A Message From Your President
Fritz Drasgow
Since 1995, SIOP has contracted with ORD to run our Administrative Office (AO). ORD is owned by Milt and Lee Hakel and has Lee, Larry Nader, Esther Benitez, Jen Baker, Brian Crnobrnja, Linda Lentz, and Lori Peake as employees. As you know, this team has been exceptional. The AO functions smoothly, running our annual conference, publishing
TIP, managing the Web site, and supporting our committees. In fact, one clear indicator of its success is that SIOP committee chairs and the Executive Committee have continuously asked the AO to do more and more. Another indicator is that Lee received SIOPs Gold Medal Award, which is given for extraordinary, long-lasting, and unique contributions to the Society and to the profession.
Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and some months ago Lee announced that she was retiring as of the 2005 SIOP conference. She has certainly earned her retirement, and I know all SIOP members wish her much happiness. We will also greatly miss Lee.
Lees retirement will lead to some changes in the AO. In overview, the AO will transition from a service purchased from ORD to an office of SIOP. To this end, SIOP has acquired the lease to the building where the AO is housed and the staff will all become employees of SIOP as of January 1, 2005.
John Cornwell, as our Financial Officer, has spent a great deal of time coordinating this transition and I greatly appreciate his efforts.
Bill Macey is chairing a search committee for the Executive Director of the AO and we hope to have this new person on board and shadowing Lee for a few months before the conference.
Of course, its impossible to have a seamless transition when someone with Lees competence and experience retires. But she is leaving SIOP with a well-trained staff that does a superb job running the AO. Moreover, Im confident that Bills committee will identify an exceptional individual to become SIOPs Executive Director, and SIOP will continue to provide outstanding service to its members.
One additional bit of good news: SIOP had its first ever audit by an outside accounting firm and received a clean bill of health.
Los Angeles
Lisa Finkelstein and the Program Committee received 1,076 submissions for our conference in Los Angeles. Curiously, exactly the same number of poster submissions were received this year as last year739. Symposium submissions were up, from 122 last year to 150 this year. Thanks to the literally hundreds of volunteers who served as reviewers!
The Los Angeles conference is really taking shape. The Program Committee introduced two new submission types this year: AcademicPractitioner Collaborative Forum and Theoretical Advancement. In addition, the special Sunday sessions will focus on the future of I-O psychology and some very exciting symposia have been planned.
Conference registration is now open on the SIOP Web site. The details about the conference are included in this issue of TIP, in the registration booklet mailed to you, and on the SIOP Web site:
www.siop.org. This year, you can also book your hotel room at the conference hotel from the SIOP Web site. I urge you to stay at one of the two excellent conference hotels. It isnt just about the money; its about bringing us together. We come to the conference for the sessions but also to interact with each other.
Preconference Workshops
Luis Parra and the Workshop Committee have put together another set of terrific workshops for Los Angeles. Based on input from members, the Workshop Committee has planned 14 workshops featuring an outstanding lineup of experts and topics. The workshops fill up quickly, so be sure to sign up early.
Minimal Risk in Research
The American Psychological Association is sponsoring a conference entitled, Minimal Risk in Behavioral Science Research: A Decisional Framework for Investigators and IRBs, which will be held April 2930, 2005 at Fordham University. The official goal of the conference is to discuss and reach consensus on a rubric for defining and classifying risk in behavioral science research. Undoubtedly, APA will communicate any guidelines resulting from the conference to IRBs across the country and perhaps around the world, so it is very important for SIOP to be involved. APA plans to invite 25 participants to the conference who have served on an IRB and are familiar with federal regulations for the protection of human research participants. I was very happy to nominate
Dan Ilgen for the conference. Dan has served continuously on the Michigan State IRB for many years, was a member of the recent National Research Panel for the CNSTAT (Committee on National Statistics), which published its report in 2002 and is a member of APAs taskforce on
IRBs.
Foundation
Many of you have given generously to the SIOP Foundation and thereby advanced its many initiatives. Please also think about including the Foundation in your will. Its easy, and chances are that by leaving money to the Foundation you will simply lower the taxes on your legacy and not the amount going to your heirs. There are many ways to donate to the Foundation and
Paul Thayer, president of the Foundation, will be happy to talk with you. All of us have a stake in the future of I-O. The Foundation gives us a way to make a difference.
Membership
I am pleased to report that at the time I wrote this column, SIOP membership stood at 5,665. Last year at this time membership was 5,408, so we have an almost 5% increase! The future of I-O psychology lies in its people and our increase in membership shows that we are moving in the right direction.
See ya in LA!
January 2005 Table
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