2007 Annual Reports for Boards and Committees

Membership Committee Composition and Slates

2007 Membership Committee Members:  Harold Takooshian, Chair; Sandra Tars, PhD, Vice-Chair; Mary Lou Cheal, PhD, Paul Lloyd, PhD, Ilene Serlin, PhD and A. Toy Caldwell-Colbert, PhD.

Outgoing members are Harold Takooshian and Paul Lloyd. Sandra Tars is the 2007 Vice-Chair and will become Chair in January 2008. In 2008 the Membership Committee will expand to become a Membership Board with the following five new members: Marcella Boynton Hansen, Stewart Cooper, PhD, Joy Rice, PhD, Nathan Smith, PhD, and Bonnie Strickland, PhD.

In 2007 the Membership Committee had five white/caucasian members and one ethnic minority member. The committee had four female members and two male members. The Membership Committee did not have specific diversity training during 2007 but the committee continues to focus on broad representation from APA’s diverse membership, ethnic and linguistic minorities, early career interests, and governance newcomers when composing slates for election to the Membership Committee.

Membership Committee Objectives

At the spring meeting the Membership Committee developed slates for the new Membership Board and drafted a call for nominations for the new Fellows Committee both of which will become effective in 2008.

The Membership Committee met at the APA 115th Annual Convention in San Francisco, CA. At the convention, the committee hosted a session with the membership chairs of the divisions and the State, Provincial, and Territorial Psychological Associations to discuss issues related to membership recruitment, engagement, and retention.

In the fall , the Membership Committee placed the Membership Recruitment, Retention and Engagement Strategic Plan on the cross cutting agenda of the consolidated meetings and held two conference committee meeting to receive comment and suggestions from other boards and committees. The committee asked boards and committees to rank order their top recommendations and provide comment to the Membership Committee. After the board and committee recommendations were received they were rank ordered and forwarded to the different directorates for a full cost analysis. The Membership Board will review the cost analysis of each recommendation in the Spring of 2008 and decide which recommendations to move forward to board and council.

APA Fellows

Upon recommendation from the Membership Committee and the Board of Directors, the Council of Representatives elected a total of 145 Members to initial APA Fellow status for the year 2007.   Each new fellow was congratulated with a personal letter from the Chair of the Membership Committee.  In addition they received an APA Fellow Certificate, and recognition as a fellow in the membership directory. And as part of an overall effort to increase recognition of the Fellows program and individual fellows a list of those fellows elected in the 2007 class was published in the American Psychologist and the Monitor.

The committee conducted the fellows orientation session for division fellow chairs during the 2007 Annual Convention. The committee continues to evaluate the APA Fellows process and consider the feedback and suggestions received from the divisions’ fellows committees regarding criteria, timelines, and application and nomination materials.

Waiver Applications & Ethics Cases

The Membership Committee approved 5 waiver applications in 2007 and deferred to the decision of the Ethics Committee to recommended approval of 17 ethics cases.