President's Message

Citing Progress and Making the Transition to Next Year

David A. Dye, Ph.D.

It is hard for me to believe that we are nearing the end of my term as IPMAAC President. It has truly been both a rewarding and challenging experience - one in which I take a lot of pride and enjoyment in our accomplishments. I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to serve as your President and to be associated with such a dedicated group of individuals who have volunteered their time, talent, and energies to make our organization a great success. Let me take this opportunity to reflect on our achievements and to look forward to the coming year.

I am pleased to say that we made great progress against our initial guiding priorities and Strategic Plan for 1999 that were outlined at the beginning of the year:

Conduct professional development programs and opportunities for the membership.

Foster networks and relationships within the Assessment Council, with IPMA, and with public and private sector professional assessment organizations.

Provide timely communication and information exchange on important assessment-related issues.

Promote sound and innovative practices in personnel assessment.

Recognize contributions and added value of assessment professional

One of our most significant achievements is the development of the written examination that will serve as the behavioral component for IPMA's newly developed certification program, IPMA Certified Professional (IPMA-CP). Fifteen IPMAAC members contributed by writing and reviewing items to assess the competencies measured in the three modules covered in IPMA's training program. Item development was coordinated by Kris Smith, Mike Willihnganz, and myself. A draft version of the test was pilot tested at the IPMA Intl. Training Conference, and we are looking forward to completing a final version in the coming months. Our work in this area has contributed greatly to maintaining strong relationships with IPMA. I look forward to continuing IPMAAC's support of this program by serving on the established Public Human Resources Certification Council. An initial meeting of the council was held in Washington during the IPMA conference. I will be attending a meeting in December to finalize the program.

There have been numerous achievements made by this year's committee chairs. On behalf of the Board of Directors and the membership, I would like to extend a warm and heartfelt thank you to the chairs for their hard work: Below are highlights of their significant activities.

Assessment Council News (ACN) - Beverly Waldron continues to be the master of one of our most appreciated member benefits -- our prized newsletter. To improve the look of the newsletter and to speed up its delivery, we will be using the services of a professional desktop publisher next year.

Bemis Nominating/Board & Selection Committees - Bill Rowe orchestrated the nominations process to select IPMAAC's nominee this year. T. R. Lin coordinated the submission package for IPMAAC's nominee. Donna Denning presented the slate of nominees this year at the conference and announced Jim Johnson, IPMAAC's nominee, as the winner.

Conference Program/Host - Program co-chairs David Hamill and Deonda Scott and host chair Beverly Waldron did a masterful job of assembling the 1999 conference program. Even though our attendance was slightly below our expectations, the evaluations received from participants was positive. We will be using feedback from this year's attendees to continue to improve upon our most single significant activity for the year.

Electronics Communication Network (ECN) -Bill Waldron continues to make our website an important means for disseminating information about IPMAAC activities and to serve as a link to other sources of information. We recently moved the site to a new host which has improved connectivity, performance, and disk space at a lower cost. There are now over 350 subscribers to the listserv so check it out.

Innovations in Assessment - Ilene Gast, Linda McMillan and their committee prepared a package for this new award that will complement other IPMAAC awards. This award will recognize a person or group for the development and application of an innovative personnel assessment tool or procedure. We look forward to receiving nominations next Spring and selecting a recipient at next year's conference.

Nominations/Bylaws - Past President Jeff Feuquay coordinated the nominations process for President-Elect and one Board member. He also reported on the membership approving the proposed bylaws modifications which were approved by the IPMA Executive Council at their October meeting and reported in Assessment Council News. .

Professional/Scientific Affairs - With very little notice, Martin Anderson accepted the task of providing IPMAAC's input to APA on the draft report of the Task Force on Test User Qualifications (TFTUQ). Martin prepared an article for publication in the Assessment Council News and also forwarded comments to APA from the membership.

Training/Workshop - In support of the IPMA-CP program and to facilitate IPMAAC's continuing role, Mike Willihnganz ensured that three IPMAAC members became qualified as instructors of the program -- Charlie Sproule, TR Lin, and David Hamill. Also, Mike has proposed a plan for upgrading our workshop materials, beginning with Examination Planning. If you are interested in this effort, please contact Mike who will be serving in this role next year.

University Liaison/Student Paper - Co-chairs Lee Friedman and Ken Shultz coordinated this year's review of several submissions and the voting process to make this year's tough decision.

Marketing/Publicity - In addition to marketing the annual conference, Jean Tozer and Mike Aamodt coordinated several marketing efforts this year, including the 1999 version of the membership survey, and two proposals that will be continued next year, (1) publication of an HRM journal with Radford University, and (2) publication of a Statistics for HR Professionals text.

Finally, I would like to thank and recognize two individuals who have contributed a great deal over the last several years and who are finishing their current roles on the IPMAAC Board -- Doris Maye, IPMAAC's representative to IPMA's Executive Council and Jeff Feuquay, Past President. Simply put, their leadership, wisdom, and efforts have made IPMAAC a better organization. Thank you to both of them!

I look forward to assisting Kris Smith, IPMAAC's incoming President, your Board of Directors, and the newly installed committee chairs on beginning the road to a successful new millennium.