated that sponsor approval for undergraduate abstracts was still an issue that needs to be taken up with our programmer.
Susan Whitbourne suggested that Psi Chi program should work more closely with the Program Committee.
Motion: The Program Committee chair will be appointed for a two-year term. There will be a shadowing year before a term actually begins so that chairs can efficiently learn the duties and responsibilities associated with chairing the Committee.
The motion passed unanimously.
Motion: The EPA Policy and Procedures Manual will be amended to include the following- a member of the program committee can be removed for failure to fulfill their responsibilities as laid out in EPA Policy and Procedures Manual by a majority Board vote.
The motion passed unanimously.
Motion: There shall be two social psychology members of the Program Committee if the number of submissions for that area exceed 200.
The motion passed unanimously.
8. Executive Officer’s Report
Fred Bonato briefly summarized his report. Based on membership numbers, submissions, booth rentals, and advertising, he projected a successful meeting in terms especially compared to our last meeting in Pittsburgh that was in 2009. He also reported that he did not look for new sites for future meetings this year given we are scheduled until 2021. However, he also suggested that now was a good time to look ahead given the still sluggish economy. There was a consensus that new sites should be investigated.
9. Discussion of Budget for 2012-13
Treasurer Norine Jalbert presented a proposed budget for the next fiscal year.
Motion: To accept the proposed budget for presentation at the annual business meeting.
The motion passed unanimously.
10. New Business
Pilot areas
Pilot areas for the annual program were discussed. Currently, we have three pilot areas: history, international, and applied. It was suggested that history remain as pilot area at least until the current historian’s (Wade Pickren) term is over.
Motion: The history pilot area will extend at least until the end of the current historian’s term.
The motion passed unanimously.
The Board agreed that no action needs to be taken regarding the international pilot area until next year because the term of the current program committee member representing that area will not expire until after next years meeting.
A discussion of the applied pilot area ensued. This area attracted a large number of submissions for this year’s meeting.
Motion: A Program Committee member for the applied area will be appointed for following year.
The motion passed unanimously.
Paper session headcounts
A discussion about the attendance at paper sessions took place. It was agree upon that the executive officer would arrange for head counts at the paper sessions. This would help the Program Committee with its future planning efforts.
Bylaw revisions
Andy Delamater suggested that we make changes to our bylaws. This suggestion was motivated by the fact that EPA has now created a new Membership category – Fellow – that is not described in the current bylaws. In addition, it is noted that the current bylaws contains a fair amount of outdated information (e.g., regarding how to contact members through mail vs email, whether the EO should be “bonded,” etc). Although time did not permit a full discussion of the revisions, it was agreed that additional discussions would take place over email in the next several months. However, some discussion did take place concerning the issue of Associate Member status.
Motion: The Associate Member category will include high school psychology and the order in the description of this category will be from high school teacher to student.
The motion passed unanimously.
Programming issues
Possible improvements were discussed in the programming process. It was agreed upon that issues such as conflicts in the schedule would be taken up with our programmer. It was also agreed upon that the Program Committee chair, the president, and the executive officer would explore the possibility of increasing presentation slots by changing the timing of sessions.
Treasurer position
It was noted that Treasurer Norine Jalbert has one more year left of her term. Hence, the Board needs to consider how to fill the treasurer’s position after next year.
APA leadership meeting
Susan Whitbourne gave a report on the APA leadership meeting. The possibility of regional observers was raised. She indicated that we should request to have an EPA member sit on the council. Susan Nolan volunteered to represent EPA at the next Educational Leadership Council.
10. Evaluation of Treasurer and Executive Officer
Treasurer Norine Jalbert and Executive Officer Fred Bonato excused themselves from the meeting. The Board went into a closed session to evaluate the treasurer and executive officer’s performance for the year[AU1] .
11. Adjournment