President’s Message: Happy New Year and Welcome 2022!

Steven Rogelberg

Hello SIOP,

Happy New Year and Welcome 2022!

This column will have three parts: 

• Part 1 – will cover some quick news and updates. 
• Part 2 – outlines some neat initiatives/actions our committees are doing that you might not know about.
• Part 3 – presents the Better Together videos award notification (we may win an AAPAHVAAVA award).

Part 1. Quick News and Updates

As you may recall, the Diversifying I-O Psychology Program (The DIP) started with a fall virtual event where underrepresented minorities learn about I-O, graduate school, and so forth.  Amazingly, we had more than 400 students register!!!!  Just wonderful.

The LEC was a great success.  The content was incredible.  We also had an attendee count that was on par with past years, despite being virtual.  Just so exciting that the tremendous success of the LEC over the years has persisted, despite the changed landscape of conferences and events given the pandemic.  

We are actively on Capitol Hill getting the word out about I-O and how I-O can help the federal government.  Here is a link to one event where we briefed congressional staffers, with Senator Gary Peters (D-MI) saying all kinds of nice things about our field: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swc-4LkcAD4. 

Then, here is an interview with Representative Derek Kilmer (D-WA 6^th District) talking about his committee’s efforts to change how Congress works together and how he is leveraging I-O.

Part 2. Initiatives That May Surprise You

Our SIOP Electronic Communication Committee has a social media subcommittee that is hard at work creating videos and tools to help our members build their online brand as an I-O psychologist and bring more awareness to I-O through digital marketing and branding. Here is a nice example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sb8vw6VIlzo 

Be sure to subscribe to SIOP’s YouTube channel to catch all the amazing content coming out and to join the conversation as to how IOPs and SIOP members can use digital media to advance our profession: https://www.youtube.com/user/SIOPofficial 

On the educational front, check out these amazing education resources the Getting I-O into Intro Textbooks (GIT SIOP) Task Force and E&T have put together: https://0-www-siop-org.library.alliant.edu/Events-Education/Educators

The Learning Resources for Practitioners Committee is establishing a Future of Work Practitioner’s Toolkit centered on topics related to competition for talent, resilience and agility, lifelong learning and development, application of advanced technologies, and other future-of-work themes. The objective is to curate and develop, in collaboration with other SIOP committees, tools and resources such as white papers and other evidence-based articles, webinars, presentation materials, a syntax library, and benchmarking and summaries from roundtable discussion groups. Links will go out when this is done.

SIOP’s Disability Inclusion and Accessibility Ad Hoc Committee (DIAC) is planning a series of virtual panels/discussions during 2022 aimed at providing advice and guidance for students with disabilities interested in I-O, and promoting discussion and research focused on disability. The first is a Q&A session in February, intended for students and early career professionals with disabilities, that will include a panel of successful I-O psychologists who identify as having a disability. The second, which will likely occur in late summer or fall, is a discussion about appropriate language to use when talking and writing about disability.

The Committee for the Advancement of Professional Ethics (CAPE) serves as a response team on behalf of SIOP, particularly in relation to revisions of its recognized code of ethics, the American Psychological Association’s (APA, 2010) Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct (Ethics Code). The APA’s Ethics Code Task Force (ECTF) is currently revising the Ethics Code, and CAPE has a task force group that monitors and responds to their revision efforts. For example, CAPE recently worked with SIOP leaders to develop a formal response to the ECTF’s proposed draft principles (read the formal response on CAPE’s webpage). In the next 6 months, the ECTF plans to release draft ethical standards and further revised principles. In response, CAPE will be reaching out to SIOP members to solicit their feedback on ECTF draft materials.   Additionally, CAPE is available to serve as a response team for SIOP members and leadership. Although it does not provide direct ethics-related consultations to members experiencing ethical dilemmas, CAPE provides members with resources and suggestions for how to access further support. It also stands ready to support SIOP leaders when needs arise, such as in response to ethics-related incidents or requests to create or review ethics-related policies.

We are finalizing a repository of resources related to research and teaching on LGBTQIA+ issues. For research, we are creating folders that include information about (a) available grants and awards for LGBTQIA+ research, (b) collecting data on LGBTQIA+ populations, (c) survey instruments typically utilized within I-O LGBTQIA+ research, (d) definitions and theories pertaining to I-O LGBTQIA+ research, and (e) key publications within this research domain with accompanying summaries of main findings. For education, we are creating folders that will include (a) resources on creating diversity training programs, (b) resources for educators hoping to improve LGBTQIA+ inclusive pedagogical practices, and (c) examples of exercises, case studies, assignments, and assigned readings that can be used within both. We are working to finalize and integrate these resources into the SIOP website so that all SIOP members can have access to and benefit from these materials. 

Ever wonder who is in your academic family tree? SIOP put together some of this information for our past presidents, and it is always fun to look back (and forward) at your connections! The History Committee team has been working hard to expand this information into a comprehensive SIOP family tree through the Academic Tree project. Stay tuned for announcements on the release so you see who you are linked to and enter your own information!

The Foundation successfully launched two new awards: the Joel Lefkowitz Early Career Award for Humanistic Industrial-Organizational Psychology and the one-time P. Richard Jeanneret Grant for Research about Assessing and Developing Senior Leaders.

The Committee on Ethnic Minority Affairs (CEMA), in collaboration with SIOP’s Education & Training (E&T) and Career & Professional Development Committees, is pleased to announce the Connect, Engage, and Mentor Program for Ethnic Minority Students and Early Career Professionals. A priority of the program is to provide an opportunity to connect with experienced I-O scholars and practitioners, promote engagement in SIOP’s effort to build a diverse and inclusive organization, and support the career development of SIOP members from underrepresented ethnic groups. For more information, contact CEMA Chair Lawrence Houston III at lh685@smlr.rutgers.edu or the Education & Training (E&T) Mentoring Subcommittee Chair Bharati Belwalkar at bbelwalkar@air.org. 

Part 3.  Better Together Videos

Check it out: https://0-www-siop-org.library.alliant.edu/About-SIOP/Better-Together-Tuesdays

We have videos on practice initiatives E&T, D&I, advocacy, and governance initiatives, and much more.  As we wrapped up 2021, I have learned that some of the performances in the videos are receiving critical acclaim from the Academy Awards of Professional Association Highlight Videos Association of America Video Awards (AAPAHVAAVA).  If we win an AAPAHVAAVA, I will let you know.