Last year, I met a student who told me that our conversation was the first he had ever had with a professor; he didn’t know we were real people. “Wow, it’s so interesting,” he said, “that you have, like, a real personality and stuff.” He was a junior. The thought that he had spent 3 years as a university student and never interacted with a professor made me incredibly sad. My own college experience was profoundly enriched by conversations with professors after class or over coffee. These conversations shaped my thinking and my career path. Upon further reflection, I realized that I was not doing my part to pay it forward. I had been spending most of my time with graduate students and other faculty, and wasn’t making enough time for undergraduates. So, last month I moved into the dorm, where I have just been appointed as the new faculty-in-residence and from where I am currently writing to you.

First, I want to thank 2018 SIOP Membership Survey subcommittee members Kristine Olson (Dixie State University), Holly Lam (US Foods), Jamie Perry (Cornell University), Brittany Marcus-Blank (General Mills), and Jay Dorio (Korn Ferry). As always, the SIOP Membership Survey affords us a window into our membership. Thank you to the 1,341 individuals who took the time to complete the survey. It was good to see that 91% said they planned to renew within the next year and that the overall engagement scores were 84%. The survey also indicates areas where SIOP can, and should, improve. I was heartened to see that in many of the suggestions given in the open-ended questions dovetailed with initiatives and activities we have begun throughout SIOP. Additional suggestions represent areas we must proactively address. Here, I focus on five of the top suggestions from the recent membership survey and share initiatives designed to address these specific issues.

“The Bridge: Connecting Science and Practice” is a TIP column that seeks to help facilitate additional learning and knowledge transfer to encourage sound, evidence-based practice. It can provide academics with an opportunity to discuss the potential and/or realized practical implications of their research as well as learn about cutting edge practice issues or questions that could inform new research programs or studies. For practitioners, it provides opportunities to learn about the latest research findings that could prompt new techniques, solutions, or services that would benefit the external client community. It also provides practitioners with an opportunity to highlight key practice issues, challenges, trends, and so forth that may benefit from additional research. In this issue, we explore how to apply science to enhance leader performance and diversity with Jeff W. Johnson and Sharon Arad of SHL.

As part of our ongoing series to recognize the achievements of SIOP’s award winners, the last edition or TIP’s Award Winner article focused on several of our Distinguished Contributions Award winners: Eden King, one of the winners of our Distinguished Service Contributions Award, Scott Tannenbaum, Distinguished Professional Contributions Award, and Dov Eden, Distinguished Scientific Contributions. In my haste to send it to press, I overlooked one other Distinguished Contributions Award winner—Shonna Waters. So by way of apology for my oversight, this article is focused solely on her accomplishments, the work that she did to earn this award, and her insights for how you, too, could become one of next year’s Distinguished

I just began a new academic position at a business school in Southern California! Last year my wife started her dream academic job nearby, and with three young boys at home, we felt that it was unfair to deprive their lovely grandparents (who also live nearby and, incidentally, are awfully good babysitters) of them. It had nothing to do with the weather. Or the salary increase. Or the beaches. Or the weather—sorry, did I already say that? In all seriousness, I am so excited about the incredible professional opportunity to join a dynamic and congenial group of teachers, researchers, and students at CSUN!