Adult Development & 20

Adult Development &Aging News

20DIVISION

Adult Development and Aging News is published three times ayear by Division 20, Adult Development and Aging, of theAmerican Psychological Association.

Volume 26, Number 3Spring, 1999

Inside:

Feature Article3

Candidates forDivision Office

4-8Awards

10-11Bulletin Board

12Council Report

13Executive

CommitteeMinutes

15New Members

18Geropsychology

Task Force19

APA Convention22

Editor'sNote

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In Memory of

In Memory continues onpage 2

Margret M.Baltes, Ph.D.

Dr. Margret M. Baltes, a dis-tinguished Fellow of APA(Division 20), died unex-pectedly of an acute cardio-vascular event on January28, 1999. She was Profes-sor of Psychological Geron-tology and Head of the Re-search Unit for Psychologi-cal Gerontology in the De-partment of Geronto-psy-chiatry at the Free Univer-sity, Berlin. Margret Balteswas highly respected in theinternational community ofpsychologists studying life-span development and ag-ing. She was well-known forher research dealing witheveryday competence anddependency in old age, therole of the social environ-ment in shaping behavior inolder adults, cognitive plas-ticity and Alzheimer´s dis-ease, and successful aging.

In her work, Margret Baltesaimed to create bridgesacross different areas ofpsychology as well asacross interdisciplinaryboundaries. Her researchwas known by psychologistsin research and in practice.

She addressed conceptsand strategies that couldbe applied in lifespan, clini-cal, and social psychology,gerontology, social work,nursing, social medicine,and policy making. Herbook, “The Many Faces ofDependency in Old Age”published by CambridgeUniversity Press in 1996,illustrates her breadth anddepth of scholarship. Thisbook is a classic referencefor researchers and prac-titioners interested in themeaning and social-envi-ronmental foundation ofdependency in old age.Synthesizing insightsgained from her extensiveresearch on nursing homeenvironments, caregiverbehavior patterns, and ev-eryday competence,Margret Baltes draws at-tention in this book to thelate-life consequences ofcultural systems that placea higher value on the vir-tues of independence overthe vicissitudes of depen-dence. In this, and in otherwork, Margret Baltes high-lighted the juxtaposition ofindividuality and connect-edness in adulthood andold age. Her longterm re-search collaboration withPaul B. Baltes produced

two edited books that havecontributed significantly toshaping the direction ofpsychological research inthe field of adulthood andaging, namely “SuccessfulAging: Perspectives fromthe Behavioral Sciences”(Cambridge UniversityPress, 1990) and “The Psy-chology of Control and Ag-ing” (Erlbaum, 1986)

Margret Baltes began hercareer as a clinical psy-chologist in Germany (MAfrom the University ofSaarland), specializing inchild guidance. She re-ceived a Ph. D. in experi-mental psychology in 1973from West Virginia Univer-sity. Prior to moving to theFree University, Berlin in1980, she was on the fac-ulty of The College of Hu-man Development at ThePennsylvania State Univer-sity. At the Free University,she directed a ResearchUnit for Psychological Ger-ontology and was intenselyinvolved in developing acurriculum of graduate andundergraduate teaching inlife-span psychology and

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Has your address changed?

If you have moved and are not receiving your Division 20Newsletter, please contact the APA office at 1(800) 374-2721 or e-mail to [email protected]. Address changescan be effected only by APA; your Newsletter editors mustuse the addresses APA provides.

Adult Developmentand Aging News isedited by Harvey L.Sterns and co-edited by Martin D.Murphy both at theDepartment ofPsychology andInstitute for Life-Span Developmentand Gerontology,The University ofAkron.

Deadlines forsubmissions are:November 1,February 15, andJune 1.

Please direct mailsubmissions toAdult Developmentand Aging News,Department ofPsychology, TheUniversity of Akron,Akron, OH 44325-4301. Please submitmaterials via e-mailor on disk to: HarveyL. Sterns, Tel:(330)972-7243,FAX: (330)972-5174, Internet:[email protected],or Martin D. Murphy,Tel: (330) 972-8374FAX: (330)972-5174Internet: [email protected].

In Memory continuedfrom page 1

Adult Development and Aging News Spring 1999

aging for the Psychologyand Psychiatry depar t-ments. These efforts culmi-nated in 1998 with the es-tablishment of a specialmultidisciplinary program ofgraduate study in gerontol-ogy at the Free Universityfunded by the Federal Ger-man government. Since1988, in collaboration withthe Psychiatry Unit (di-rected by Prof. Helmchen),Margret also played an ac-tive role in research asso-ciated with the Berlin AgingStudy (BASE). In this study,she headed the subgroupexamining everyday com-petence and activities invery old age. In the longitu-dinal study of BASE partici-pants and in an additionalsample, Margret´s grouphad begun to examinestrategies of selection,compensation, and optimi-zation in everyday life thatcontribute to successfulaging.

Over the last years,Margret´s ideas and advicewere widely sought in areasof science and public policymaking. She was a mem-ber of several Europeanand German Research Ad-

visory Boards (including the5th European CommunityProgramme on ScientificResearch of the AgingPopulation) and also par-ticipated in Expert Commit-tees advising federal gov-ernment policy on healthresearch and dementia pro-grams. She was an Asso-ciate Editor of The Interna-tional Journal of BehavioralDevelopment and a mem-ber of the editorial board ofPsychology and Aging aswell as the Journals of Ger-ontology: PsychologicalSciences.

Colleagues and studentswill remember Margret forher unique ability to provideconstructive support and,at the same time, to instillthe importance of strivingfor excellence. She as-sumed that in academe,and in life, no one would orshould settle for anythingless than the best. She alsoengendered a sense of tol-erance and harmony anddisplayed a determinationto enjoy life.

Margret Baltes is survivedby her husband, Paul, andchildren Boris and

Anushka. A memorial ser-vice attended by many col-leagues from Germany,Europe, and the USA washeld in Berlin on February5th. For those wishing topay tr ibute to MargretBaltes, a Memorial Fundhas been established tosupport Gerontology Train-ing Fellowships in amultidisciplinary GraduateProgram that was recentlyestablished by MargretBaltes and colleagues inBerlin. Checks, drawn in USfunds and made payable to“Helga Kaiser” may be sentin any amount to this fellow-ship fund.

The address is:

Fr. Helga KaiserMargret Baltes MemorialFundMax Planck Institute forHuman DevelopmentLentzeallee 9414195 BerlinGermany

Contributed by:

Jacqui SmithToni Antonucci

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Feature Article: 30 Years Ago

The First Life-Span Conference

Hayne W. ReeseWest Virginia University

The first West Virginia University Conference on Life-SpanDevelopmental Psychology seems to have been the firstconference on this topic. As such, it and especially thepublished proceedings were innovative and went far to-ward establishing the nature, methods and aims oflife-span developmental psychology and the eventual in-stitutionalization of this field. The Conference was held30 years ago, April 30 to May 2, 1969, at the Mont Cha-teau Lodge outside Morgantown, West Virginia, undersponsorship of the Department of Psychology and theGraduate School at West Virginia University. The Con-ference co-chairs were Larry R. Goulet and Paul B. Baltes.Larry was on his way out, having accepted a position atthe University of Illinois. Paul had been at West VirginiaUniversity for the entire two years since obtaining hisdoctoral degree at the University of Saarland, Germany,and would remain until he went to the Pennsylvania StateUniversity in 1972 to direct the Division on Individual andFamily Studies.

The planning stages of the Conference were in full swingby the summer of 1968, when K. Warner Schaie was theChair-Elect of the Department of Psychology at West Vir-ginia University. He replaced Quin F. Curtis, who hadbeen at West Virginia University since 1941 and was Chairfrom 1948 to 1968. Warner had come to West VirginiaUniversity in 1964 as Director of Clinical Training. He hadbeen a visiting professor at the University of Saarland in1961-1962, when Paul Baltes was a student there, andPaul was at the University of Nebraska from 1963 to 1964,when Warner was there (1957-1964). This relationshipseems to have established the “German-connection” thatcharacterized the first Conference and many of the sub-sequent ones.

Seventeen papers were presented at the first Conferenceand all but the one by me and Bill Overton weresingle-authored. The papers were well summarized in aconference report by Frank Hooper published in HumanDevelopment (Hooper, 1970). The editor of Human De-velopment was Klaus Riegel, who had presented a paperat the Conference, and Frank’s report started a traditionof publishing reports of the life-span conferences in thatjournal that lasted through most of the rest of the confer-ences. The 17 papers were published by Academic Pressin 1970, with the addition of an introductory chapter byLarry and Paul. The roster is shown in Table 1. Academic

Feature Article continues on page 23

Press also published the proceedings of the next sevenlife-span conferences, and Lawrence Erlbaum Associatespublished the rest. Larry Erlbaum had been the Aca-demic Press editor for the proceedings of the first Con-ference and for the initial stages of the second Confer-ence, but his successor at Academic Press, Dick vanFrank, completed publication of the latter proceedings.

The first Conference was followed by 12 others and theproceedings of all 13 conferences were published. Asmentioned above, 18 papers were published in the pro-ceedings of the first Conference; the entire series includes179 papers by 281 authors. A trend in authorship of thepapers paralleled a trend in psychology in general: about84% of the papers in the first five proceedings had singleauthorship, compared with about 45% in the last eight.The maximum was nine coauthors of a paper, which ap-peared in the volume edited by Turner and me. This wasthe volume in which the trend toward multiple authorshiplurched upward.

The presenters at the first Conference were reimbursedfor their expenses and received a small honorarium whenthe proceedings were published--I had to split a $50 hono-rarium with my coauthor Bill Overton. Both the reim-bursement and the smallness of the honorarium becamea tradition that was maintained for all of the subsequentlife-span conferences at West Virginia University. An-other tradition that was established and maintained wasthat the number of “observers,” as the nonpresenters werecalled, was not much greater than the number of“participants”--the presenters. At the first Conference,the formal papers were presented by 18 participants, whowere listed on the back of the program with 19 observersplus the 2 co-chairs. However, the audience also includedgraduate students, who were not listed. In the Acknowl-edgments section in the published proceedings, Larry andPaul thanked 15 graduate students for assistance. I listall of them here because many of them went on to illus-trious careers: Ronald Bone, John Burke, Nicholas Cavoti,Chiu Cheung, Juanita Field, Barbara Grimm, WayneFrohring, Eric Labouvie, Gisela Labouvie, Steve Lubin,Barbara Marquette, Anne Nardi, Diane Papalia, HenrySchneider, and Harvey Sterns.

The German-connection of the Conference was reflected,I suspect, in the highly efficient way the Conference wasplanned and carried out. The participants had to revisetheir papers for the proceedings almost immediately af-ter the Conference ended or have their presented ver-


Candidates: President Elect

Roger A. Dixon

Biosketch

I am Professor of Psychology at the University of Victoriaand Director (Principal Investigator) of the Victoria Longi-tudinal Study. I have also served as Director of the Life-span Developmental Psychology graduate training pro-gram at the University and as Acting Director of the Cen-ter on Aging. My previous appointment was as a Re-search Scientist at the Max Planck Institute in Berlin, andI have recently returned from an extended sabbatical stintat the Stockholm Gerontology Research Center. I com-pleted my graduate training at the University of Chicago(M.A.) and Penn State (M.S., Ph.D.).

Division 20 has been my “home” division in APA since mygraduate school days. I have been privileged to servethe Division in many capacities, including terms as Ex-ecutive Committee Member-at-Large, Elections Commit-tee Chair, Fellows Committee Chair, Program Chair(1992), among others. I have served similar roles in thecorresponding division of CPA, including a year as Chair(President). I have also served on the editorial boards ofPsychology and Aging; Journal of Gerontology: Psycho-logical Sciences; Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition;and Developmental Psychology. My research interestshave focused on several aspects of cognition and aging,including memory, metacognitive beliefs, collaborative andsocial cognition, influences of health and other factors,as well as several theoretical and methodological issues.With much credit to my collaborators, I have been fortu-nate to have received research grants from numeroussources, including National Institute on Aging, CanadianNetwork of Centers of Excellence, Natural Sciences andEngineering Research Council, and the Swedish STINTfoundation. These collaborative research efforts havebeen presented in over 100 publications.

Statement

Division 20 is a healthy, vibrant, and visible division inAPA. We are fortunate to have so many committed andskilled colleagues and predecessors. I strongly supportthe principle that the division should represent a widevariety of aging-related careers (e.g., research, teach-ing, practice), emphases (such as preferences amongtheories, methods, and applications), and research top-ics (e.g., social, interactional, personality, family, cogni-

Thomas M. Hess

Biosketch

Thomas M. Hess is a Professor of Psychology and Coor-dinator of the graduate program in Developmental Psy-chology at North Carolina State University. He receivedhis B.S. in Psychology from The Pennsylvania State Uni-versity and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Developmental Psy-chology from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.He received additional training in aging as a PostdoctoralFellow in the Center for the Study of Aging and HumanDevelopment at Duke University Medical Center.

Dr. Hess is a Fellow in the American Psychological Asso-ciation (Division 20), American Psychological Society, andGerontological Society of America. He is also a Memberof the Psychonomic Society. Division 20 activities include:Executive Committee member (1990-1992; 1995-present); Division liaison to the APA’s Centennial Celebra-tion committee; Convention Program Committee (1991-1992); Co-Chair, Student Awards Committee (1995-1998);Chair for Division 20’s 50th Anniversary Celebration(1996); Member-at-large (1996-present), Chair, Member-ship Committee (1998-present). Other professional ser-vice includes membership on several editorial boards(Psychology and Aging [1991-1993], Aging, Neuropsy-chology, and Cognition [1993-present], and Journal ofGerontology: Psychological Sciences [1996-present] ) andon the NIA-S Grant Review Committee (1997-present).Dr Hess’s primary research focus is on aging-relatedchanges in cognition, with an emphasis on social cogni-tive processes. He is also interested in issues relating toaging and work. He has received support for his researchfrom NIA since 1983. He is the editor/co-editor of threebooks and author/coauthor of over 40 journal articles andbook chapters.

Statement

Our past presidents have done a wonderful job of broad-ening our membership base, building alliances with otherorganizations, and promoting the study of aging as animportant and necessary component in all fields of psy-chology. My efforts would be focused on building uponthis foundation. In addition, we should continue to ex-plore ways of promoting student involvement in Divisionactivities.

Dixon continues on page 14

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Candidates: Secretary

Bob G. Knight

Biosketch

Bob G. Knight, Ph.D. is the Merle H. Bensinger Associ-ate Professor of Gerontology and Psychology at theAndrus Gerontology Center, University of Southern Cali-fornia. In that position, he serves as Director of theTingstad Older Adult Counseling Center and Co-Directorof the Los Angeles Caregiver Resource Center. In Fall1995, Dr. Knight was a visiting professor, Department ofPsychology, Sheffield University, England.

Dr. Knight’s principal research interests are the study ofcaregiver distress using stress and coping models andthe study of emotion in older adults. He has publishedextensively in mental health and aging, including Psy-chotherapy with older adults (Sage, 1986, available inFrench and Dutch translation; 2nd edition, 1996) which isused throughout the U.S. and in Europe, Israel, and Aus-tralia as a text. He is the senior editor, along with LindaTeri, Paul Wohlford, and John Santos, of Mental healthservices for older adults: Implications for training and prac-tice in geropsychology (1995), and co-editor with StevenZarit, of A guide to psychotherapy and aging: Effectiveclinical interventions in a life-stage context (1996), bothpublished by APA Books.

Dr. Knight serves on the editorial boards of Psychologyand Aging, Aging and Mental Health, and the Journal ofMental Health and Aging. Dr. Knight has been a memberof Division 20 for more than 20 years and has served onthe Program Committee and on committees related toclinical geropsychology. He served as the President ofSection II, Division 12 (Clinical Geropsychology) of theAmerican Psychological Association in 1997, and hasserved the Section as Program Chair and as Chair of theNominations committee. He is on the Fellowship Com-mittee and the 1998 Program Committee for Behavioraland Social Sciences Section of the Gerontological Soci-ety of America.

Statement

I consider Division 20 to be my Divisional home withinAPA and, if elected, would look forward to working withthe Executive Committee to advance the interests of themembers of Division 20 within APA and to continue topromote the awareness of aging research and aging policy

Elizabeth A. L. Stine-Morrow

Biosketch

Elizabeth A. L. Stine-Morrow is an Associate Professorof Psychology at the University of New Hampshire. Sheobtained her MS (1981) and Ph.D. (1983) in General Ex-perimental Psychology from Georgia Tech, and was apostdoctoral fellow at the Center for the Study of Agingand Human Development at Duke University (1983-84).She did further postdoctoral work until 1987 at BrandeisUniversity, where she continued as a Senior ResearchAssociate until 1990.

My research has focused on aging and language pro-cessing. Two facets of this research have explored boththe cognitive mechanisms underlying age-related loss aswell as the strategies that we use to maintain our abilityto function in the discourse world. Reports of this re-search have appeared in Psychology and Aging, Journalof Gerontology, Aging and Cognition, and ExperimentalAging Research. I have also contributed to several ed-ited volumes, including as a co-author of the "Languageand Speech" chapter in the upcoming second edition ofthe Handbook of Aging and Cognition. I have served asa member of the editorial board for Psychology and Ag-ing (1990-91) and am currently on the editorial board forthe International Journal of Behavioral Development. Iam also currently serving on the Neuroscience, Behaviorand Sociology of Aging Review Committee (Subcommit-tee B) for NIA.

My service to Division 20 includes the Division 20 Aca-demic Lineage Project for the APA Centennial (1992),serving as Chair of the Student Awards Committee (1994-1998), and co-authoring a History of Division 20 to ap-pear in an edited volume published by APA.

Statement

In early spring, both Newsweek and US News and WorldReports ran feature stories about the "global aging cri-sis," as the proportion of elders begins to exceed theproportion of children. This shift in population dynamicsof which Division 20 members are all well aware has ap-parently gotten the public's attention. I take the extremeview that it is unfortunate that words like "crisis" find theirway into the dialog. Aging is only a problem if we fail tomake the appropriate adaptations. As behavioral scien-

Knight continues on page 14 Stine-Morrow continues on page 14

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Candidates: Members-at-Large

Carolyn M. Aldwin

Biosketch

Carolyn M. Aldwin is currently Pro-fessor of Human Development andFamily Studies at the University ofCalifornia at Davis. She received herdoctorate in 1982 in adult develop-ment and aging from the Universityof California at San Francisco. Be-fore assuming her present position,she was a post-doctoral scholar inHuman Development, EnvironmentalDemands, and Health in the Programof Social Ecology, and a ResearchPsychologist at the Normative AgingStudy, Boston VA Outpatient Clinic.Most recently, she was a visitingscholar at the Dept. of Psychologyand Wolfson College, University ofOxford.

I am a Fellow of Div. 20 and Div. 38,and I have chaired the Div. 38 Com-mittee on Aging and Health. For Div.20, I served as the representative toBAPPI Committee on Older Womenand Health.

My research interests have been fairlybroad. In general, I am interested inhow psychosocial factors affect bothmental and physical health in later life.As a developmentalist, I am particu-larly interested in how stress and cop-ing processes change across thelifespan, as well as the long-term posi-tive and negative effects of havingcoped with major trauma such ascombat and early childhood stressors.I am also interested in individual dif-ferences in changes in mental andphysical health across the lifespan asa way of understanding how differenttrajectories can lead to successfuland impaired aging.

I am author or co-author on over 50journal articles and book chapters,over 100 presentations at nationaland international conferences, as well

as a book on stress, coping, and de-velopment. These articles have ap-peared in such journals as Psychol-ogy and Aging, Journals of Gerontol-ogy, and The Gerontologist, as wellas non-aging journals such as Jour-nal of Personality and Social Psychol-ogy and Health Psychology. Bookchapters include reviews for the An-nual Review of Gerontology/Geriat-rics, as well as various encyclopediasand handbooks. I was also associ-ate editor at the Journal of Personal-ity and Social Psychology.

Statement

One of the most rewarding aspectsof being in gerontology is that fact thatone must take a fairly broad stanceon a variety of topics in order to un-derstand the aging process. Physi-cal, mental, social, and cognitivehealth are all tightly intertwined inaging. Division 20 has done an ex-cellent job in developing the architec-ture for both the promotion of newknowledge and its disseminationwithin psychology, both by develop-ing a highly respected journal and bylinking with other divisions to helpthem apply knowledge in aging, suchas the recent effort to develop guide-lines for clinical gerontologists. Giventhe recent changes in NIH, we needto lend our full support to the promo-tion of aging research and broadenand extend our ties with other divi-sions. We also need to continue pro-moting education in gerontology atboth the undergraduate and gradu-ate levels.

Bert Hayslip Jr.

Biosketch

Bert Hayslip Jr. is Regents Professorof Psychology at the University ofNorth Texas. He received his Doctor-ate in Experimental/Developmental

Psychology from the University ofAkron in 1975. Before joining the fac-ulty at the University of North Texasin 1978, he was an Assistant Profes-sor of Psychology at Hood College inFrederick Md.

My research interests are diverse,focusing on intellectual functioningand aging, the assessment of deathanxiety, hospice care, grief and be-reavement, projective personality as-sessment of older adults, attitudestoward mental health and mentalhealth services among older persons,custodial grandparenting, and inter-ventions to enhance intellectual per-formance in later life. Most recently, Ihave studied everyday intelligence aswell as relationships between bio-physical markers of stress and intel-lectual functioning among older per-sons.

I have published in Psychology andAging, The Gerontologist, The Jour-nal of Gerontology, The Journal ofCounseling Psychology, Omega, In-ternational Journal of Aging and Hu-man Development, Experimental Ag-ing Research, and Psychotherapy:Theory, Research, and Practice. Ihave also written numerous chapterson the above topics for the Encyclo-pedia of Adult Development, The En-cyclopedia of Gerontology, and TheEncyclopedia of Human Intelligence,and have co-authored several booksrelevant to Adult Development andAging and Hospice Care. I am cur-rently Associate Editor of Experimen-tal Aging Research.

Statement

As a psychologist, I am most con-cerned about the importance of com-municating our research findings tothe public and to other professionalsin terms that are relevant and under-standable, and feel that Division 20can play an important role in this pro-cess. I feel that this is particularly

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Members-at-Large (Continued)

Riley continues on page 14

important in areas such as caregiving,depression and suicide, grief and be-reavement, custodial grandparenting,and intervention research targetingmemory and intellectual functioning.

Kenneth Heller

Biosketch

Kenneth Heller is an Emeritus Pro-fessor of Psychology at Indiana Uni-versity. He received his Ph.D. in clini-cal psychology from PennsylvaniaState University and then went on toreceive additional postdoctoral train-ing in community psychology andsocial gerontology. He has been aVisiting Scholar at the AndrusGerontological Research Center,University of Southern California; Vis-iting Professor at the School of So-cial Ecology, University of California,Irvine; Visiting Scholar at the Agingand Mental Health Program at theUniversity of California MedicalSchool, San Francisco, and at theSchool of Public Health, University ofCalifornia, Berkeley; Visiting Scholarat the Institute for Social Research,University of Michigan; and SpecialResearch Fellow at the Laboratory ofCommunity Psychiatry, Harvard Uni-versity Medical School.

He has been President of the Soci-ety for Community Research andAction (The Division of CommunityPsychology of APA), and received anaward from that group in 1991 for"Distinguished Contributions toTheory and Research in CommunityPsychology". At Indiana, he was Di-rector of the Graduate Training Pro-gram in Clinical Psychology from1985-1991 and then again from 1995-1997. He is currently on the editorialboards of: the American Journal ofCommunity Psychology; the Journalof Personality and Social Psychology:Personality Processes and Individual

Differences; the Journal of Social andClinical Psychology; Prevention andTreatment (APA's new electronic jour-nal); and Psychology and Aging. Hisspecific research interests are in un-derstanding the factors involved in theeffects of social ties on the health andwell-being of older adults, and in thedesign and evaluation of community-based prevention programs.

Statement

As a community psychologist withstrong interests in social gerontology,I intend to focus on improving our un-derstanding of healthy and productiveaging, and developing prevention pro-grams targeted toward older adults.There is a renewed interest in pre-vention at both NIH and NIMH, butthis has typically meant programs forchildren and youth. At the same time,there is a growing recognition withinthese agencies that proactive re-search is needed to better understandand anticipate the needs of the grow-ing aging population. Through its pro-gramming, Division 20 can highlightthe importance of prevention for olderadults and increase its salience forboth the scientific and practice com-munities.

I also have active interests in cross-cultural research and in mentoringminority researchers and students.The population of the United Statesis increasing in its ethnic diversity, andas a profession, we need to considerhow to best train psychologists whowill be sensitive to social and culturalnuances in both research and prac-tice. Division 20 can play an impor-tant role here as well, by developingjoint initiatives and programs with rel-evant APA divisions and interestgroups.

Kathryn Perez Riley

Biosketch

Current position: Associate Professor,Department of Preventive Medicine,School of Medicine, University of Ken-tucky. Dr. Riley obtained her Ph.D. inClinical Psychology in 1984 fromCase Western Reserve University,followed by a National Institutes ofMental Health Fellowship in ResearchAspects of Mental Health and Aging.Professional memberships and ser-vice: Member, American Psychologi-cal Association; Chair, Gero-psychol-ogy Task Force of Division 20; Co-Chair, Membership Committee ofDivision 12; Member, GerontologicalSociety of America.

My research interests include suc-cessful cognitive aging, neuropsycho-logical and neuropathologic aspectsof Alzheimer’s disease, memory train-ing, and efficacy of psychotherapeu-tic interventions with healthy olderadults. I am currently a Co-Investiga-tor on a longitudinal investigation ofaging and Alzheimer’s disease in apopulation of elderly nuns (funded bythe National Institute on Aging).

My professional activities include con-tributions to the Handbook on Geri-atric Assessment, Functional Perfor-mance in Older Adults, and publica-tions in journals such as Journal ofthe American Medical Associationand Psychotherapy: Theory, Re-search and Practice. National and in-ternational presentations include thescientific meetings of the AmericanPsychological Association, theGerontological Society of America,the Rotman Institute and the Cogni-tive Aging Conference.

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Candidates: APA Council Representative

Rosemary Blieszner

Biosketch

Rosemary Blieszner is professor of gerontology and familystudies, Department of Human Development, and Asso-ciate Director, Center for Gerontology, at Virginia Poly-technic Institute and State University. Her Ph.D. is fromPennsylvania State University. Her research focuses onfamily and friend relationships, life events, and psycho-logical well being in adulthood and old age. She has pub-lished 4 books on friendship, family relations, and spiritu-ality along with 19 book chapters and 40 journal articles(one of which was a runner-up for the International Soci-ety for the Study of Personal Relationships' 1996 NewContribution Award). She is a fellow of APA's Division 20,the Gerontological Society of America, and the Associa-tion for Gerontology in Higher Education.

She was named Distinguished Academic Gerontologist(for contributions in research and teaching) in 1996 bythe Southern Gerontological Society and has won sixeducation awards, including selection by AGHE as a 1998Distinguished Teacher of Gerontology and the university's1998 Alumni Award for Excellence in Teaching. Division20 activities include member since 1976, Executive Com-mittee Member-at-Large (1993-96), Program Committee(1992-94, 98), Education Committee Chair (1993-96),Researcher for and Compiler of the 1994 Guide to Doc-toral Study, invited speaker (1993 conference), liaison toUrban Affairs Initiative (1994-95), and liaison to Commit-tee on Women in Psychology (1995-present).

Statement

With the recent establishment of the Committee on Ag-ing, Division 20's activities gain even more stature withinAPA than the Division enjoyed before. The council repre-sentatives must continually strive to insert a focus ongerontology research, education, and clinical practicethroughout the related divisions, concerns, and issues ofAPA. In working toward that goal, I would consult oftenwith the Executive Committee and use the newsletter andPSYAGING listserv as a means of soliciting input fromdivision members.

Susan Krauss Whitbourne

Biosketch

Susan Krauss Whitbourne is Professor of Psychology atthe University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Dr.Whitbourne obtained her Ph.D. (1974) in DevelopmentalPsychology from Columbia University and completed apost-doctoral training program in Clinical Psychology atUMass (1988). Prior to joining the UMass faculty, shewas an Associate Professor of Education and Psychol-ogy at the University of Rochester (1975-84) and an As-sistant Professor of Psychology at SUNY College atGeneseo. Currently Psychology Departmental HonorsCoordinator at UMass, she has recently joined the newly-formed Honors College at UMass as faculty advisor. Sheis also Faculty Advisor to the UMass Chapter of Psi Chiand the chair of the Academic Subcommittee of the Ath-letic Council. Her teaching has been recognized with theCollege Outstanding Teacher Award in 1995.

Over the past 20 years, Dr. Whitbourne has held a vari-ety of elected and appointed positions in Division 20, in-cluding President (1995-96), Treasurer (1986-89), Sec-retary (1981-84), Program Chair (1997-98), EducationCommittee Chair (1979-80), Student Awards CommitteeChair (1993-94), Continuing Education Committee Chair(1981-82), and Elections Committee Chair (1992-93).Currently, she serves as the Education Directorate Divi-sion 20 Liaison, and as the APA Committee on AgingDivision 20 Liaison.

As Chair of the Student Awards Committee, she was co-PI with Sherry Willis of the original Retirement ResearchFund Student Research Grant that has provided awardsand fellowships to numerous students from high schoolto post-doctoral levels. During her year as President,she established as a priority the development of the Divi-sion 20 Web Page, which is still being maintained by itsfounder, Michael Marsiske. For the 1996 APA Conven-tion, Dr. Whitbourne organized the Division 20 50th Anni-versary Harbour Cruise with Tom Hess and the Historyof the Division 20 Distinguished Contribution Award withElizabeth Stine-Morrow and Betty Birren. Dr. Whitbourneis also a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America,the American Psychological Society, and Division 2 ofAPA.

Whitbourne continues on page 9

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Whitbourne continued from page 8

Statement

My research interests are currently focused on identityand its relation to physical and cognitive changes in middleand later adulthood. I have also been involved in consid-erable research in the area of educational gerontology,with numerous publications devoted to the developmentof curricular materials and activities to use in the class-room. In the next year, I plan to begin the fourth follow-up of my longitudinal study on personality development,work that has already extended and elaborated on psy-chosocial theory as it applies to the periods of young andmiddle adulthood.

My publications include ten published books and three inpreparation, and over 80 journal articles and chapters,including articles in Psychology and Aging, Psycho-therapy, Developmental Psychology, Journal of Geron-tology, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, andTeaching of Psychology, and chapters in the Handbookof the Psychology of Aging, Clinical Geropsychology,Comprehensive Clinical Psychology (Geropsychology),and the upcoming Encyclopedia of Psychology. I havebeen a Consulting Editor for Psychology and Aging andhave served on the Editorial Board and as the Book Edi-tor for the Journal of Gerontology. My presentations atprofessional conferences number over 150, and includeseveral invited addresses, among them the G. StanleyHall Lecture in 1995.

As is evident from my biographical sketch, I have de-voted considerable energy over the past 20 years to Di-vision 20. My involvement reflects my belief that thisDivision plays a vitally important role in advancingpsychology's efforts on behalf of the older population.One of the most significant ways Division 20 can achieveits goals is through continuing to develop programs andopportunities that continue to bring new people into thefield as well as through honoring the work of establishedcontributors to the advancement of research and prac-tice. It has been most encouraging in recent years tosee a growth in the number of students who are involvedin Division 20 and I feel that much of this increase is dueto the mentoring efforts of our members who are part ofeducational programs in geropsychology. Our divisionprides itself on welcoming new contributors to the field,and this is a tradition that I hope will carry on for manymore academic "generations."

In my role as Council Representative, I see myself ascontinuing to be involved in maintaining the health andwell-being of Division 20, but also as participating in theongoing effort of the Division to strengthen its ties withother APA Divisions and to increase the visibility of aging

as an issue in APA as a whole. Although the establish-ment of APA's Committee on Aging has forwarded thiseffort considerably, there is much more to be done. Ourvigilance and input are required as APA moves towardchanges in policy and practice affecting the provision ofmental health care services to older adults. Fortunately,we have many members who are able to supply exper-tise that will advance this process, and many strong linkswith those who are involved in geropsychology in Divi-sion 12 (Section II). With my experience in both clinicaland academic geropsychology, I feel that I can contrib-ute to the substantive debates that will be arising overthe next few years and ensure that Division 20's voicecontinues to be heard.

Division 20 Web site

Are you interested in graduate or under-graduate syllabi, textbooks, or movies? Doyou need an e-mail address for someone inthe Division? Are you a clinician who needsa resource guide? Are you looking for ajob, or an old issue of the Division Newslet-ter? Are you interested in the report of theTask Force on Qualifications for Practice inClinical and Applied Geropsychology? Wantto get Vitality for Life in your life?

Visit the Division 20 web page!

It really is good. The page is located at http://www. iog.wayne.edu/apadiv20/apadiv20.htm. It is hosted by Wayne State Uni-versity; Michael Marsiske and his groupmaintain the page.

Division 20 Listserve

The Division 20 listserve is the Division'son-line Newsletter. It covers jobs, confer-ence announcements, and notices of gen-eral interest to the membership.

To enroll in this listserv, send an e-mail [email protected], and include themessage Subscribe Psyaging in your mes-sage body. To unsubscribe, send an e-mailto [email protected], and include themessage Unsubscribe Psyaging in yourmessage body.

10


Division 20 Awards

Student Research

Division 20 is sponsoring a series of awards to supportand encourage high quality student research in psychol-ogy and aging. Research on any topic related to psycho-logical issues in adult development and aging is eligiblefor these awards.

1999 Division 20 / RRF MentorshipAwards in Aging

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS: Mentorship Awards spon-sored by Division 20 and the Retirement Research Foun-dation. Deadline for receipt is April 26, 1999.

The Master Mentor award ($5,000) shall be presented toan established figure in the field who has had a signifi-cant impact on the development of the careers of stu-dents and junior colleagues in the psychology of adultdevelopment and aging. This will be an individual whohas been a full professor for at least 10 years. The Mas-ter Mentor award will be based on the mentoring quali-ties represented by that individual as well as the breadthand depth of the individual's impact on the field. Thewinner will be someone who has not only had personalinfluence on the field, but someone whose students havealso begun to have some influence as well.

The Mentor award ($2500) shall be presented to an indi-vidual who has consistently provided support, guidance,and strong direction to undergraduate and graduate stu-dents in aging and adult development. This individual mightbe someone who resides at a liberal arts institution orcollege that focuses on undergraduate education or it maybe an individual at a Ph.D.-granting institution who is atan earlier stage of career development than the MasterMentor. This award will be given to the individual who hasbeen most actively committed to mentoring and who bestexemplifies the qualities identified with strong, effectivementoring, including the following:

* helping the student to select and work toward appropri-ate goals

* providing critical feedback on individual work and onprogress in general

* providing support at all times, especially encourage-ment and assistance in the face of difficulties

* assisting students in applying for awards, grants, andother funding

* assisting students in building social network connec-tions, both with individuals and within organizations thatare important in the field

* serving as a role model and leader for teaching, re-search, and academic and public service appropriate to

the discipline

* providing general advice with respect to professionaldevelopment, especially in the areas of future advance-ment (e.g., graduate school, postdoctoral study, facultypositions), awards, and publications

* treating the student/colleague with respect, spendingtime with them, providing open communication lines, andgradually moving the student into the role of colleague asthe student advances

Nominations may be made by the mentor or by others.For further information, see <http://www.iog.wayne.edu/APADiv20/mentor.htm> or contact Robin Lea West, De-partment of Psychology, Box 112250, University ofFlorida, Gainesville, FL 32611-2250. Phone: 352-392-2116. Fax: 352-392-7985. EMAIL: [email protected]

Student Research continued to page 11

Teaching Awards

Division 20 is pleased to announce a new category ofawards to be presented for the first time at the 1999 APAmeeting. These are the Division 20 Teaching Awards.There will be two categories, one for undergraduate andone for graduate teaching. Each awardee will receive a$250 cash prize and a certificate of recognition from thedivision. The award winners will also be announced inthe APA Monitor and Division 20 newsletter. Award win-ners will be selected by the Division 20 Awards Commit-tee.

If you would like to nominate a former or current profes-sor, please submit a letter of nomination to Tim Salthouse,no later than March 30, 1999. Please address the qualityof the individual's teaching in the area of adult develop-ment and aging specifically. Nominees will be asked toprovide a letter of support from their department chair.

11

Student Research continued from page 10


As in previous years, the awards have been funded bythe Retirement Research Foundation, a foundation es-tablished by John D. McArthur in 1978 to support pro-grams, research, and public policy studies to improve thequality of life of older Americans.

AWARDS FOR COMPLETED RESEARCH

Awards will be made for completed research at under-graduate ($250), graduate/master’s ($300), graduate/doctoral ($400), and postdoctoral ($500) levels.

FUNDING AWARDS FOR RESEARCH PROPOSALS

Awards will be made to fund proposed research at theundergraduate ($500), graduate/master's ($750), gradu-ate/doctoral ($1250), and postdoctoral ($1500) levels.Funded research proposals are expected to be completedduring the 1999-2000 academic year. To be eligible forone of these awards, the student must initiate and con-duct the project under the supervision of a professor orresearch advisor; the applicant is expected to be the prin-cipal investigator on the project.

Send submissions to Dr. Leslie Frazier (address below).One submission per student will be reviewed each year.The deadline for receipt of submissions is May 25, 1999.

INSTRUCTIONS and COVER SHEETS:

Research Proposals: http://www.iog.wayne.edu/apadiv20stuawd01.htm

Completed Research: http://www.iog.wayne.edu/apadiv20/stuawd02.htm

Or, write (specify completed research or proposal) to:

Leslie D. Frazier, Ph.D.,Department of Psychology, UP CampusFlorida International UniversityMiami, FL 33199Fax: (305) 348-3879Phone: (305) 348-2045e-mail: [email protected]

Division 20 Awards (Continued)

SPECIAL AWARD FOR HIGH SCHOOLPSYCHOLOGY CLASSES

Division 20 of the American Psychological Associa-tion (the division on Adult Development and Aging) issponsoring a special awards program for high schools.An award of $1000 will be made to a high schoolteacher in psychology to develop a RESEARCH OREXPERIENTIAL PROJECT that will enhance stu-dents' awareness of psychological issues related toadult development and aging.

It is expected that a large portion of the funds will beused for project development (e.g., materials, trans-portation, or equipment), but some portion must bereserved to reward excellence in one or more studentprojects. The award will be made in the Fall of 1999so that the project may be implemented during the1999-2000 school year.

Interested high school teachers should develop a 5-8page proposal (about 1500 words) that (1) describesthe project or range of projects that s/he will ask stu-dents to do, (2) lists the educational goals of all plannedactivities, (3) is specific about the product that eachstudent is expected to complete, (4) is specific aboutthe criteria by which student projects will be judged,and (5) outlines how a review committee (e.g., of otherteachers and/or community volunteers) will be formedto judge student projects.

Submissions will be judged according to their clarityand their potential for stimulating student interest inthe psychology of adult development and aging. Dead-line: June 24, 1999.

For a cover sheet and more information, please referto web site http://www.iog.wayne.edu/apadiv20/stuawd03.htm, or contact Robin L. West, Departmentof Psychology, Box 112250, University of Florida,Gainesville, FL 32611-2250, Phone: 352-392-0601x221, Fax: 352-392-7985, e-mail:[email protected]

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Bulletin Board

The Society for Research in AdultDevelopment:Lifelong Development & Learning

CALL FOR PAPERS

The Society for Research in Adult Development & SalemState College1 announce The 14th Annual Adult Develop-ment Symposium, Friday - Sunday, June 18-20, 1999.

To honor the 20th anniversary of the founding of positiveadult development, we seek empirical papers and willconsider them for special issues of the Journal of AdultDevelopment.

Positive adult development refers to development start-ing in late adolescence and continuing throughout life.The focus is on interdisciplinary study of expanded capa-bilities and changes that occur as individuals adapt tothe challenges of adult life.

Suggested topics include: adult attachment, developmen-tal effects of adult education, parenting, therapy, and work,creativity, women’s and men’s development, ego devel-opment, moral, ethical and epistemological development,life periods and seasons, political and religious develop-ment, sexuality, whole life approaches and spiritual de-velopment. Challenges to conventional wisdom are es-pecially welcome.

Forms for presentations include: a) Interactive visual pre-sentations, b) Thematic dialogues on visual presentations,c) Discussion sessions and d) Workshops (offered onFriday).

Keynote and Plenary Speakers : Jack Demick speaksearly Friday evening, Kurt Fischer speaks at lunch onSaturday.

By March 15, 1999, submit a title, 50-100 word single-spaced abstract, & summary of up to four pages by E-mail or disk (Word for Windows, WordPerfect). See theWebsite with the registration material at http://www.norwich.edu/srad/index.html.

1 Special thanks to Vermont College of Norwich Univer-sity for administrative and financial support.

Older Adults, Health Information,and the World Wide Web

Registration materials are now available for a nationalconference hosted by The SPRY Foundation, Washing-ton, D. C. and The University of Georgia GerontologyCenter on March 25 - 26, 1999, at The Natcher Centeron the campus of The National Institutes of Health,Bethesda, Maryland. The conference organizing com-mittee is co-chaired by Russell E. Morgan, Jr., Dr.P.H.and Roger Morrell, Ph.D.

In just 10 years, one-third of the U.S. population will beage 50 or older. This "maturing market" is the fastest grow-ing market segment and the fastest growing group ofInternet users today.

We invite you to join nearly 250 leading academic, pri-vate, and government experts for a conference, "OlderAdults, Health Information, and the World Wide Web" togain a better understanding of the maturing market whichwill control an estimated 900 billion dollars in discretion-ary income.

Experts from the National Institutes of Health - NationalLibrary of Medicine, National Institute on Aging, TheAgency for Health Care Policy and Research, The HealthCare Financing Administration, the Administration onAging, the Centers for Disease Control and other gov-ernment agencies, as well as universities and private andcorporate organizations such as AT&T, IBM, PasteurMerieux Connaught - Rhone-Poulenc Group, Microsoft,America Online, Inc., Intel and others from around thecountry will meet to share effective strategies using theWorld Wide Web to reach older adults with importanthealth care information.

The conference will be of particular interest to basic andapplied researchers in cognition and aging, clinicians,senior marketing management for products and servicesfor the elderly, communications managers, and websitedesigners.

Conference Objectives:

1. Identify the "state of the art" work being conducted toincrease the use of computers and the World Wide Webby older adults. Both (a) basic applied cognitive agingresearch in this area and (b) hands-on application through

Health and the WWW continues on page 17

13

APA Council Report


Anderson SmithJohn Cavanaugh

Division 20 Representatives

The February Council meeting was the first at which tworepresentatives of Division 20 served as voting members.It was good having two Division 20 people to discuss thevarious issues before Council, which certainly makes rep-resentation of the Division an easier task. Two heads aresimply better than one. Only one agenda item directlydealt with Division 20 as the Council unanimously en-dorsed a resolution developed by the Committee on Ag-ing to support the United Nations initiative that declares1999 as the International Year of Older Persons. Theresolution reads:

Whereas , the United Nations has designated 1999as the International Year of Older Persons; and

Whereas , this segment of the population is increas-ing more rapidly than any other worldwide; and

Whereas , the needs of this segment are often ig-nored or neglected; and

Whereas , the membership of this Association af-firms the dignity of all persons through the Associationstatement of mission and its principles of ethical behav-ior; and

Whereas , the Association through actions of itsCouncil of Representatives, has consistently underscoredthe worth and dignity of all persons; and

Whereas , the Association members manifest thisearnest commitment to promoting healthy aging in theworld’s population; and

Whereas , the Association has established a Stand-ing Committee on Aging to focus on and address theseissues;

Therefore be it resolved that the American Psy-chological Association commends the United Nations fordirecting world attention to this issue through designat-ing 1999 as the International Year of Older Persons andaffirms the United Nations Principles for Older Persons.

The major substantive issues before Council at this meet-ing were the budget of the association and the continuingcrisis that managed care is causing for professional prac-tice. A blue ribbon panel is currently looking at the struc-ture of APA, both its organization and policies, to makerecommendations on how to insure that the Associationremains financially strong as it is now without require-ments of large dues increases. In fact, dues only pay18% of APA’s expenses with other income coming frompublications, royalties, grants, and income generated bythe two office buildings it owns. Concerns are being raisedbecause membership is not growing at the same level asin past years, and journal subscriptions have also leveledoff. Revenue increases in APA have gotten smaller atthe same time that the needs of the various constituen-cies continue to increase. Council remains committed tokeep dues stable and find other ways to increase rev-enues and cut expenses.

Because of the pressures on the profession by managedcare, APA has to involve itself more heavily in lobbyingefforts both at the state and federal level. For many years,APA has been seeking ways to assure that it can meet itsgrowing need for advocacy without compromising its taxstatus as a nonprofit organization. The Board of Direc-tors is now exploring the possibility of creating a com-panion organization that would still be tax-exempt butwould not be limited in its lobbying efforts [a 501(c)6 or-ganization rather than a 501(c)3 organization, APA’s cur-rent tax status]. The two organizations would share lead-ership. This is not at all a plan to divide APA into constitu-encies or to separate practice psychology from otheraspects of psychology. To the contrary, the intent is topermit APA to operate efficiently and effectively to ac-complish its missions. We should hear more about thisover the next year.

Two new divisions have been authorized: a division ofChild Clinical Psychology (Division 52) and a Division ofPediatric Psychology (Division 53). While these divisionsseem similar, they actually serve different groups: clinicalchild psychology dealing with mental health problems,and pediatric psychology associated with pediatrics inhospitals dealing with children having physical health prob-lems.

All in all, there was a great deal of consensus on Councilwith very few disagreements.

14


Riley continued from page 7Dixon continued from page 4

tive, health, and clinical). We are a strong division partlybecause there are so many points of common interestacross the field of psychology. It continues to be impor-tant for the representatives of the division to advocate forfurther growth in funding for aging-related research andsupport for applied training programs and opportunities.In addition, Division 20 is in a unique position to promoteaging-related issues among various APA groups and thepublic.

issues within APA. I would also look forward to continuingthe Division’s excellent record of service to its member-ship by providing a focal point for the discussion of agingissues and various methods to communicate about adultdevelopment and aging resources in research, educa-tion, service, and policy.

Knight continued from page 5

tists and practitioners, Division 20 members are in keypositions to discover, implement, and disseminate infor-mation about the adaptations needed to optimize func-tioning through the life span. I would be pleased to act asthe Division's secretary so as to help to contribute thismission.

Stine-Morrow continued from page 5

Continuing Education Credits

The Continuing Education Committee that coordi-nates efforts between Division 20 (the official spon-sor) and Division 12-Section 2 (Clinical Geropsy-chology) wants to encourage you to apply for CE cred-its for your educational offerings.

For information on the application process, see ei-ther the Division 20 web page, or contact Sara Quallsat 719-262-4151 or [email protected]. Pleasemake contact early in your planning process! Watchthe website for offerings sponsored by Division 20.

Statement

Division 20 is remarkable for the diversity of its membersand the scientific and professional interests they repre-sent. This diversity is exemplified by the range of presen-tations included in the Division’s Program offerings at the1998 annual meeting in San Francisco. In Division 20,these voices come together to advocate for funding ofaging research by psychologists, increased educationalopportunities, and excellence in clinical practice, provid-ing an important source of input and information withinAPA, as well as to the larger scientific and professionalcommunity. The recent formation of the Standing Com-mittee on Aging, as well as the approval of the Proficiencyin Geropsychology are evidence of the increased visibil-ity of aging issues within the Association.

I believe Division 20 can continue to capitalize on theresources of its members and maintain a leadership rolein advocating and contributing to the highest levels ofquality in research, education and practice by workingwithin the Association to promote aging issues. In addi-tion, Division 20 is particularly qualified to promote fund-ing and dissemination of research findings that have animpact on the understanding of aging and quality of lifefor the older adults we study and serve.

Program Chair continued from page 22

http://www.iog.wayne.edu/apadiv20/apadiv20.htm.

I encourage all Division 20 members to register for theconvention by listing Division 20 as your primary Divisionaffiliation. Program hours for next year depend on howmany Division 20 members register for this year’s con-vention. If we hope to continue the trend of an increasingpresence at APA we need solid Division 20 participationthis year. We have assembled an exciting program and awonderful set of social events. Boston is going to be ablast! See you there!

Last, but hardly least, I want to express my gratitude tothe following members of the program committee: MargieLachman, Susan Krauss Whitbourne, Jennifer Margrett,Steve Schultetus, David Mireles, Jeff Feddon, and MichaelTuffiash. I also am very grateful to the following review-ers: Bernice A. Marcopulos, Lillian Troll, Lynn Martire,Raymond Shaw, Hayden Bosworth, Stephen Daniel,Antonette Zeiss, Chandra Mehrotra, Debra K. Mooney,Richard D. Tucker, Rob Elsner, Victoria Hilkevitch Bedford,Chris Hertzog, and Paul Duberstein.


Minutes: Division 20 Executive Committee Meeting

Mid-year meeting at the Geron-tological Society of America MeetingsNovember 22, 1998, Marriott Room306

Attending: Ron Abeles, WeldonBagwell, Cindy Berg, JohnCavanaugh, Barry Edelstein, TomHess, Karen Hooker, PeterLichtenberg, Michael Marsiske, Jen-nifer Margrett, Ivan Mensch, GeorgeNiederehe, Sara Qualls, TimSalthouse, Judith Sugar, Mary AnnParris Stephens, Harvey Sterns, SueWhitbourne

I. The meeting was called to order bythe President, Tim Salthouse, at 8:05a.m. The minutes from the annualmeeting (August) were approved.

II. Treasurer’s Report—Mary AnnParis Stephens

The budget is sound, as income con-tinues to exceed expenses by ap-proximately $10,000. The total sur-plus in our account as of the end ofOctober was $43,000. We have theDivision money in an account that iscurrently earning 5% interest.

III. APA Council of RepresentativesReport— Anderson Smith

The major item of discussion at theAugust meeting was the APA budget.Revenues are down due to member-ship changes (the numbers of newmembers are barely keeping up withmembers who are leaving or are be-coming “dues exempt” because theyare of retirement age). The Councilrequested that the Board of Directorsbring to Council a balanced budgetwith no dues increase for 1999. Thishas been accomplished, with reduc-tions in meetings, travel, and operat-ing expenses. The Divisional Leader-ship meeting, traditionally held in Feb-ruary, was cancelled due to budget-ary issues.

Andy was pleased to report that theword “clinical” was returned to thename of our recently approved APAproficiency in geropsychology. Thus,the official title of the proficiency is,once again, “Clinical Geropsy-chology.”

John Cavanaugh will be joining Andyon the Council at the February meet-ing. Division 20 now has two repre-sentatives, rather than just one.

IV. Committee Reports:

A. Program—Tim relayed the reportthat Neil Charness (Program Chair)sent to him.

1) The social event at APA for ourDivision has been established (thanksto Margie Lachman). It will be a Bos-ton Duck Tour and dinner at Marche’Boston. The event is booked for Sat-urday, August 21, 1999 at 6 p.m. To-tal cost per person is $45.00. Thisincludes a private tour of Boston byland and water in an amphibious ve-hicle. The tour guides are humorousand the tour covers a lot of the high-lights of Boston, including a splashinto the Charles River. The tour lastsabout one hour and 20 minutes. Din-ner will follow at 7:30 p.m. at Marche’Boston in the Prudential Center. Wewill need to make a deposit on thattour soon, information will be distrib-uted via the network.

2) Our invited speakers, Robin Westand Craig Spiezle (from Microsoft) arerequesting that we make data projec-tors available for their presentations.This would involve an equipmentrental fee as APA does not currentlyprovide this AV equipment. CraigSpiezle also requested that we guar-antee that 200 people will attend hispresentation. Discussion ensued andit was decided that we cannot guar-antee any level of attendance. Wewill explore getting the equipment

needed for the presentation.

3) The Boston Marriott has manysuites and Sue Whitbourne sug-gested that we rent a suite becausewe could hold meetings there (suchas Executive Committee and Conver-sation hours). This is a good strat-egy because then these meetings donot count against program hours. Suerecommended authorizing up to$1,500 for the suite at the 1999 Bos-ton APA meetings. A vote was takenand passed unanimously.

4) Neil is trying to get most of ourprogram hours over the weekend, butit’s not always easy as APA is tryingto spread the meetings out over the5 days.

B. Membership—Tom Hess

Since Tom took over as MembershipChair last August, he has had about60 requests for information and aboutthat many people have become mem-bers. He reported that the breakdownbetween student members and regu-lar members was approximatelyevenly distributed.

C. Elections —Judith Sugar

Open positions for 1999 include Presi-dent elect; Secretary, Member atlarge (2) and APA Council Represen-tative.

D. Fellowship—Roger Dixon

All the candidates forwarded last yearwere approved; currently 9 people arebeing considered for Fellows nextyear. February 4 is the deadline fornomination and forwarding of materi-als for next year fellows.

E. Student Awards— Report submit-

Executive Committee Minutescontinue on page 16

15

16


ted by Robin West; 1998-99 Commit-tee includes Leslie Frazier.

Since August the primary activitieshave been setting up the revisedworld wide web page, beginning pub-licity to announce the 1999 awards,and developing a new proposal formentoring awards to be funded by theRetirement Research Foundation.The Master Mentor award ($5,000)shall be presented to an establishedfigure in the field who has had signifi-cant impact on students and the Men-tor award ($2,500) for a person whohas consistently provided support,guidance, and strong direction to un-dergraduate and graduate students inadult development and aging. Thisindividual might be someone who re-sides at a liberal arts institution oruniversity that focuses on under-graduate education; or it might be anindividual at a doctoral institution whois at an earlier stage of career devel-opment than the Master Mentor.

F. Newsletter—Harvey Sterns andMartin Murphy. It’s in the mail! Thelead article is by Norm Abeles.

G. Continuing Education- Sara Qualls

1) The new process is working quitewell (see minutes from August meet-ing) and is becoming more regular-ized. A student assistant has beenhired to help with the processing andtracking of the contacts with provid-ers as well as archiving necessarymaterials.

2) Sara listed the approved offeringsthis fall and she encouraged univer-sities with the capacity to offer regu-lar conferences and workshops toconsider developing an annual agingCE conference for the region. The em-phasis is on encouraging local con-tinuing education development oppor-tunities. The Psychologists in LongTerm Care group (PLTC) will be set-ting up a preconference workshop in

Executive Committee Minutescontinued from page 15

Boston.

3) The process for seeking CE ap-proval is available on the Division 20website as well as the Division 12section 2 website.

4) The CE Needs Assessment is inprogress. Although at the last meet-ing we had authorized some divisionfunds to help contribute towards aneeds assessment for continuingeducation offerings, it turns out thatthis will not be necessary. We don’tneed to use Division 20 funds for theneeds assessment because Division12 is adding to APA (COPAR) fundsto make up the difference. DoloresGallagher-Thompson plans to have adraft of the survey to the committeeby Thanksgiving. The goal is to mailthe survey soon after the first of theyear and results will be made avail-able at APA next year.

5) The CE Committee now includesthe following members: PeterLichtenberg, Nan Kramer (Section 2representative), Kathleen Collins(Student representative), BeckyAllen-Burge, Dolores Gallager-Th-ompson, and Sara Qualls (chair).

H. Education—Cindy Berg

1) The following changes have oc-curred in the management of the edu-cation materials on the network.Manfred Diehl is handling the sylla-bus project, David Mitchell is handlingthe textbooks, and Kristi Multhaupcontinues to manage the videotapes.Two new additions to the materialson the network have been added: a)Cindy Berg is compiling a list ofwebsites that can be used in coursesand b) Rick Scheidt has compiled alist of popular movies to be used inadult development and aging courses.Thanks also go to John Cavanaugh,Sue Whitbourne, and KathleenCollins for their contributions to thesetasks.

2) The survey for the Guide to Doc-toral Studies will go out the first week

in January.

3) A symposium for APA in Boston isbeing submitted around teaching is-sues.

One idea for a new project (suggestedby Sue Whitbourne) would be aTeaching Award. Sue mentioned thatDiv. 2 does this. After some discus-sion about how the award would befunded Sue and John Cavanaughagreed to check into options.

I. Web and Network MichaelMarsiske

1) The Email list is continuing to growand is now in excess of 800 mem-bers. Web pages are constantly be-ing updated and electronic member-ship forms are now on the web. Ifpeople wish to join Division 20, theycan simply go to the web page.

2) Student award applications canbe downloaded from the web.

J. Graduate Student News The Rep-resentative to Division 20 is JenniferMargrett from Wayne State.

1) Jennifer is starting a student emaillist and is in the process of organiz-ing a symposium for students at APA.

2) If you want to post a job an-nouncement send it to both lists (Di-vision 20 and the student list). Jenni-fer is thinking of organizing a studentsocial event at APA, which might beeven more feasible if we end up witha hospitality suite [see above]. Dis-cussion ensued and Executive Com-mittee was supportive of subsidizingthe event. There was a motion to com-mit up to $1,000 [plus or minus somemoney, to be determined by Neil andMary Ann] for graduate student ac-tivities at the APA Convention thisyear. The vote was seconded andpassed unanimously.

Executive Committee Minutescontinue on page 17

17


K. Post-doctoral News—AlisonChasteen. No report at this meeting.

V. New Business

A. Kathryn Riley is serving as chairof clinical gerontology task force sobring concerns to her.

B. Weldon Bagwell, the new AgingIssues Officer for APA, was intro-duced. He will serve as a liaison tothe new APA Committee on Aging,and hopes to work closely with ourDivision. Division 20 has no formalliaison to this committee, though sev-eral of the six current members arealso Division 20 members. For costeffectiveness it would be helpful tohave someone in the Washingtonarea to serve as the liaison.

C. Harvey Sterns mentioned that theNewsletter would be an excellent out-let for any news the Committee hasto report.

D. NIA liaison, Ron Abeles, reportedon the imminent reorganization of re-view groups. The good news is thataging applications will be concen-trated in 4 or 5 review sections (outof 16) rather than across the board,so there should be reasonable repre-sentation of scientists with aging ex-pertise on the review panels. NIH iscognizant of and sensitive to the needfor critical mass. You will be able toselect your own review group. Exist-ing study groups will be reorganizedinto new groups. NIA will continue tohave its own review group for largeapplications (training grants, etc.).Another change is that there will belay reviewers on NIMH committees.

Richard Suzman is now Director ofBehavioral and Social Research atNIA. Ron is now working for the Of-fice of Behavioral and Social Sciencesat NIH.

In response to questions about the

Executive Committee Minutescontinued from page 16

new NIH Directive to include childrenin all studies, Ron stated that we cansimply explain that the research is notrelevant for or applicable to children.

E. We need to make recommenda-tions for several Award Programs.

F. George Niederehe will put an ar-ticle in next newsletter about the useof the term “clinical” in proficiencies.We were successful in getting theterm clinical back into the geropsy-chology proficiency [now the term isClinical Geropsychology]. The Reportof the Task Force in making recom-mendations for qualifications for clini-cal geropsychology practice is postedon the Division 20 website for com-ments. People will have until the endof November to make comments onthe draft; these will be incorporatedinto a final draft, the APA does a finallegal review and it gets forwarded toCouncil in February. If approved, therecommendations will be voted on atthe August meeting and then becomea policy statement of all endorsingdivisions.

G. There is a possibility of develop-ing a certificate in Geropsychology.Michael Duffy is heading up this ef-fort. At this point, assessments needto be made (data from the NeedsAssessment will be useful) as towhether or not this proposition will beself-supporting or generate funds.

H. Ron Abeles will be the ProgramChair for APA in Washington in 2000.He is looking for volunteers to helpwith social events.

Meeting adjourned at 9:30 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,Karen Hooker

Health and the WWW continuedfrom page 12

innovative demonstration projects fo-cused primarily on the delivery ofhealth care information and healthcare provision will be included in thediscussion.

2. Isolate the current problems inhealth information delivery to olderadults and their caregivers and con-struct models via the World Wide Webto alleviate these problems.

3. Identify key impediments whicholder adults currently face regardinguse of the World Wide Web to accesshealth information. Determine solu-tions to these impediments througha cross-fertilization of ideas betweenbasic researchers in aging and com-puter use and health information pro-viders.

4. Define specific areas of future re-search on older adults' use of theWorld Wide Web that will supportfunctional independence.

5. Identify key individuals and institu-tions involved in developing theseareas of work, thus encouraging com-munication among basic researchersand health information providers na-tionally and internationally.

Two rooms in The Natcher Center willbe set aside to accommodate up to32 tabletop personal computers thatwill be hooked up to the Internet via aT3 local area network connection. Weinvite attendees to display currenthealth information websites, particu-larly those that have been designedspecifically with older adults as thetarget audience, in addition to otherbusiness or institutional Websites.There is a charge of $275 to displayan electronic poster.

A reception and dinner for all confer-ence attendees is planned for the

Health and the WWW continued onpage 18

18


Welcome New MembersOctober 2, 1998 - February12, 1999

Cynthia AdamsDavid AgnorTeresa A. AshmanLeonard BachelisSatya BelleroseSusan BluckHayden BosworthLeo BourneufAnn Brandt-WilliamsJill M. BrinkMildred L. ByrumLeslie J. CaplanHellen J. CarterAlison ChasteenYiwei ChenHelen ChristensenJohn C CollettiRobert K. ConyneStephen A. DanielAnik De RibaupierreEllen H. EisenbergAdam M. EpsteinElia E. FemiaLaurette M. FerraresiMark FrazierAlexandra M. FreundJanice L. GlosterSara GoodmanJay GordonFiny HansenDennis M. HendersonLoretta P. HensonSusan E. HickmanMatilda HoltzmanGordon H. HomerAnn L. HorgasRandy JarmanAva JensenThomas T. JohansonHelen J. KahnBarbara KhuranaMila N. KornhaberMark KrellFrieder A. LangMichael R. LevensonJordon LevinValerie LewisArlene R. LundquistDavid J. MaddenKathleen Malley-Morrison

Carol McLainAnita D. McQuillenAnn MeissnerPamela MerkysVictoria Behar MitraniJoel E. MorganDiane S. MyersJerry P. NimsNorrine L. OstrowskiJeffrey M. PenickBetty T. PetersonElizabeth M. PierothDavid L. PyleAlicia King RedfernMicki L. RossWilliam M. SchechterAlan ShapiroMaria B. SodaJoNell StroughIan Stuart-HamiltonKate Conway TurnerPatrick A. WagnerRoger D. WilliamsMary Wollitz-DooleyStacey WoodJane Allen WorkRobert E. Young

New StudentAffiliate Members

Rebecca D. AndersonCarla ArlienMelissa BerthoffKaren BissiriMarcela Andrea BonafinaSusan D. BriggsDaniel BucknamBarbara BucurLisa M. BurrLaurette Mary ChauvalTimothy A. CrowellJames CurrinElizabeth DewMelissa M. DolanLinda DrewJonathan C. DurmSusan DuboisBelinda A. EastJeanne K. EidenVanessa Ewing

Anne FerrariLaura M. F. FisherDavid R. FunkJennifer Hurd GrayPaul R. HamiltonScott B. HamiltonAmy R. HarringtonBethany Lynn HelfmanCarrie HillJamie HolmesVanessa HonnJudith G. HunterChristine J. JensenGeorge JewellBrad S. KauderQuinn KennedyJungmeen E. KimFrederick J. KierSusan R. KingJacqueline A. KletterRobynn B. KobayashiAndrew W. KolodyJason M. KozlowskiBenjamas KutintaraKendra Lee Ann LaConsayNina LamsonNatalie A. LaneKelly LangeRejeanne LapriseMarsha Diane LinkMargaret Ann LintonCorinna LockenhoffNataliya V. LomakinaAnnie LukMichelle MaherBenjamin MastColleen MatterShoshana McKenzieRaquelle MesholamGregory J. MichaudJill S. MillerNorm O’RourkeLori OsborneShelley PeeryCarol PersadMarilyn G. PorterAlice E. RichmanKenneth L. RiderTamra A. RingelingSuzanne RoepkeAdina RosogaPatricia SanbornBianca M. Schaefer

Deborah ShinderZane SlocumbSophia SnowReuben T. SpitzMary L StockShelly A. SudiaAlicia TarnowskiDebbie TarrByron F TharpeElizabeth ThrailkillJ. Gregory TurnbullCheryl UnterbornRichard UrichSmaranda C. ValescuDeborah S. Van VeldhuizenJames Walker Jr.Julianna WardTerry Somers WebsterJeffrey D. WhiteWendy WisniewskiMonica S. Yassuda

evening of March 25th atthe Natcher Center. Formore information, pleasecontact:

SPRY Foundation10 G Street, NE, Suite 600Washington, D.C., 20002-4215; [email protected]; (202) 216-0401; FAX: (202) 216-0779orThe Gerontology Center100 Candler HallThe University of GeorgiaAthens, GA [email protected](706) 542-3954; FAX: (706)542-4805

Or visit the SPRY Founda-tion Website: http://www.spry.org or the UGAGerontology Center Web-site: http://www.geron.uga.edu.

Health and the WWWcontinued from page 17

19


George NiedereheNational Institute of Mental Health

Linda TeriUniversity of Washington

As long ago as 1994, Division 20 and Division 12’s Sec-tion on Clinical Geropsychology (Section II) collaborativelyformed the Interdivisional Task Force on Qualificationsfor Practice in Clinical and Applied Geropsychology. Thegroup was commissioned to develop consensus formu-lations about appropriate professional qualifications forengaging in professional psychological work with olderadults — a set of issues that had long remained poorlydefined and unresolved. Co-chairs were appointed —Linda Teri (representing Division 20) and GeorgeNiederehe (representing Section II) – with the latter agree-ing to oversee day-to-day operational details. Other TaskForce members, chosen so as to create a broadly basedcommittee with expertise across a variety of areas ofexpertise within Clinical Geropsychology, include MichaelDuffy, Barry Edelstein, Dolores Gallagher-Thompson,Margaret Gatz, Paula Hartman-Stein, GregoryHinrichsen, Asenath LaRue, Peter Lichtenberg, andGeorge Taylor.

Since that time, the Task Force has engaged in variousactivities and received some additional assignments. Inthis brief progress report, we will give an overview of fourmain aspects of the group’s activities and accomplish-ments: a) the Task Force report; b) recognition of ClinicalGeropsychology as a professional field; c) certification ofindividual psychologists in this field; and d) ContinuingEducation developments that may be necessary.

Task Force Report

After several years of working to develop an internal con-sensus on the issues, in late 1996, the Task Force issueda draft report on qualifications for practice in clinicalgeropsychology. The report discussed areas of profes-sional activity in Clinical Geropsychology, and gave rec-ommendations about the types and amounts of trainingand supervised experience that psychologists should havefor practicing responsibly with older adult clients. ClinicalGeropsychology was defined broadly so as to encom-pass practitioners from various subfields of psychology.Qualifications were addressed at the level both of gener-alist practitioners and more highly trained specialists inthe field.

Interdivisional Task Force on Qualifications for Practicein Clinical and Applied Geropsychology: Progress Report

We distributed the draft widely for review and commentin an attempt to seek a broader consensus within thefield. For example, it was posted on the Division 20 homepage, mailed to Section II members, and circulated toAPA committees and divisions (and outside organizations)with potential interests relating to the topic. In early 1997,the APA Executive Office informed the Task Force thatthe report constituted a set of professional guidelines (ifnot standards), and that Association Rule 100-1.5 requiresAPA components to follow specific procedures to gainAPA approval when developing such policy-level docu-ments. The circulation that we had done represented thefirst step of gathering “expert comment and consultation”on the document, but had to continue on to a consider-ably more extended process.

Initially, a subcommittee headed by Peter Lichtenbergreviewed the comments received about the draft, whichon the whole had been very positively received, and maderecommendations about revisions. After agreement wasreached on the changes, during the summer and fall of1998, the Task Force again circulated a revised report,as specified by Rule 100-1.5 (e.g., returning revised cop-ies to those who had previously provided comments), andposted it on the Division 20 website. We distributed no-tices that the report was available for review and com-ment (e.g., in the APA Monitor, over the Division 20 andSection II e-mail networks, and in mailings to all the re-quired APA boards, committees, divisions and state as-sociations). The 90-day commentary period closed lastNovember 30. Subsequently, the Task Force has evalu-ated the comments and incorporated appropriate furtherrevisions into the report. As in the previous cycle, thechanges required were relatively minor, and did not alterour fundamental recommendations.

Recently, we submitted the modified report, entitled Quali-fications for Practice in Clinical Geropsychology,* to theAPA Executive Office, where it will next undergo a legalreview, with the possible need for yet further changes. Atthis point, the report has been endorsed by the boards ofDivision 20, Division 12, and Section II. Division 17 (Coun-seling Psychology) is also considering whether to add itsendorsement. We are hopeful that, over the summer,the report may gain approval from the APA Board of Di-rectors and Council of Representatives — the final stepsin the clearance process. After that, it will stand as anofficial policy document of the endorsing divisions andsection.

Task Force continues on page 20

Recognition of Clinical Geropsychology as a Proficiency

When the Task Force began its work, APA was still in theprocess of establishing the mechanisms and procedureswhereby newly developing fields can become formallyrecognized within psychology. Once the structure for thisbecame fully articulated, and after much discussion anddeliberation, the Task Force determined that the mostappropriate course of action was to seek to have ClinicalGeropsychology recognized as a “proficiency” in profes-sional psychology, rather than as a “specialty.” As de-fined by APA, proficiencies are areas of practice requir-ing some degree of special expertise, training and clini-cal experience, but are more circumscribed in scope anddegree than subfields designated as specialties (such asclinical or counseling psychology). The decision to de-velop a proficiency-level emphasis was largely based onwhat seemed fitting and feasible at this time, and doesnot preclude moving on to seek the specialty designationat some later stage in the development of the field.

The Task Force then developed the “petition” materialsneeded to seek formal APA recognition of ClinicalGeropsychology as a proficiency, and urged its parentorganizations to pursue this course of action. Conse-quently, in February 1997, Section II and Division 20 jointlysubmitted the petition to APA’s Commission for the Rec-ognition of Specialties and Proficiencies in ProfessionalPsychology (CRSPPP). The Task Force thus acted asthe catalyst and work group whereby this effort proceeded.

Later that year, CRSPPP unanimously voted to recom-mend approval of the petition, and at the February 1998meeting of the Council of Representatives, the proficiencywon easy approval. In the interim, because of controver-sies within APA, the Council had placed a moratorium onconsidering any further specialties or proficiencies withthe word “Clinical” in their title. Thus, the proficiency wasinitially approved with its title modified to read simply“Geropsychology.” Since then, however, the disputes over“clinical” were resolved, and it has been possible to getthe proficiency’s title officially reinstated as “ClinicalGeropsychology.”

Certification in Clinical Geropsychology

Recognition of the proficiency is a largely symbolic ac-complishment, without much everyday significance un-less individual practitioners can be designated as prac-ticing within it. It should be viewed primarily as an interimstep leading to other developments. The College of Pro-fessional Psychology is the body established by APA tocertify psychologists as qualified to pursue the practiceof approved proficiencies. In light of the need to deal

next with this body, the boards of both Division 20 andSection II extended and expanded the Task Force’s man-date, designating the group to act as their liaison agent incommunicating with the College about the developmentof a certificate in Clinical Geropsychology.

Indeed, after the proficiency was recognized, the TaskForce received an inquiry from the College about whethera certificate in Clinical Geropsychology is needed andfeasible. We responded by providing information and ourperspective on this question, and requesting developmentof a certificate. The College has subsequently indicatedthat its consideration of this issue may entail a lengthyprocess. Michael Duffy has been appointed the TaskForce’s primary liaison to the College, and will overseethe group’s future efforts to help develop the means forcertification in Clinical Geropsychology.

The College is concerned about the costs of developingan examination and managing and maintaining the certi-fication process in any new fields for which it decides tomake a certificate available. Currently, the College of-fers only a single certificate, in the treatment of alcoholand other psychoactive substance use disorders. A keyissue is likely to be whether there are adequate numbersof psychologists who will apply for a certificate in ClinicalGeropsychology and pay the associated fees so as tomake this proposition financially feasible.

The Task Force hopes that, if the College does decide todevelop a certificate in Clinical Geropsychology, the rec-ommendations in our report will strongly influence thespecific qualifying criteria established for applicants. Atpresent, there is an imperfect match between certainqualifications that the Task Force has recommended asappropriate in general terms for practice with older adults,and some of the College’s criteria for determining theeligibility of applicants. Securing official APA clearanceof the Task Force’s report may help to bolster the cred-ibility of our recommendations in this negotiation.

Continuing Education Developments

The Task Force hopes that development of a certificatein the Clinical Geropsychology proficiency will not onlyconcretize expectations about the minimal levels of train-ing and experience appropriate for clinical work with olderadults, but may also attract and facilitate the entry of morepractitioners into this area of endeavor. Many practicingpsychologists may require additional training in order toachieve the expected level of preparation for this work.Thus, the demand for more continuing education (CE)offerings in Clinical Geropsychology may increase. CE

Task Force continues on page 21

Task Force continued from page 19


20

opportunities should be organized to meet practitioners’specific training needs and tailored to take into accounttheir specific issues and preferences with respect to ac-cessing training.

To help develop more information in this area, last springthe Task Force again acted as a work group that enabledDivision 20 and Section II to apply for an interdivisionalAPA grant to support a survey of practitioners’ needs andopportunities with respect to CE in ClinicalGeropsychology. Task Force member Dolores Gallagher-Thompson agreed to coordinate this effort. APA awardedpartial funding of the grant, and Division 20, Section IIand Division 12 contributed additional financial support.

The survey of 3000 licensed APA members is currentlyunderway during this first quarter of 1999. The CE coor-dinators from both Division 20 and Section II collaboratedin its planning. In addition, as requested by the APA Col-lege, the survey includes certain items designed to pro-vide the College with information about how respondentswould view and respond to a certificate in ClinicalGeropsychology. We are hopeful that the results can betabulated and analyzed in time to be reported at the APAConvention next summer, and that they will prove usefulin developing CE offerings that can significantly influenceboth the quantity and quality of psychological servicesavailable to older adults.

* The latest revision of the Task Force report may beaccessed electronically on the Division 20 website at http://www.iog.wayne.edu/apadiv20/apadiv20.htm.

Task Force continued from page 20

Post Doc Opportunities

By Alison Chasteen

Faced with the fierce competitiveness of the job market,an increasing number of graduate students are complet-ing postdoctoral fellowships before applying for academicpositions. Postdoctoral fellowships can provide a rangeof opportunities, from developing expertise in new areasof interest to establishing research programs that willcontinue into a new faculty position. Although complet-ing a postdoctoral fellowship has the downside of delay-ing becoming a faculty member, it can offer the benefit ofleading to a better job than one might have gotten di-rectly out of graduate school.

At least three types of postdoctoral opportunities are cur-rently available. One type is self-funded; that is, the gradu-ate student writes a grant to work with a particular re-searcher at that person’s institution. The individual Na-tional Research Service Awards (NRSA) available throughNIH are one such funding mechanism. Individual NRSAsrequire a proposal describing the type of research thepostdoc will conduct during the fellowship, as well as adescription of the types and sources of training thepostdoc will receive. The grant application is jointly writ-ten by the graduate student and potential postdoctoralsponsor. One advantage that individual NRSAs provideis that the postdoc will already have a research plan inplace when she or he begins the fellowship. Another ad-vantage is that by winning an individual NRSA, the postdocwill already have a history of grant-writing success. Indi-vidual NRSAs provide a stipend, health insurance, andsome money for travel and research expenses.

Another type of postdoctoral opportunity is availablethrough institutional grants such as the institutional NRSA.These are grants that an institution wins to fund a train-ing program for graduate students and postdocs. Theinstitution selects the postdoctoral trainees and developsa training program. Usually several research faculty areaffiliated with the training program and are willing to traina postdoc. Institutional NRSAs provide stipends, healthinsurance, some travel money, and a limited amount forresearch expenses.

A third type of postdoctoral opportunity consists of work-ing on an existing grant obtained by the sponsor. Usuallythe postdoc would be the project coordinator for the ex-periments proposed in the sponsor’s grant. Although thepostdoc would have an opportunity to develop expertisein a new area of research, this type of fellowship mightprovide less time and resources for the postdoc to con-duct research outside of the grant that she or he is coor-dinating. Thus, developing an independent research pro-gram might be more difficult with this type of funding.

Finding postdoctoral opportunities can require a bit ofresearch, but for students who are interested in agingthere is a good resource on the Division 20 web site (http://www.iog.wayne.edu/APADIV20/APADIV20.HTM). Thelists of opportunities are under the Guide to GraduateStudy section. Clicking on that will provide an extensivelist of clinical and non-clinical postdoctoral opportunitiesin adult development and aging. The list of opportunitiesis being updated and should be ready this spring. In ad-dition to the Division 20 web site, postdoctoral opportuni-ties are listed in the APA Monitor, APS Observer, and theGSA Gerontology News. Information on NRSAs can befound at: http://www.nih.gov/training/nrsa.htm. Newpostdoctoral opportunities often are sent to the Division20 e-mail group as well. Besides checking all of thoselistings, students should also contact the researchers thatthey are interested in working with. Discussingpostdoctoral research with a potential sponsor might leadto some opportunities that are not posted in the typicaljob listings.


21

1999 APA Convention in Boston, Aug. 20-24

Division 20 APA Program Chair Report

Neil Charness

We have an extensive program over four action-packeddays thanks in part to sponsorships from other Divisionsand Groups in APA. These groups are co-sponsoring atotal of 5 additional program hours! This seems fitting forthe United Nation’s INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF OLDERPERSONS. Please consider addressing this theme,where appropriate, in your part of the program. I took fulladvantage of the maximum of four 8 am starts to addhours to our program. APA assigned all of our hours tothe Sat. - Tues. interval, and I realize that this year’s laterstarting convention may inconvenience those academicswho start classes on Monday or Tuesday. Hopefully we’llhave better luck next time. Still, we can be proud to havereached a total of 35 hours of Division 20 program time.

We also have a large set of co-listed events and are co-sponsoring one joint event with Division 38 which will bean address by the awardee for the Developmental HealthPsychology Award, Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, Friday, 2-2:50pm. Co-listed programs with other divisions sum to ap-proximately 28 hours. All in all, there are at least 64 hoursof programming at APA that will be of interest to Division20 members. (We apparently will break the old record of54 hours in 1979 — see http://www.iog.wayne.edu/apadiv20/div20cha.htm). Most of our events will be scheduledin the Sheraton Hotel and the Hynes Convention Center.

Watch for two special social events . We are trying asocial hour that is a very early morning breakfast Sat.morning (7 am) for student members of the division. Itbecomes an open coffee bar (paid, though we anticipatesome free food will remain) at 8 am that is jointly spon-sored by Division 8 and co-listed by Division 9. Do notmiss the fabulous DUCK TOUR and DINNER organizedby Margie Lachman on Saturday evening. If you haven’tregistered (sent your check for $45/person to MargieLachman, made out to Division 20), do it now! Studentsreceive a $20 subsidy for this event. We also have ourregular Social Hour on Sunday, 5:00 pm, following theBusiness Meeting.

Finally, we will try to schedule other more informal eventsin the Division 20 suite this year. More on this later viathe Division 20 Listserve and Web Site:

Program Chair continues on page 14

Boston Duck Tour and Dinner atMarche’ Boston

Limited seating is still available for the Annual Division 20Social Event for APA. This year's Division 20 get-togetheris scheduled for Saturday, August 21, 1999, 6:00 to 8:30p.m. (arrive at the Huntington Avenue side of the Pruden-tial Center by 5:30 p.m. for boarding).

Total cost per person is $45 (including the tour, dinner,and all gratuities). The cost for Division 20 students willbe subsidized by the division and will be $25.

First, we will have a private tour of Boston by land andwater in an amphibious vehicle, developed by the militaryin WWII. The tour guides are humorous and the tour cov-ers a lot of the highlights of Boston, including a big splashinto the Charles River. The tour lasts about one hour and20 minutes; it begins and ends at the Prudential Center(near the convention center and conference hotels).

You can get more information about Duck Tours on theweb at: www.bostonducktours.com

An informal dinner will follow at 7:30 p.m at Marche' Bos-ton in the Prudential Center. We have a seating area setaside for our group. You will be given a ticket/voucher forfood, tax, and tip (any unused portion will be refunded).You create your own meal from a variety of market sta-tions including Grill and Rotisserie, Seafood, Pasta, Pizza,Far East, Omelets, Soup, Salad, Pastry, Fruit, Dessert,Soft Drinks, Wine, Beer, and Coffee. The Duck Tour com-pany requires that we guarantee the numbers well inadvance and make a deposit to hold the vehicles. Wehave reserved 2 vehicles, and space is limited, so pleasesign up as soon as possible to guarantee a seat. Pleasee-mail, fax, or write Margie Lachman now to let her knowhow many seats to reserve for you. Please send a checkmade out to 'APA Division 20' to Margie Lachman no laterthan June 1, 1999 ($45 for each Division 20 member orfamily member, $25 for each Division 20 student).

I hope you will join us. Family members are welcome! Itshould be a great event.

Quack Quack,

Margie [email protected]; Fax: 781-736-3291Department of Psychology, MS#062Brandeis UniversityWaltham, MA 02454-9110


22

Feature Article continued from page 3

sion published. In July 1969 the finished set of manu-scripts was sent to Larry Erlbaum, who was the psychol-ogy editor at Academic Press at that time. My corre-spondence shows that Bill Overton and I had begun re-vising our paper by May 7 and that the final version wassent to Larry Goulet and Paul Baltes in June. Inciden-tally, the selling price of the proceedings was a bargain,or so it seems nowadays; it was $14.50 for 562 pages ofpapers plus 45 pages of front and back matter. Perhapsit was not such a bargain, though; my correspondencewith Paul shows that my air fare for the Kansas City/Morgantown round trip was $136.50, my mileage reim-bursement for the Lawrence, Kansas/Kansas City roundtrip was 8 cts per mile, and my airport parking for April 29to May 3 was $6.50.

The format of the Conference was unique, to me at least:the participants had to send their papers to the co-chairsby April, 1969, for distribution to the other participants--thisplan, incidentally, gave real substance to the threat topublish the presented papers if revisions were not timely.The participants were asked to read each paper beforethe Conference; at the Conference itself, each partici-pant gave a brief summary and the rest of the time allot-ted to that participant was devoted to discussion, whichranged from half an hour to an hour and a quarter. Theparticipants were given priority in the discussion and theyused up most of the allotted time, leaving much less dis-cussion time to the observers. This was an exciting andproductive format for us participants who had read thepapers ahead of time and jotted comments and ques-tions on them, but I thought that the observers who hadnot seen the advance copies must have been mystifiedby much of the discussion. In any case, the format wasnot used in the subsequent life-span conferences.

An important feature of the Conference, which I muchadmired and have seen used with huge success at manysubsequent small conferences, was that the conferencesite was far enough out of town that almost everyonestayed at the site in the evenings, except on May 1 whenwe were transported to town for dinner and then for areception at Warner’s home. The Mont Chateau Lodgehad a passable dining room, so most of us had the restof our meals there. At that time West Virginia was dryexcept for near-beer and except in private clubs; conse-quently, except on May 1 most of us spent theevenings--late into the night--discussing the papers insomeone’s well stocked room. Unfortunately, the wallswere thin and the late discussions were usually interruptedby irate neighbors; I remember one who was literally danc-ing with rage at the door after midnight. Well, not literallydancing, but literally stamping his feet. I also remember

having breakfast one morning with John Flavell, LewLipsitt, Bill Overton, and Dave Palermo, each of us suf-fering in silence from the excesses of the previous eveningand wondering why each of the others was not sufferinguntil one of us fessed up.

Reference: Hooper, F. H. (1970). The West Virginia Uni-versity Conference on Life-Span Developmental Psychol-ogy. Human Development, 13, 53-60.

Table 1 Proceedings of the First Conference

Paul B. Baltes & Larry R. Goulet: Status and issues of a life-span developmental psychology

Don C. Charles: Historical antecedents of life-span develop-mental psychology

Karl J. Groffmann: Life-span developmental psychology in Eu-rope: Past and present

Dennis B. Bromley: An approach to theory construction in thepsychology of development and aging

Hayne W. Reese & Willis F. Overton: Models of developmentand theories of development

Joachim F. Wohlwill: Methodology and research strategy in thestudy of developmental change

John R. Nesselroade: Application of multivariate strategies toproblems of measuring and structuring long-term change

Peter E. Comalli, Jr.: Life-span changes in visual perception

Harry Munsinger: Light detection and pattern recognition: Somecomments on the growth of visual sensation and perception

John H. Flavell: Cognitive changes in adulthood

Jack Botwinick: Learning in children and in older adults

Lewis P. Lipsitt: The experiential origins of human behavior

Donald H. Kausler: Retention-forgetting as a nomological net-work for developmental research

Klaus F. Riegel: The language acquisition process: A reinter-pretation of selected research findings

David S. Palermo: Research on language acquisition: Do weknow where we are going?

John L. Horn: Organization of data on life-span developmentof human abilities

Gunther Reinert: Comparative factor analytic studies of intelli-gence throughout the human life-span

K. Warner Schaie: A reinterpretation of age related changes incognitive structure and functioning


23

24

Adult Development and Aging NewsDivision 20, American Psychological AssociationHarvey L. Sterns, EditorMartin D. Murphy, Co-EditorDepartment of Psychology andInstitute of Life-Span Development & GerontologyThe University of AkronAkron, OH 44325-4301

NON-PROFITORGANIZATIONU.S. POSTAGE

PAIDAKRON, OH

PERMIT# 222

Note from the Editor and Co-Edito r

This is our 5th issue of the Newsletter (yes, we're stillcounting). We thank everyone who contributed to thisissue, especially the candidates for Division 20 office,who responded to our request for information with speedand good humor. Timely submissions from all contribu-tors have allowed us to tighten our deadlines and reducethe lag between our receipt of information and its publi-cation.

We encourage division members to send us announce-ments of general interest for the Newsletter. In addition ifyou have an idea for a feature article, please contact oneof us. We also encourage the submission of short pro-vocative pieces to add some "jazz" to the Newsletter.

The deadline for the Summer issue is June 1, 1999. Wewill include detailed Division 20 APA program informationin that issue. Please send content.

Commentary

All of us who knew Margret Baltes are saddened byher death. Margret was a friend and colleague for overthirty years. I know I speak for all of us in Division 20in extending condolences to Paul, Boris, Anushka andfamily. Thank you to Jacquie Smith and Toni Antonuccifor their caring memorial article.

Marty and I had planned to acknowledge the 30th an-niversary of the first Life-Span Conference held atWest Virginia University for some time. We askedHayne Reese to create the article for us and we wantto thank him

This confluence of events, both having ties to WVU--Development of an area of study, the career of a val-ued colleague makes us reflect. There is much to cel-ebrate here in both history and fond memories.

Harvey L. SternsEditor

Documents

Adult Development & 20