Across the Nation: News of the Councils

Déonda Scott, Associate Editor

Bay Area Applied Psychologists (BAAP)

The April meeting featured Sharon Bray of Career Action Center who discussed "Exploring Issues Beyond Career Self-Resilience." The next meeting will be held on July 26. Speaker and topic TBA. For information, contact Edie Goldberg (415) 836-1286 or goldbee@towers.com.

Chicago Industrial/Organizational Psychologists (CI/OP)

The May meeting featured "Technology and Performance Assessment (Web-Based Performance Assessment)." CI/OP's Annual Dinner Meeting will be held on June 16. CI/OP generally has Friday afternoon sessions from 1:00 - 5:00 P.M. featuring several speakers addressing a topic. Call Ron Haverson at (708)358-8027 for information.

Metropolitan New York Association for Applied Psychology

METRO's May meeting featured speakers Schlomo Ben-Hur, Chief Learning Officer, Daimler Chrysler Services and Edmund B. Piccolino, VP and Chief Personnel Officer, Kodak Polychrome Graphics. The June 21 dinner meeting will welcome William Abelow and Katharine Angstadt who will present "Explore Team Building with Outward Bound of New York City." New York, NY. Contact MetroLine (212) 539-7593 or visit their website at http://www.metroapppsych.com/index.html.

Mid-Atlantic Personnel Assessment Consortium (MAPAC)

The MAPAC (Mid-Atlantic Personnel Assessment Consortium) Program Committee put on a wonderful Spring Conference in Washington, DC. Speakers included Jo Ann Bagshaw, James Frankart, Bert Green, Robert Klimoski, David Pollack, David Dye, Heather Roberts Fox, and Linda Dunn. The tentative dates for the Fall MAPAC Conference are September 20-22, 2000 in Princeton, NJ at the historic Nassau Inn. For information on upcoming events, contact Linda Dunn at (212)749-2710 or dunnlnd@cs.com or visit their website at http://www.ipmaac.org/mapac.

Minnesota Professional for Psychologists At Work (MPPAW)

MPPAW's March meeting featured Leaetta Hough who focused on the work she did with Frederick Oswald for the Annual Review of Psychology 2000, "Personnel Selection: Looking toward the Future-Remembering the Past." Among other things she reported that the literature suggests, regrettably, that non-job-related discrimination continues to exist and in addition to the more common race and sex issues, age, height, and general appearance remain as factors in the selection process. The May meeting featured a panel of MPPAW members including Connie Wanberg of the Industrial Relations Center at the University of Minnesota; Kay Owen of Lutheran Brotherhood; Ken Little of Northern States Power (NSP); and Carol Lynn Courtney of Consulting Psychologists, Inc. The topic of the panel was "Executive and management development, current trends, what is working and what is not in light of the changing nature of organizations and the work force."

In the fall of 2000, Deniz Ones of the University of Minnesota (honored for her early contribution to the field of industrial psychology at the 1999 SIOP convention) will discuss her research into conscientiousness in organizations. The September date has not yet been finalized. In late October or early November, Elaine Pulakos of PDRI will discuss the role of personal adaptability in organizations. Contact Sidney Teske for more information at Sid.Teske@co.hennepin.mn.us or (612) 348-4443.

PTC/Arizona

The PTC-AZ board met in May. Future activities are in the planning phase. For more information about PTC-AZ or registration contact Vicki Packman, Salt River Project at (602)236-4595 or vspackma@srpnet.com.

PTC/Northern California

PTC/NC's 14^th Annual Spring Conference was held on March 9 and 10 in Oakland, California. The Conference theme, "A 360-degree Look at Selection, Promotion, and Training & Development," reflected an effort to look at the field of Personnel Testing and Assessment from the broad perspective in which it is used today--in both the public and private sectors. To support this perspective, were a wide range of diverse and impressive speakers, including Robert Guion, Wally Borman, Steven Ashworth, and Richard Ugelow from the US Dept. of Justice. Alan Frost from the Home Depot and Shirley Ross from Williams Sonoma represented the private sector and addressed topics related to assessment for development and succession planning, as well as responding to consent decrees. Other topics ranged from "Enforcement of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964" to "Refreshing Stale Thinking about Validation," to "Citizenship Performance and Its Importance for Organization Effectiveness" to "Strategic HR Planning." The panel discussion with all the speakers was one of the most enlightening parts of the conference. The meeting room with a waterfront view and a tremendous social event at Yoshi's made this an enriching and enjoyable time for all!

The June 9, August 11, and October 13 meetings will be held in Berkeley, CA. The July 14, September 8, and November 17 meetings will be held in Sacramento, CA. Speakers and topics have not yet been finalized. For information regarding upcoming events, contact Krysten Stepke at (925)944-4681 or krysten.stepke@safeway.com or Peggy Tang at (916)327-1444 or ptang@oehha.ca.gov.

PTC/Metropolitan Washington

PTC/MW will offer a workshop on "Legal and Practical Implications of the Americans with Disabilities Act" on May 10. Skip Leonard of Personnel Decisions, Intl. will present "Development of a 360 degree feedback instrument for use in selection" at the June 14 luncheon meeting. Suzanne Tsacoumis of HumRRO will describe the "Development and use of a computerized item generator" at the August 9 meeting. The Department of Labor will provide an update on O*NET on September 13. Workshops (topics TBA) will be held on July 12 and October 11. FYI - PTC/MW has added a Reservation page to their website. You can access PTC/MW's website from IPMAAC Online! Contact Shane Pittman (301)320-9500 for information.

PTC/Southern California

PTC's Spring Conference in May was very successful thanks to wonderful speakers and accommodations. Wayne Cascio of the University of Colorado presented "Work, Workplaces, and Workers of the 21^st Century" and Oscar Spurlin and Carla Swander of Ergometrics discussed using video testing to assess human relations skills. Wade Gibson of Psychological Services, Inc. explored using attitudinal measurement in employment selection in combination with cognitive measures as a was of mitigating adverse impact. Bruce Bernal and Mike Wheeler with the City of Los Angeles showcased new ideas in selection and John Nicoll of the City of Burbank discussed marketing our services to executives and elected officials. Elena Baca, an attorney specializing in employment law with Paul Hastings Jonofsky & Walker, rounded out the program with a look at employment law developments including a discussion of the recent Lanning decision.

The next luncheon meeting and presentation will be held on June 28. Speaker and topic TBA. On July 26, PTC/SC welcomes Warren Bobrow of The Context Group who will present "The Use of Interactive CD-ROM Technology in Personnel Assessment." Wayne Camara will discuss "Revised APA Standards" at the meeting on September 27.

PTC/SC holds a luncheon meeting at Luminarias in Monterey Park, CA each month. PTC/SC and its upcoming activities are listed on IPMAAC Online! For information about future meetings contact Hollie Levy (213)847-9140 or hlevy@per.lacity.org, or Carol Williams (213)847-9752 or cwilliams@per.lacity.org.

Western Region Item Bank

The Western Region Item Bank (WRIB) is a cooperative organization of public agencies using a computerized test item bank. Services include draft test questions with complete item history, preparation of "printer ready" exams, and exam scoring and item analysis. Membership includes 190 agencies nationwide. For more information, contact Kathryn Paget (909)387-5575.

WRIPAC

The next WRIPAC Workshop and Meetings will be in Sacramento on June 2-4. These are the scheduled activities:

June 2nd: Developing & Using Multiple Choice Exams Workshop, 8:30-4:00
Instructor: Mike Willihnganz, Ph.D. For more information contact Sophia Selivanoff, Sonoma County, 707-527-3145 or 707-563-3700 (FAX) or sselivan@sonoma-county.org.

June 3 & 4: Meetings & Presentations. For more information contact: Mark Rau, City of Clovis (CA), 559-297-2335 or MarkR@ci.clovis.ca.us. Western Regional Intergovernmental Personnel Assessment Council (WRIPAC) is comprised of assessment professionals from more than sixty small, medium, and large public agencies throughout the western United States. For more information, contact Mark Rau (209)297-2335.

Déonda Scott is the Civil Service/Testing Manager for the City of Orlando. If you have regional organization news or an item to add to the calendar, please contact her. She can be reached by phone (407)246-2061; fax (407)246-2019; or e-mail dscott@ci.orlando.fl.us. Snail-mail will eventually find her at the City of Orlando, 400 S. Orange Avenue, Orlando, FL 32801-3302.