It is hard for believe that 3 years has passed and my term as editor is closing. I have truly enjoyed the opportunity to serve the society during these years.

I mentioned in the July 1997 issue that I wanted to develop some special pieces for my last TIP. I charged myself and the editorial board with moving outside the typical circle of I-O topics and to engage prominent individuals about what our vision should be. I am most pleased with this issue, and I hope you find the articles of interest as well.

Starting us off, is a letter from the United States Secretary of Labor, Alexis M. Herman. As a Cabinet member, she is the highest-ranking individual in the nation overseeing issues related to work and workers. I asked Secretary Herman to describe for us her goals for the American workplace. She has provided us with five key issues. We should take these as a challenge to become involved in and contribute to their attainment.

Second, is a fantastic piece from Robert (Bud) MacCallum. Bud is a quantitative psychologist at Ohio State who is internationally known for his work. He is also the best teacher in the world! I asked Bud to evaluate I-O’s use of methods and to comment on what we are doing well and to suggest things that we might attend to and/or do differently. I think you will agree that Bud’s article is required reading for the field and those individuals training in I-O.

Third, in his discussion of issues related to the Virtual Workplace, Wayne Cascio continues to set the standard for I-O psychologists. This piece is based, in part, on his recent keynote address given to the Occupational Psychology Conference of the British Psychological Society in Eastbourne, UK. I believe you will agree that Wayne’s points for the field are consistent with his quote of Wayne Gretsky’s secret to goal-scoring (yes, you have to read it because I’m not going to give it away!).

The editorial board also rose to my challenge.

Phil Craiger and Jason Weiss interviewed Donald Norman who has made seminal contributions in many areas, including cognitive science and human-computer interaction. Want to know what the interface of the future will be like, or what form (computing) devices of the future will take? Don Norman tells us.

TIP-TOPics coeditors Dawn Riddle and Lori Foster continue their excellent work. They provide insights into the challenges of the future for I-O from colleagues at several Ivy League Universities. They were also able to pin down Ken Blanchard’s (The One Minute Manager) prognostications.

Karen May interviewed Ian Mitroff. Ian’s comments about the field are certain to get you thinking and talking.

Charmine Hrtel provides in interview with Phil Bohle, an internationally recognized expert in shift work. Some important theoretical and practical implications for I-O can be found in both Karen’s and Charmine’s contributions.

Incoming editor Allan Church provides comments from some SIOP members. Be sure to read, however, his list of individuals who did not contribute.

Tom Baker’s final column for TIP is a "Best Of"—classic comments from the Practice Network.

Dirk Steiner continues to provide glimpses of life overseas. This column focuses on Portugal.

Continuing his excellent work on monitoring governmental moves, Jim Sharf updates us on the latest issue.

Other contributions include:

Kevin Murphy provides his final presidential column. Among other things, Kevin describes the winter executive committee meeting and the results of his strategic planning initiative for the society. Be sure and see the pictures of that meeting taken by SIOP historian Laura Koppes (in this TIP).

Michael Gasser and colleagues describe an interesting study that provides insight into how well known I-O psychologists are to those outside the field.

Adrienne Colella presents the 1998 SIOP Award Winners.

Several other columns will also be of interest to you.

Susan H. Taylor is the new dean of undergraduate studies at San Francisco State University. Matt Redmond and Paige Porter Wolf have joined Jim Sharf at the Washington D.C. office of Aon Consulting. Mitchell Lee Marks has relocated to San Francisco where he has established an international consulting practice. Kurt Kraiger will serve as the interim chair of the Department of Psychology at the University of Colorado at Denver for the 1998-1999 academic year.

As I signoff there are several individuals I wish to thank. First is Wally Borman for encouraging me to take on the editorship and Ed Levine for supporting me.

I also want to thank the three SIOP Presidents with whom I worked: Mike Campion, Jim Farr, and Kevin Murphy; as well as their respective executive committees.

Of course each issue depends greatly on the editorial board. My thanks to each member for the hard work put in with each issue. If you are like me, it always helps to have a face to go with a name, so I’m providing you with the pictures of these individuals who have worked so hard on your behalf.

Also, my thanks to Lori Foster and Scott Birkeland for helping to format the files.

Finally, to Lee Hakel and her staff for providing invaluable support in so many areas.