President's Message

Jeff Feuquay

I am very excited about our upcoming conference in Chicago. If you haven't reviewed the program, if you haven't already booked reservations, for Heaven's sake get busy. Doctors Wayne Cascio, Diane Halpern, Leatta Hough and Frank Landy (in order of appearance) have agreed to share their expertise with us. Those are but a few of the luminaries who will grace our podiums (podia?) -- familiar names abound, but the program also lists quite a few very, very well-qualified "new" names, new opportunities to grow our profession. Please join me in thanking Jean Tozer and Renee Jones, the conference and host chairs; and the IPMA staff for the wonderful opportunities they have served up. Also, first time attendees, please notice that you are invited to a special reception at 3:45 on Monday. I hope that you stop by to meet the board and committee folks. But, beware that we are always looking for ways to get and keep people involved . . . come to the reception, raise your hand at the wrong time and you've likely volunteered for something.

Notice that the program emphasizes that what we do is applicable in both the public and the private sectors. That is clear from the opening "What is IPMAAC" statement to the effort throughout the program to use more inclusive language, i.e., "organization" instead of "agency." This concerted effort of inclusiveness is certainly not intended as a slight to our parent organization; we are neither denying nor derogating our roots, but growing them deeper and wider. Our goal is to exchange knowledge and expertise in new arenas. Assessment has always had tremendous commonalties within the private and public sectors, but those commonalties have often been overshadowed by fundamental differences in the overall personnel systems within which we were operating. Now, even those differences in the broader field of HRM are rapidly declining, for better or worse. So, regardless of their private or public sector orientation, please tell your colleagues about IPMAAC and get them to Chicago. We have plenty to teach and plenty to learn.

On another topic, tangentially related at best . . . Those of you who subscribe to the IPMAAC list, our WWW discussion group, may recall that I recently put out a request for help and information. I admit that my motive was primarily panic at not having a topic when Beverly Waldron, our editor, told me an article was due. But, the request was still sincere. My stated concern was that our profession seems to be overly calm at the moment. I was and am unsure as to whether that impression is real and we're in the midst of either true calm or the doldrums, or whether I am wholly mistaken and the field is actually in turmoil. I received two responses. One response expressed the opinion that our organization has a responsibility to take a stance on the deeper philosophical questions, policy-level issues. It is a legitimate opinion, but one that was subjected to considerable debate a few months back in the IPMAAC list. Only the distance between the petitioners (and their professionalism) allowed the debate to occur without resulting physical violence. The second response was one brief word: "benchmarking." I've pondered that for some time and am still not sure if benchmarking was what the person was doing or what she wants IPMAAC to focus on. It seems the simplest conclusion is that the non-respondent bias is overwhelming; about all I have is measurement error from which to draw conclusions. So, I'll try again.

Each one of the board members and committee chairs serves in support of our members -- we're not here for the high pay, we're not here for the glory (well, not all of us). Please help the board and the committees better support you and your efforts. Give us feedback, guidance, comments. Whether all's well in assessment land or apathy is rampant, enough of this silence is golden stuff. Let us hear from you. See you and many of our friends in Chicago.