In February 2024, we sponsored the first-ever “The Next Big Idea Conference” held on the campus of Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. This was a successful first conference, drawing about 100 participants and was the brainchild of Jeffrey Arnett, our division president from August 2023–August 2024. There were nine presenters who presented on such diverse topics as new concepts of gender, the difference between cloning and twin research, and ketamine usage in therapy. These presentations served as the basis for a special issue of Division 1’s flagship journal, Review of General Psychology. We are currently planning our next “The Next Big Idea Conference,” again held on the campus of Arizona State University next February. We will again publish a special issue in our journal based upon these presentations along with other papers to be considered for this special issue. For those interested in these topics or to submit a manuscript for this special issue, please watch for these opportunities on the presidential trio listserv.
Another activity that Division 1 has been sponsoring is a webinar series on various topics of interest, including alternatives to grading, difficult dialogues, and teaching for prejudice reduction. This series has drawn between 10 and 80 participants and has been organized by a past president, Clare Mehta, since June 2024.
Finally, we have been involved with various logistical aspects of the division. Two years ago, we hired a part-time administrative officer, Pat King, who has helped us with things like taking notes of our monthly presidential trio meetings, contacting APA for various services (such as setting up a JotForm for our conferences), contacting Arizona State University for room and catering preparations, etc. She has been an enormous help for the running of our division. Another logistical issue was the project of our immediate past president, Mindy Erchull. She updated our bylaws and is transitioning us to have a Gmail account based upon our titles (e.g., the current president is president@apadiv1.org) so that those occupying the same positions hence forth can now look at the history of communications by that officer.