Abstract
As the 2012 STP President, this is my opportunity to send you my “greetings” for the year. So, greetings, everyone! Happy New Year, gung hee fat choy, hauoli makahiki hou, feliz navidad. Now what? I have writer’s block. You can’t believe how much email correspondence I’ve caught up with and how many department reports I’ve finished ahead of schedule. I’ve even done laundry and ironing. I’m thinking that all this productivity in areas that I usually put off till later is simple avoidance—due to my need to be working at something because I’m not writing this “greetings” message. But the deadline is fast approaching, so what to do? Psychologist, heal thyself!
Okay, let me try figuring out how to heal myself. I could write about my presidential task forces for 2012, but I already announced these at the 2011 business meeting in Washington DC and in the October issue of TopNews and in the STP Newsletter. You can’t possibly want to read about them again, can you? No, I didn’t think so. Well, just in case there are a few of you who missed the earlier announcements and might want to know what the three task forces are, they are: (a) modeling teaching excellence, (b) statistical literacy, and (c) departmental benchmark assessment. By the time this message is published, the task forces will have been formed and begun their work. If you have interest in any of these topics and would like to contribute to the committee’s discussions and decisions, please let me know. In the spirit of increasing member involvement, I’m developing an online “advisory group” for each of the task forces. These advisory groups will be populated by people who are not on the task force but who wish know what’s “on the table” and to contribute via email their ideas, comments, feedback, and so on to the task forces while the work is in progress.
Okay, I made it through two paragraphs. That’s not enough. I’m certain I’m supposed to write more. I should’ve followed the lead of my students and asked how long my greetings had to be. Maybe I could’ve stopped at the first paragraph. Maybe I could change the line spacing or font size to make my two paragraphs look more substantial. Oh, sigh, it’s hard to heal oneself of writer’s block.
I suppose I could remind myself and you about the goals I articulated in my nomination statement. Let’s see. I promised to be “guided foremost by the STP Mission Statement then by the accumulated experience of STP officers and committee/task-force chairs and the collective voice of the STP membership.” Hence, my request to hear from you and my invitation to participate in advisory groups for the 2012 task forces. We have a large number of people working on an ever-growing number of programs, committees, task forces, working groups, and so on, but we need more input if we’re really going to reflect the collective voice of STP membership. If you don’t want your ideas funneled through me, you can go to the STP website to find the contact information for other STP leaders and send your ideas directly to them.
I also stated my intent to (a) “insure continuity and expansion, but also targeted completion, of existing initiatives, especially as regards growing membership, diversity, participation opportunities, and service to our members,” (b) “sustain and support STP’s successful programs,” and (c) “strengthen and grow STP visibility and presence at regional, state, and inter-organizational levels.” Actually, these have turned out to be promises easily kept. The new financial reality for STP allowed the STP executive committee, under the leadership of Regan Gurung, to develop a 2012 budget that funds several new initiatives (e.g., Early Career Professionals Council, International Committee, Master Teacher program, Scholarship on Teaching and Learning [SoTL] research grants) and increases funding of many existing programs (Small Grants program, Faculty Development Small Grants, Teaching Excellence awards). Expect to hear more about these programs in the upcoming months. Thank you, Regan, for helping me keep my promise before I even stepped into your shoes!
The last goal I articulated in my nomination statement was to “seek new ways to maximize the usefulness of electronic media to communicate and interact with members, including periodic surveys to assess members’ priorities, interests, and issues.” Here I really need your help and input. Please send me feedback about how STP can make its website more useful to you. If you experience problems with finding information on the website, we certainly need to know that as well. In addition to the task force advisory committees I mentioned above, I also hope to add a “survey question of the month (or week)” to the STP website soliciting your experience or opinion on a targeted issue (e.g., “Should introductory psychology be taught as a 1-semester or 2-semester course?”; “Should statistics be a prerequisite to research methods or vice versa, or should the two be taught concurrently?”; “In your program, is statistics taught by psychology faculty or by math faculty?”; “Do you still cover Sigmund Freud in your intro course?”; “Does your department publish an undergraduate journal for psychology?”; “How many students are on your official advising list?”) Please watch for these and take the time to reply and find out the results. No question is in and of itself earth shattering or policy relevant, but I believe the accumulated information can give us a sense of what we have in common, how varied our positions might be, and maybe just provide some levity or professional trivia. If you have brief questions you’d like to contribute for this project, please pass them on to me.
What do you know? I think maybe I’ve written enough. Maybe there’s something to this stream of consciousness stuff and just writing what comes to your mind and seeing where it leads. I wonder if there’s a page limitation? Maybe now I should decrease my line spacing and my font size. No, in this instance at least, I think I’m going to take the advice of a STP past president who said to me, “You’re the president; do what you want.”
Let me close by saying that I am very serious about my desire to make STP your organization. I welcome your ideas, your willingness to serve, your questions, and even your complaints. If I get any of these I will endeavor to respond to you personally and to insure that your voice is heard. Greetings to all, and I hope to hear from you soon.