SRP 2004: Minutes of the Meeting of the Executive Board

Members Present: Deanna Barch, Jack Blanchard, Nancy Docherty, Ian Gotlib, Diane Gooding, Michael Green, Dan Klein, Ann Kring, Deborah Levy, Scott Monroe, Keith Nuechterlein, Michael Pogue-Geile, Tom Widiger, Michael Young

Guest: Barbara Wanchisen, of the Federation of Behavioral, Psychological, and Cognitive Sciences

1. The meeting was called to order by the President, Michael Green.

2. Federation of Behavioral, Psychological, and Cognitive Sciences: Barbara Wanchisen presented information on the Federation of Behavioral, Psychological, and Cognitive Sciences (FBPCS), which is a group that serves as a liaison between behavioral sciences and government regarding issues around research, such as funding, appropriations, and IRB and animal rights questions. SRP was offered a two year membership in the group, which would mean SRP would send a representative to the meeting to provide input and also to report back to SRP on the activities of the FBPCS. This introductory membership would cost $500 the first year and $1000 the second. After that, in order to continue membership, the cost would be $11 per “relevant” member, plus the cost of sending the representative to the meetings. Literature on the FBPCS was distributed. The Board decided to bring the question of whether to join to the Members’ meeting, with the recommendation that it be tried for one year, and then consideration given to continuing depending on the reports of the SRP representative.

3. The minutes from the previous year were approved.

4. Secretary’s report: Secretary Nancy Docherty reported on the results of the election. The new President-Elect is Keith Nuechterlein, the new Secretary is Deanna Barch, and the two new Board Members are Michael Pogue-Geile and Ann Kring.

5. Treasurer’s report: Treasurer Michael Young reported that the Society’s finances were in good shape. The preliminary report for this year is attached, calculated before some of the income and expenses of the current meeting, to be included after the meeting is over. There were 175 pre-registrations this year, compared with 123 last year. About half of the registrations were paid by credit card, a new option this year. In addition to registration fees, $25, 000. was raised in unrestricted educational grants from pharmaceutical companies, which is detailed in the report of the Development Committee.

It was noted that SRP is a tax exempt organization, and as such should not have to pay sales tax on meeting expenses. Michael Young is searching out the letter stating that SRP is tax exempt.

Michael Young also noted that letters could be sent to associate members who now meet criteria for full membership.

6. Local Host: Local Host Deanna Barch reported that the meeting was going well. Attendance was higher than expected, around 200-225 people rather than the 150 anticipated, which put some strain on the facilities.

7. Program Chair: Program Chair Ann Kring reported having received proposals for 152 poster presentations, 25 oral-or-poster presentations, and 6 symposia. Of these, 4 papers were accepted for oral presentation, 5 symposia were accepted, and all posters were accepted. In addition, there will be two invited talks, the Zubin Award talk by George Brown, and the President’s talk by Dan Klein.

Honoraria for this year are $300 for each of the invited speakers and $500 for the Zubin Award winner. Travel expenses for these speakers also are covered by SRP. Michael Green suggested that these honoraria be increased in future. The Board agreed that the honoraria should be raised to $1,000 for Zubin Award winners and $500 for invited speakers.

8. Membership: Membership Chair Jack Blanchard reported there were 13 new applications for full membership and 14 for associate membership. All applicants met criteria, and the Board voted to accept all of them. It was decided that the Membership Chair should notify the new members of their acceptance.

9. Development Committee: Michael Green reported on the activities of the Development Committee. Members of the committee are Michael Green, Barbara Cornblatt, Richard Davidson, Philip Harvey, Nina Schooler, and Michael Raulin. A new procedure has been adopted for soliciting financial support from industry sponsors: Letters of request are sent to prospective sponsors from the SRP President, followed by contact from a member known to each potential sponsor. The President then provides the contact members with information about which companies have responded, and the contact persons then communicate again as indicated.

This year’s sponsors were Bristol Myers Squibb for $10,000, Pfizer and Janssen for $5,000 each, and the Washington University Department of Psychology for $5,000.

Grants from pharmaceutical companies are no longer going to be unrestricted. They will require information on the budget of the Society and on the program. They will be able to contribute only to specified activites.

Michael Raulin reported that he attempted to get contributions from publishers again, but was unsuccessful this year. He will try again next year, and will target publishers of books written by SRP members.

Stuart Steinhauer volunteered to spearhead the writing of a proposal to NIMH for a conference grant (R13). Such a grant could be good for up to $50,000, for specific items such as travel grants for student presenters and perhaps other specified meeting expenses. It can extend to 5 years. Stu will be the P.I. on the grant, will include the SRP Secretary and Treasurer on the grant, and will get in put from the President as well. The Board approved this effort.

10. Handouts table: Deanna Barch reported having received an inquiry about the possibility of having a table for the promotion of a member’s new book. The Board decided that it would be a good idea to try having a table at the next meeting that could be used to distribute promotional materials for books, job ads, and other relevant ads and announcements.

11. Website Committee: Lee Anna Clark presented a written report by the Website Committee. The committee consists of Lee Anna Clark, Seth Pollack, and David Smith. The report, which provides means for both managing and expanding the website, is attached to these minutes. The committee also drafted a new section for the Bylaws on the structure and functioning of the Website Committee. The Board decided to take the new section of the Bylaws to the general membership meeting with a recommendation for approval.

12. NARSAD satellite meeting: Deanna Barch brought up the suggestion made to her by a NARSAD administrator, that perhaps SRP meetings could be followed by NARSAD meetings at the same location and same hotel. These would be separate meetings put on by NARSAD, and would be community-oriented. Some SRP members might stay on to present at the NARSAD meeting. The Board thought this a promising idea.

13. Future meetings: Coral Gables in 2005; San Diego in 2006; Iowa City in 2007; Pittsburgh in 2008. Next year will be SRP’s 20th anniversary meeting.

14. The meeting was adjourned.