2015 Minutes

Eastern Psychological Association Board of Directors Meeting

Agenda

12:00 PM March 5, 2015 Marriott Downtown, Philadelphia, PA

Invited

Elected Officers: Susan Nolan, President; Thomas Zentall, Past-President; Terry Davidson, President-Elect

Appointed Officers: Frederick Bonato, Executive Officer; Paul Schnur, Incoming Executive Officer; Maryellen Hamiliton, Treasurer; Barney Beins, Historian; Michael Bernstein, Program Committee Chair

Elected Board Members: Mark Bouton, Michael Brown, Richard Conti, Christopher Hakala, Marie Helweg-Larsen, Ralph Miller, Irene Pepperberg, Steven Sloman, Stanley Weiss.

Newly Elected Members-at-large of the BOD (terms starting 6/1/2015): Dan Gottleib, Kelly Goedert, Tom Heinzen.

Minutes

1. 12:00 PM Lunch

2. 12:20 PM Call to Order. Introductions of New Members: Goedert, Gottlieb, Heinzen Current members: Millter, Bouton, Hellwig-Larsen, Bonato, Nolan, Bernstein, Brown, Hamilton, Weiss, Davidson, Conti, Beins

3. President’s welcome Sharing Psychological Science Invited speakers program EPA Conference Quest: A question was raised about the relevance of EPA Quest to the mission of EPA and about the board’s review process. EPA Quest is an EPA presidential initiative and serves both an educational and motivational activity; i.e., to inform and engage students in EPA. A lively discussion ensued. It was proposed that presidential initiatives in the future should come to the BOD for review. There appeared to be a consensus for the suggestion. At the same time, there was strong support for the continuance of presidential initiatives. EPA Quest will be reviewed with input from the board and Psi Chi advisors. In a related discussion, it was suggested that future years’ handouts for EPA conference should include lists of restaurants in the area, perhaps local sights.

4. Election Committee Report - Paul Schnur presented the election results on behalf of fellow committee members, Tom Zentall and Mark Bouton. The results were that Fred Bonato was elected President of EPA and three new board members were elected. Drs. Kelly Goedert, Tom Heinzen and Dan Gottlieb.

5. Program Committee’s Report Michael Bernstein. Acceptance criteria were the same as in the past. Rate of rejection of around 10%, comparable to other meetings. EPA, MPA, etc. Undergraduate studies were rejected when they were incomplete. Some faculty advisors complained that the Dec 1 deadline for undergraduates did not give enough time to complete data collection. BOD believes there is sufficient time as most students have met the deadline over the years. BOD support the Dec 1 deadline for undergraduates. Miller raised an issue about scheduling sessions so as to avoid conflicts. Bernstein explained the process and the difficulty when there are large number of papers in an area that also has a keynote. Point is that some conflicts are probably inevitable despite efforts to avoid them. Kudos to area chairs. Miller suggests sending out a tentative agenda to the BOD and asking them to identify potential conflicts, perhaps giving a 48hr time to respond? There were no objections. Instructions to area chairs must emphasize looking for conflicts. BOD can play an important role. The use of “Other” category in call-for-submissions is somewhat problematic. Command center is big help – much improved – color coding is great but can be enhanced. Contact information for session chairs needs to be improved. Eliminate “Other” category. BOD voted to remove “Other.” Susan moved it and Bouton seconded it. Carried unanimously Bouton raised the issue of why we meet in early March. Bonato explained it is due to hotel prices early in March versus April. Executive officer will look into it. Revisited Dec 1 deadline issue once again. After further discussion, it was agreed that it was a reasonable and fair deadline. We need a new Program Committee Chair for next year. Nominations from the BOD are welcome.*

6. Executive Officer’s Report Bonato report. Attendance will be affected by weather. “Thanks for 5 great years. It’s been a great learning experience.” Room block issue. Contract is that we book 80% of the rooms. Are people staying at hotels other than the conference hotel? Incentives for staying at the conference hotel? For staying Sat night? Sunday programming? Keynote speaker? Undergrad posters on Sunday? Renegotiate Saturday night? Also a Saturday night keynote – President’s address? - might be helpful. EO will look into this. Membership is 2250 and more. 23 exhibitors this year. $850 per booth. New app is available. Do we need a printed program? Yes, but it can be sold to those who want it. And we can provide a pdf of the program for people to download. People would have to opt in to get the printed program. There will be need to be tracking so that there will be enough program books for those who opted in at the time of registration. BOD will continue to discuss this issue.

7. Historian’s Report. Since Barney Beins is newly appointed historian, there is no report.

8. Treasurer’s Report Mary Ellen. New accounting firm. Excellent decision. Due to the weather, it’s difficult to predict how many no shows there will be and that has financial implications. Insurance policy paid up to date. Now have access to online banking. This year we did not need to transfer money out of Money Market account into GNMA account. New budget estimates are conservative. Motion to approve (Nolan). Davidson seconded. Motion carried unanimously.

9. EPAGS discussion. EPA voted last year to defund EPAGS. But during the past year, they have demonstrated responsible behavior and would like to take steps to be re-instated. New leadership seems to have made a difference. They might be given a chance at reinstatement, with a liaison to EPAGS from the BOD. Nevertheless, their bylaws are still an issue. Any reinstatement would have to be conditional upon approval of the bylaws by the BOD in order to insure that their processes are consistent with EPA mission and bylaws. BOD agree to work with EPAGS to review bylaws. Motion that EPAGS work with Mary Ellen and Fred to develop appropriate bylaws, which then can be vetted by the BOD. Discussion of the role of BOD vis a vis EPAGS bylaws and programming. New motion: “Would consider reinstatement of EPAGS conditional upon establishing bylaws acceptable to EPA. Secondly, that Fred and Mary Ellen will work with EPAGS to develop the bylaws. Thirdly there will be a Board appointed faculty advisor.” Passed unanimously.

10. Discussion of Budget for 2015-16

11. New Business - PsycEXTRA - Fellows election process Davidson, Fellows chair. Three new fellows put forward by the committee based on the criterion Outstanding Contributions to Psychology. Tony Riley, David Kearns, William Ryan. Voted Susan Nolan moved, Rich Conti seconded. Unanimously approved and congrats to the new fellows. New criteria? Outstanding contributions? Research, teaching. How to satisfy researchers, teachers, clinicians, etc. Criteria for clinician Fellows need to be specified. Nolan will follow up. Discussion: Criteria for nomination. Then what is the committee process after nomination? Criteria for excellence in teaching. 10 pubs Member in good Standing in EPA. Criteria: 1. Nominee must be EPA member in good standing – moved (Nolan) and seconded (Hamilton) 2. Must be nominated by BOD member or other fellow, who must write a paragraph (Nolan, Hamilton) of support. Additional materials may be requested by BOD as necessary. 3. 7 years of experience post PhD (Nolan, Conti) 4. Evidence of significant, sustained contributions to psychology in research or teaching – Moved (Nolan) and seconded (Hamilton). PsycEXTRA: Abstracting service. Do we want to participate? Seem to be a number of advantages and no apparent disadvantages. Moved that we do (Nolan, Hamilton). Unanimous. CE credits: A proposal to offer CE credits for clinical oriented sessions and perhaps others was discussed. There was consensus that it would be a good idea. Susan Nolan will look into the mechanism for how to accomplish it (through APA?). 12. Evaluation of Treasurer and Executive Officer

13. Adjournment (about 4 PM)

*Subsequent to the Director’s meeting, Byron Nelson was selected as Program Chair for the 2016 meeting of EPA in New York City.