In an email to the SIOP membership just a few weeks ago, SIOP President Steve Kozlowski announced the retirement of Dave Nershi as SIOP Executive Director (ED). In that same email, Steve further announced the formation of an ED Search Steering Committee (SC) comprising SIOP’s senior elected leaders including Steve, Fred Oswald, Jose Cortina (until April 2016), and Scott Tannenbaum with overall responsibility to guide and advise the Selection Adviso- ry Committee (SAC). Fred Oswald will serve as liaison to the SC on behalf of the SAC. The composition of the SAC was designed to draw on prior executive leadership in SIOP (i.e., past SIOP presidents); encompass expertise in selection, assessment, and leadership; and—across SAC members—to represent a diverse group of I-O psychologists. SAC has full control over the oper- ational aspects of the search process and will determine the final pool of candidates for selection. The role of the SC is to link the search process to the SIOP Executive Board (EB). Elected members of the EB will ultimately select the next ED from the candidate pool developed by the SAC.

The 170+ member APA Council of Representatives met in Washington DC February 19-21, 2016.  

The policies discussed largely grew out of organizational introspection associated with issues raised by the independent review (IR) report authored by the law firm of Sidley Austin and released in July 2015. While there have been questions raised about aspects of the IR, there is also broad commitment within Council and the Board of Directors to ensure that APA rededicates to its core mission through policy and organizational functional improvements. 

This year’s APA Convention is shaping up to be a fantastic one. Consider the evidence:

“Scientific knowledge is not easily accessible to lay people and policy makers,” writes Detlof von Winterfeldt in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2013, p. 14055). The United Nations means to change that. The Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology means to help.

The United Nations High Level Political Forum (HLPF) is a central UN policymaker convening point, held for the purpose of reviewing and following up on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Its mandates include guiding and leading the implementation of the Sustainable Development Agenda, stimulating policies informed by scientific evidence and country experiences, and addressing new and emerging issues that arise.

“To help others” and “to improve lives.” These are, by far, the two most frequent answers I hear when asking I-O psychologists why they chose psychology as a career field. Very noble and aspirational goals, with the underlying theme of making a difference in the world. As I-O psychologists, our study and application of science for a smarter workplace certainly fits that bill; however, with technology and social media connecting the world so rapidly over the past few years, many in our field have found new opportunities to help others and improve lives. SIOP’s Bridge Builders and affiliated prosocial programs are noteworthy examples, yet they’re just scratching the surface.