NASPSPA FALL CONFERENCE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING
Wednesday, October 7, 2014
Chicago, IL
The following Executive Committee (EC) members were present at the fall meeting of NASPSPA: President Gabriele Wulf, Past-President Alan Smith, President-Elect Jennifer Etnier, Secretary-Treasurer Thomas Raedeke, Communication Director Catherine Sabiston, Past-President Liaison Maureen Weiss, and Student Representative Nicole Westlund. Site Director, Penny McCullagh, was in attendance for the conference information.
The meeting was called to order by Wulf at 8:03 am.
A. The Pre-Conference Executive Committee Meeting, June 11, 2014 and Post-Conference Executive Committee Meeting, June 15, 2014 minutes were approved.
B. A draft of the Business Meeting, June 13, 2014 minutes was approved and awaits final approval from the NASPSPA membership at the Business Meeting in Portland, 2015.
C. The agenda for the fall Executive Committee meeting was approved.
D. 2014 Minneapolis Conference Review (McCullagh)
1. McCullagh noted that 371 members attended the 2014 NASPSA conference with 316 abstracts presented.
2. In terms of logistics, McCullagh noted some individuals experienced difficulty in registering for the conference. However, these issues may be alleviated in the future per a new HK registration process.
3. McCullagh reiterated the importance of staying at the conference hotel and noted that more than 70% of attendees did so at the Minneapolis conference
4. The profit from the Minneapolis conference was $13289.62. However, the conference insurance has not yet been paid. Although this profit amount was higher than most years, part of that was due to the cost savings associated with not printing the abstracts.
5. McCullagh reiterated that the NASPSPA goal is to break even on the conference.
6. Sabiston recommended that the business meeting be named the “Business and Award Lunch” to more accurately reflect its content.
E. 2015 Portland Conference (McCullagh & Smith)
1. Smith will look into modifying the program grid to potentially have welcoming comments and the HK lecture Thursday morning. The Distinguished Scholar Award presentation and a reception will occur at the end of the first day.
2. Smith will explore the possibility of offering preconference sessions targeting students and/or midcareer members.
3. It was noted that two poster sessions, rather than three, might be optimal depending on space availability.
4. Smith highlighted the importance of allowing time for intellectual exchange. Etnier noted the importance of having symposium moderators to allow time for discussion.
5. The executive committee recommended the Senior Lectures have 25 minutes for presentation with 5 additional minutes for questions followed by time at the end of all three presentations for additional discussion. The Past-President will serve as a moderator to ensure the presentations stay within the targeted time allocation.
6. Smith will discuss with program chairs the idea of having some poster presentations accompanied by a short verbal presentation.
7. McCullagh will check on the potential availability of food trucks and brewery and wineries in the Portland area near the conference location.
8. McCullagh shared a list of potential sponsors.
9. McCullagh shared the budget from 2013-2014 and will work with Ringenbach to file the taxes from 2012-2013.
10. McCullagh suggested a reduced conference registration fee for retirees in accord with the student rate. The executive committee was in favor of this and Wulf noted this would require a change to the policy manual. Etnier will include this on the agenda for the next business meeting.
11. McCullagh noted that several events were occurring in Portland at the time of the conference and thus encouraged early registration and that perhaps members could be linked to the conference registration site on submitting an abstract.
F. Future Conferences (McCullagh)
1. McCullagh will check on off-site venues for the Montreal conference.
2. Given the historical significance of the 2017 conference (50th anniversary), McCullagh recommended two special committees, one of which would focus on programming and the other on historical aspects. Etnier recommended that McCullagh chair the committee designated to make the conference special per its historical significance.
3. Weiss noted the importance of historical memory and shared a document Glyn Roberts wrote on the history of NASPSPA. She suggested that this paper be reprinted in a future newsletter.
4. After discussing several potential sites for the 2017 conference, the list was narrowed to three (Asilomar, Catamaran, and Hyatt Mission Bay). Wulf and Etnier will work with McCuallgh in selecting and finalizing the conference site.
5. The 2018 conference is proposed to occur someplace in the middle of the United States (e.g., Jackson Hole, WY).
G. President Report (Wulf)
1. Wulf provided updates on awards, committees, and nominations.
a. Wulf identified potential names of members for the Nominations Committee and Distinguished Scholar Awards Committee.
b. Two new members have been appointed to Graduate Student Awards Committee: Jared Porter and Linda Schücker.
c. Potential executive committee nominations for the open President-Elect (motor behavior) and communication director (motor behavior) were identified.
d. President’s Award. The qualifications for receiving this reward were reviewed and potential recipients identified.
2. Old Business
a. Wulf discussed the possibility of a central location for mailing information related to secretary-treasurer responsibilities but no action was taken at this time.
b. Wulf reviewed the process for selecting recipients of the Journal of Motor Learning and Development (JMLD) and Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology (JSEP) Excellence in Research and Excellence in Reviewing Awards. For the Excellence in Research Award, each journal editor will create a committee that solicits nominations and selects the recipient. The Excellence in Reviewing Award recipient will be selected by the journal editors and associate editors.
3. New Business
a. Wulf noted that no nominations for the new JSEP editor have been forwarded. However, Eklund is willing to continue in this role. Weiss discussed concerns about getting individuals to serve in this role in the current academe landscape and suggested we might take a proactive approach in nominating individuals. Raedeke also noted this might be a time to communicate with HK about ways to make serving as editor more attractive (e.g., co-editor possibility, increased resources such as editorial assistant).
b. Wulf noted that the current NASPSPA website is deficient and needs to be revamped. Sabiston noted that the communication director should have the ability to control the content and have autonomy for making changes and updates.
c. Sabiston will summarize some of the critical issues surrounding the website and develop a proposal with options for making the website more attractive and providing NASPSPA greater control over its content and appearance.
d. Raedeke will purchase the domain name (naspspa.com) for potential future use.
e. Wulf discussed the potential use of MultiView – Advertisement for revenue generation. After discussion, Smith recommended the discussion be tabled until after the website issues are resolved.
H. Past-President Liaison Report (Weiss)
1. Weiss polled the past 10 presidents to create a document containing committee member names for (a) Distinguished Scholar Committee, (b) Nominations Committee, and (c) Graduate Student Awards Committee. Raedeke and future Secretary-Treasurers will keep record of this information for institutional memory in a “shadow document” that is accessible to only the Executive Committee. The NASPSPA Secretary-Treasurer will continue to keep this updated.
2. Weiss also documented the 2013 ad-hoc fellow status committee’s (Digby Elliot, Bev Ulrich, Deb Feltz and Mo Weiss) activities and recommendations to be kept as a shadow document for future access as needed.
3. In light of Bert Carron’s passing and realizing we do not have a process for honoring deceased members, Weiss polled past presidents about suggested protocols to memorialize society members. Based on feedback from 26 of 39 past presidents, Weiss compiled several suggestions for consideration. Weiss and Etnier will use the past president feedback to create protocols for memorializing deceased members and honoring distinguished members who retire.
I. Student Representative Report (Westlund)
1. Westlund noted that feedback on both the student social and student-faculty event was positive. She will continue to explore ideas for student social events at the Portland Conference including interactive events.
2. Feedback from students recommended that the student-faculty event be moved earlier in the conference to facilitate continued interaction between faculty and students throughout the conference.
3. Westlund will seek applications for the Student Representative position following the policy identified in the policy manual.
4. Westlund will solicit informal student feedback on holding an event modified after the 3 minute thesis competition.
J. Communication Director Report (Sabiston)
1. Sabiston reported on the post-conference survey results and noted that most responses were positive.
2. Sabiston noted that it would be advantageous to have the Communication Director publish the Newsletter directly and will develop a proposal for doings so.
3. Sabiston recommended that NASPSPA have a formal policy of providing a “thank-you” to sponsors in the Fall Newsletter.
K. Secretary-Treasurer Report (Raedeke)
1. Raedeke provided a summary of the membership report noting 469 members.
2. Raedeke provided a summary of the financial report including a $3116.15 gain in 2013-2014.
3. To facilitate financial reporting (e.g., filing taxes), Smith noted that the treasurer should have access to all financial information. Raedeke will check into the possibility of receiving HK email income reports from conference registration and of gaining access to the conference bank statements.
4. Raedeke will check on the process for adding Gabriele Wulf to the membership financial account per the policy manual guidelines.
5. Raedeke moved that the secretary-treasurer term be altered to coincide with the beginning of the the fiscal year for financial reporting (i.e., September 1). The executive committee approved that all executive committee positions would begin on September 1 pending final approval at the NASPSPA Business Meeting.
6. Sabiston will send Raedeke additional information on account names, passwords, etc. to be included in the Shadow Document.
7. Raedeke will have a CPA complete an audit on the financial records.
L. Past-President Report (Smith)
1. Smith provided an update on SCAPPS/NASPSPA student exchange and will provide additional information to the Executive Committee on SCAPSS’ views on this exchange continuing in the future.
2. Smith noted that feedback received indicates that most midcareer faculty are satisfied with NASPSPA but that other opportunities and life responsibilities may pull them away from conference attendance.
3. Smith will continue to explore ways of increasing the attractiveness of attending the NASPSPA conference for midcareer scholars (e.g., preconference or conference workshops and sessions that would be attractive to midcareer members).
M. President-Elect Report (Etnier)
1. Etnier discussed potential policy manual changes which will be included on the Business meeting agenda at the Portland, 2015 conference for vote by the NASPSPA membership.
2. Criteria for Graduate Student Research Grant were discussed.
N. Other Business
O. Meeting Adjourned at 4:40 pm.
Respectfully Submitted by Thomas D. Raedeke, Secretary-Treasurer