Executive Officer & Secretary/Treasurer's Report, 2020
Brent Donnellan (Executive Officer)
Jennifer Lodi-Smith (Secretary/Treasurer)
Thank you all for your engagement and support of ARP in 2019! As of the end of 2019, ARP has 344 active members (188 regular members and 156 graduate student/postdoc members) and our mailing list reaches over 1200 individuals. Please ensure you keep your membership status and profile information up to date - all memberships expire at the start of the year and membership rates remain unchanged for 2020 so now is a great time to get your 2-year membership!
The highlight of 2019 for ARP was, of course, the conference in Grand Rapids. ARP 2019 was attended by 269 individuals. Preconference attendance was split between SIPS (63 attendees) and SITAR (40 attendees). The Gala dinner was held at the Grand Rapids Art Museum and had 134 attendees. Feedback on the conference was largely positive and individuals generally like the idea of rotating major cities and coordinating with EAPP for future conferences.
Speaking of future conferences, ARP 2021 was planned for Evanston, IL as in-person event. The ARP executive committee and conference committee chairs are evaluating whether an in-person event in 2021 is sensible or even possible given the pandemic and university budget cuts. Alternatives include an online conference or a postponement. Decisions will be made in the Fall of 2020.
Regardless of what happens in 2021, ARP always needs volunteers for our active awards, diversity, graduate/postdoc, publications, training, and web committees. Please email us if you want to be more involved.
In closing, we recognize the contributions of those individuals who ended their terms on the ARP board in 2019 – Dan McAdams (past president), Aidan Wright (member-at-large), Katie Corker (member-at-large), and Kai Horstmann (graduate student representative). Their service and continued engagement with the organization is much appreciated. We also thank Oliver John, Dan Ozer, and Rick Robins for their generous support of the endowments for ARP awards. And of course, we are excited to work with Rich Lucas (new president), Joanne Chung (new member-at-large), Rodica Damian (new member-at-large) as they pursue new initiatives and directions for ARP in the new decade. Finally, we add an extra note of gratitude to Chris Soto for his many years of service as ARP webmaster and welcome David Condon to the role.
We hope everyone is safe and healthy. Be well.
Jenn Lodi-Smith, Secretary/Treasurer
Brent Donnellan, Executive Officer