P: The Online Newsletter for Personality Science Issue 1, Spring 2007

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ARP President's Column

Greetings ARP members! I’m delighted to be participating in the first issue of our organization’s new newsletter. Major kudos to Brian Little for volunteering to start this endeavor, and for the time and effort he has devoted to its production.

Though I hope to address other topics in future issues, I want to devote my space in this issue to bringing everyone up to date, because it is an exciting time for ARP. Thanks to the dynamic program put together by Will Fleeson, we began the year with a great meeting prior to SPSP. Continuing the trend of the past few years, our pre-conference meeting was very well attended, and the speakers commanded our attention (in spite of temporary malfunctions in the heating system that sent the room temperature above 80 degrees F for part of the day Thursday).

At the January meeting we also welcomed Rebecca Shiner, Bob Krueger, and Lynne Cooper as new Members-at-large for the organization. They join Lee Annaa Clark and Brian Little, who started new terms last year. I was delighted to be able to announce that Brent Roberts has agreed to serve as our new Executive Officer, and Sanjay Srivastava has agreed to be our new Secretary-Treasurer, which relieves Chris Fraley of two of the three hats he has worn so ably for several years. Chris will continue as our Webmaster. Jennifer Smith, from the University of Illinois, also joined us as graduate student representative. She will be working to help us increase the involvement of graduate students in ARP.

During the past year, we have been exploring options for ARP meetings. It has become apparent that the current meeting, though typically filled with excellent talks, does not fully serve as a conference for our membership. It is too short, it does not provide an adequate venue for our members to present their work, and it is not necessarily an inviting option for members who are not otherwise associated with SPSP (e.g., many in I/O, clinical, and developmental psychology). In an on-line survey, our members expressed considerable enthusiasm about the possibility of a freestanding ARP meeting, as well as for the possibility of alternating meetings with the European Association for Personality Psychology (which meets every other year). We will have a pre-conference meeting in 2008 (prior to the SPSP meeting in Albuquerque, NM), but we have formed a new Convention Committee, chaired by Will Fleeson, who, along with Lynne Cooper, will explore other options more fully over the coming year. Dan Cervone will also work with that committee. Dan attended the European Conference last summer as my representative, and met with the EAPP Executive Committee to discuss options for affiliation between our organizations. I have asked Dan to continue to serve as a liaison with EAPP, and he has graciously agreed to do so.

Speaking of EAPP, the intrepid Marco Perugini attended out Executive Committee meeting in January to represent EAPP, despite the fact that we met at the outrageous hour of 7 am. We are discussing several collaborations with EAPP, including the possibility of symposia exchanges at our respective meetings, reciprocal membership and conference registration arrangements, and other publishing ventures. Both memberships are excited about the potential for greater affiliation. I will report more fully on these efforts over the next year.

We are also doing the somewhat unglamorous, but necessary house-cleaning of reviewing and updating our by-laws. Lee Anna Clark, Brian Little and Bob Krueger will be working on this task, on which they will report at our next meeting.

Brent, Sanjay and Rebecca Shiner will also be working on a membership drive, so watch your in-boxes for notices about dues, membership benefits and efforts to recruit new members. Still in the offing: we will be forming an Awards Committee and a Training Committee.

As you can see, we have a lot going on! If you are interested in contributing to any of these endeavors, please let either a committee member or me know. Along with the excitement of these new ventures comes considerable work, and we are glad to have your input. If there are things that you think we should be doing that you don’t see listed here, please also let me know about that. ARP has done very well for a relatively young organization, but the next few years will be a crucial time for us to pursue larger ambitions and further growth. To serve you well, we will need your continued support and enthusiasm (not to mention your tax deductible contributions…).

Yours in the pursuit of the science of personality,
Jules

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