SIOP Living History Series News

The brainchild of Paul Levy and David B. Baker and launched in 2013 under Historian Kevin Mahoney, the SIOP Living History series expands SIOP’s institutional and field-related knowledge by capturing insights from prominent I-O psychologists. Recordings of these interviews are kept as artifacts of the living history of I-O psychology and can be found in the SIOP Living History playlist on YouTube.

The latest of these interviews was held August 9. SIOP History Committee Chair Zhenyu Yuan interviewed Dr. Virginia Schein, whose impressive career spans more than 4 decades. She answered his questions and then took questions from the online audience. Dr. Schein ended the interview by offering her advice for I-O psychologists and students to “follow the question,” just like how she developed the influential “Think Manager–Think Male” paradigm by pursuing the important questions. View the event here.

In the past, Living History sessions have taken place during the annual conference. A scheduling issue led to the 2024 installment being held virtually. After much consideration, the History Committee is making the move to take the entire series virtual. The reasons for this are many. First, the session will not have to compete with others at the conference. Second, this opens the door for the committee to hold more than one session per year, allowing even more senior members to share their work and recollections. It will also remove the need for members to travel in order to be interviewed, allowing for interviews with more international members. These sessions will be streamed live so members can watch and ask questions, just as they did with the live sessions.

To suggest someone for the Living History series, please contact Jen Baker at jbaker@siop.org. Previous interviewees are David P. Campbell, Paul W. Thayer, Frank L. Schmidt, Sheldon Zedeck, Edwin A. Locke and Gary P. Latham, Benjamin Schneider, Neal Schmitt, Milton Hakel, and Virginia Schein.