Board Meeting Minutes

ABGERO minutes (9/21/17) 4PM EST

Board members present: Victor Molinari (President), Shane Bush (Secretary), Susan Whitbourne (Treasurer), Rebecca Allen, Andrew Heck, Gregory Hinrichsen, Douglas Lane, Peter Lichtenberg, Michelle Mlinac, Beth Schumaker (ECP)

Missing: June Blum, Dolores Gallagher-Thompson, Lauren MacMillan, Larry Thompson, Richard Zweig

 AGENDA ITEMS
No. Topic Highlights Motions/Outcome
President Opening Remarks

(Dr. Molinari)

Greetings and welcome None
1 Secretary report (Bush) Action items from prior minutes (11/18/16)

1.     Preapproval of postdocs that meet ABGERO credentialing requirements; perhaps partner with CoPGTP.

2.     Updates to website – New website looks great thanks to Dr. Whitbourne and others.  Additional content is welcome.

3.     Possible practice sample and oral exam PP slides for reviewers/examiners.

4.     The potential benefits and drawbacks of transitioning from a president-elect position (as currently described in the bylaws) to a vice president position were discussed.  Term lengths were also reviewed.

5.     Recruitment letter for new applicants.

1.     Dr. Schumaker to take to CoPGTP Board for discussion.

2.     Send new material to Dr. Whitbourne.

3.     Dr. Molinari has some slides to make available, needs some assistance to flesh out. Drs. Allen, Heck, and Lane to help.

4.     No changes at this time.

5.     Dr. Molinari to draft letter.

2 Newly credentialed number examined=6, passed=6, failed=0

Total ABGERO diplomates=63

In the pipeline=18

Noted
3 Announce new diplomates on listservs.  New diplomates will be announced and welcomed on the SCG, PLTC, and CoPGTP listservs. Completed by Dr. Molinari.
4 Mentoring:  Mentors can help candidates move through the process by maintaining close contact and documenting progress/efforts on the spreadsheet created by Michelle Mlinac.

Discussion of whether mentors should be limited to only those who are on the ABGERO Board of Directors and/or are examiners, given that such persons know the exam process best and are thus best positioned to mentor candidates through the process.

Dr. Molinari circulated the spreadsheet to the Board and other mentors.

Dr. Molinari circulated list of all mentors to the Board.

5 Specialty conferences report (CoS, CRSSP, ABPP, ASPPB) (Dr. Molinari) Consensus about specialties – definition crafted

Different organizations have different lists of specialties

Moving toward a uniform/joint application process

Moving toward specialization in psychology, at the postdoc level

Noted
6 Awards (Dr. Molinari) Dr. Bush awarded the 2nd APBB Specialty Specific Award for Geropsychology (Dr. Mlinac was given the award last year). Noted
7 Treasurer’s report (Dr. Whitbourne) As of 7/31/17, total balance is $13,945

Expenses: Paid for website development ($3400) + domain name

Some expenses for travel

$13K carried over from Jan.

$6K operating budget

We get about $3K from ABPP plus a % of each person who gets examined.

Will have expenses for face-to-face meeting at APA.

Noted
8 Diversity initiative (Dr. Mlinac) ABPP requests info about how we incorporate diversity in exam process and diversity within ABGERO in general (e.g., recruiting diverse candidates).

Discussed how to collect such info (disability, sexual orientation, race/ethnicity, veteran status, etc.)

ABPP previously surveyed – some ABGERO info available.

Drs. Molinari and Mlinac to pursue prior surveys and results and develop a brief survey of diversity issues and satisfaction with exam process to send to ABGERO diplomates (Dr. Bush to assist).
9 ECP report (Dr. Schumaker)

Provided via email

Drs. Schumaker and Lane gave a presentation on ABGERO to a national VA geropsychology postdoctoral fellow group as part of their seminar series.  The presentation was well received and will occur annually as part of the ongoing seminar series. Noted
10 Next oral exams (Dr. Molinari) GSA already held

No ABPP workshop series this year

APA August 2018 in San Francisco

Regional exams – Need to get examiners ready to be exam chairs

Need info about where our applicants are coming from geographically

Drs. Heck and Molinari to prepare training materials for future exam chairs.

Dr. Molinari circulated a list of all examiners and where they reside.

11 Upcoming ABGERO Board meetings Conference call in mid January 2018

Face-to-face meeting at APA convention, Thursday 8/9/18 (time to be determined), room may be provided by ABPP

Dr. Bush to create a doodle poll for availability in January.
Meeting Adjourned 5:15 PM