Membership Board: 2016 Annual Report

The Membership Board (MB) is a standing board of the association. Members are elected by the Council of Representatives (COR). The 2016 MB consisted of nine members as follows: a minimum of four are Fellows of the association and the remaining members represent the diverse membership. The board has oversight for the recruitment and retention activities for the association, has the authority to elect qualified persons to initial member status, and has the responsibility for establishing and regulating the APA criteria that the Fellows Committee uses to review and recommend member nominees for the election of Fellow status.

Rachel Casas, PhD, chair; Nancy Diehl, chair-elect; Juan Dominguez, PhD; Kenneth Drude, PhD; Amber Hewitt, PhD; Michi Fu, PhD; Linda Forrest, PhD; Stephanie Shields, PhD; Brian Smedley, PhD.

At the spring 2016 consolidated meeting, the MB reviewed six applications for membership. Of these, four applications were recommended for associate membership status. At the fall 2016 consolidated meeting, the MB reviewed four applications for membership. Of these, one application was approved.

Some of the important work of the MB for 2016 is highlighted below:

1. Provided feedback and input regarding many of the new products and services launched by Ian King, APA's new executive director for membership recruitment and engagement. Some of the new products and services for which the MB provided feedback included: APA's new online membership renewal system, APA's new members-only webinars (e.g. on student loan debt, using apps in practice) and ideas for special topic "collection books" for APA members.
2. Worked with King to draft the "Friends of Psychology" agenda item, which proposed an amendment to APA bylaws to add a new affiliate membership category that aimed to help APA engage the broad range of individuals who possess an affinity for the study and application of psychology. The proposed new category of affiliate membership, titled "Friends of Psychology," was designed to be open to people interested in supporting APA's mission who are not eligible for other membership types. The MB helped to draft the item and also to respond to feedback from various boards and committees. In addition, the MB urged the COR to vote in favor of sending the item to the general membership for a vote. The item was approved by the COR at its August 2016 meeting, and was distributed to the general membership for a vote in the fall of 2016. Results from the election are still pending.
3. Discussed a package of possible changes to APA bylaws and association rules to improve the membership experience and management of business with King. Some of these issue included: the parameters around life status, including life status relative to divisions; the configuration of step up and step down pricing and the fact that pricing mechanisms are codified in our rules; and the divisions issue. Provided input on various potential changes and brainstormed strategies for successful implementation, including a potential timeline for action steps that can help facilitate necessary changes to association rules and bylaws.
4. Reviewed possible changes to APA Life Status criteria. However, as King has several new ideas for a comprehensive package of membership reforms that could affect multiple sectors of APA's membership, the Membership Board decided to wait to recommend any changes to life status criteria until a more comprehensive proposal has been formally developed by King at the spring 2017 consolidated meeting.
5. Reviewed results of APA's latest member research surveys and focus groups conducted by King's office.
6. Discussed some of the strengths and challenges associated with APA's divisions (e.g. some divisions do not require individuals to be APA members to join the division) as well as trends in division memberships. Participated in a meeting hosted by Committee on Division/APA Relations (CODAPAR) at the APA convention in August 2016.
7. Reviewed the MB's previous strategic plan and engaged in new strategic planning regarding future goals and objectives. In particular, we spent significant time reviewing the data and reports from APA's Good Governance Project (GGP) and discussed potential ways in which the MB could implement changes to our functioning that are consistent with GGP's recommendations. We identified several action steps that the MB can take toward this goal, and also identified association-wide changes that other governance groups may wish to consider adopting. Some of the changes the MB enacted include: being more fiscally responsible by selecting moderately priced restaurants for business dinners, minimizing or choosing not to expense APA for alcohol or wine consumption associated with business meals, and eliminated the Sunday morning business meeting at fall and spring consolidated meetings to minimize hotel expenditures. To increase our use of technology, the MB agreed to pilot test more virtual meetings and engage in more web-based interactions.
8. Other aspects of our strategic planning focused on ways in which the MB can best assist King and the new Office for Member Recruitment and Engagement. Some of the areas of focus that King and the MB agreed would be mutually beneficial areas of focus included: improving and enhancing diversity efforts within APA to better serve the needs of our increasingly diverse membership; considering ways to build and engage "community" between APA members; improving and enhancing APA's efforts to reach international members; and better resources and services for APA members who have retired from their work as practicing psychologists but would like to remain engaged in the association.
9. Reviewed and forwarded nominations for Initial Fellow Status as recommended by the Fellows Committee to the BOD and COR for approval. A total of 72 new APA Fellows were approved by the Council of Representatives in 2016. The MB also reviewed and forwarded the rank-ordered slate of candidates for the Fellows Committee to the BOD.
10. Responded to member concerns regarding problems with the APA Member Database that is outdated and/or potentially harmful to some of our members. Specifically, there were concerns that the database does not list the most recent title/name change for Div. 44 from "Society for Psychological Study of LGB Issues" to "Society for the Psychological Study of LGBT Issues." In addition, when a person changes their name, APA lists their original name in their member profile. This only happens when someone changes his or her name while being a member of APA. It is problematic because it could potentially "out" transgender individuals. King is working on addressing these concerns.
11. Responded to various Cross Cutting (CC) agenda items, including but not limited to the following items:
    1. "Call for Questions to the President-Elect Candidate" (submitted questions)
    2. "Rights of Psychology Graduate Students"  (provided comments)
    3. "Resolution on Human Trafficking in the United States" (supported)
    4. "Resolution on Promoting Global Perspectives in US Psychology" (supported)
12. Provided a written response to the Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards (ASPPB) request for comments about the Examination for Professional Practice of Psychology Step-2  (EPPP Step 2) and its implications for APA membership/constituents.
13. Consulted with APA Elections Office regarding questions and potential concerns about ordering of candidate names on the election slates for APA president.
14. Met with APA President-elect, Antonio Puente, PhD, at his request, to discuss possibilities for complimentary memberships for grant winners from the American Psychological Foundation and/or for psychologists who have been inducted into the National Academy of Sciences.
15. Met with Martha Zlocovich, PhD, executive director of Psi Chi, regarding potential partnerships that can encourage/incentivize Psi Chi members to join APA.
16. Assembled three slates (for the 2018-20 term) to be reviewed by the BOD and elected by the COR. Established priorities for nominating MB members for the 2018-20 term with expertise and/or backgrounds in the following three areas:
    Slate 1: Member who is from an Affiliate Membership category (particularly someone who has experience in one or more of the following: professional leadership, international education or practice).
    Slate 2: Member whose work is science/research focused.
    Slate 3: Member whose work is conducted primarily within a practice setting
17. Pilot tested two virtual meetings using APA's new video conferencing platform, Vidyo. Provided feedback about the experience to Cynthia Belar, PhD, ABPP, APA's interim chief executive officer and Sandra Shullman, PhD, member of APA's Good Governance Project Team and APA Board of Directors member.
18. Drafted an outline and content for a letter to submit to the APA Board of Directors and Council of Representatives regarding the MB's progress toward the good governance projects as well as a statement on the MB's perspective regarding the overall Good Governance Project. With the letter, the MB also would like for the APA Board of Directors and Council of Representatives to be made aware of how the general membership is dissatisfied with the apparent self-interest and perceived conflicts of interest that board members and council representatives seem to be portraying.
19. Discussed the possibility of sharing this letter as an "Information item" on a future cross-cutting agenda to share the MB's perspective about the importance of the Good Governance Project for the health of APA's membership with other board and committee leaders.

The MB would like to thank the dedicated APA staff members as we could not have been as successful without their dedicated support. We are especially indebted to Sonja Wiggins and Ian King.