Early Career Professionals Committee – January 2016

Tiffany2We were pleased with the large array of ECP focused programming available at convention this year. There were several sessions chaired or organized by members of our committee on topics including salary negotiation, work-life balance, and developing leadership skills. We made an executive decision to cancel our planned ECP & SCP Leaders Networking meeting to allow all ECPs to attend the SCP town hall meeting regarding the Hoffman Report. We also shifted the focus of one of our hospitality suite programs to create an ECP only open-forum to discuss concerns about the Hoffman Report. We ended up having a small discussion group that was able to articulate our difficulties in making sense of distressed feelings about the state of APA in light of this report. Some ideas for steps that we might take as a committee to advocate for increased voice for ECPs were discussed. We are working on determining what the next steps can be to help be more active in the wide ranging reforms needed within APA. The ECP social hour was well attended with great representation from 17, 35, and 51. It was wonderful to collaborate with other divisions to help make the event more successful. Folks seemed to have a great time connecting and networking at the event.

During our annual business meeting, we thanked Drs. Dom Scalise (4-year-term, outgoing chair), Ji-yeon Lee (3-year term) and Monique Shah Kulkarni (3-year term) for their service to the committee. Nadia Hasan, PhD concluded her term as chair and “passed the gavel” to Valene Augusta, PhD. We also welcomed Drs. Elizabeth C. Terrazas-Carrillo, Candice Crowell, and Melanie M. Lantz who began their 3-year terms at convention. Check out Valene’s chair welcome message and Elizabeth, Candice, and Melanie’s biographies on the SCP-ECP Webpage (https://scp.wpengine.com/ecps/) to learn more about their experience and vision. We would also like to congratulate our 2015 ECP Travel Grant Award winners: Drs. Hanako Suzuki and Kimberly Langrehr

Looking ahead, we anticipate offering another set of travel grants for ECPs in Division 17 in 2016. We are also hoping continue to address the committee’s mission of representing the interests of ECPs within the Society, by increasing our use of social media and by surveying members to better understand their needs. Finally, our committee is planning our programming for the 2016 APA Convention, and we hope to continue to provide interesting and relevant offerings. If there are topics you would like to see addressed, please contact the current chair. Valene Whittaker, PhD ([email protected]).

Submitted by: Tiffany O’Shaughnessy, PhD – Chair-Elect
San Francisco State University
Department of Counseling

Tags: Posted on: January 10th, 2016