Across the Nation: News of the Councils

Déonda Scott, Associate Editor

Bay Area Applied Psychologists (BAAP)

BAAP's August meeting featured Mitchell Lee Marks who spoke on the topic of I/O Interventions in Mergers, Acquisitions and Alliances. Additional meetings and speakers are to be announced. The August newsletter included a summary of Michael Gibbs' presentation on "Intellectual Capital." For information contact Dr. Edie Goldberg at (415)836-1286 or Becca Anhalt (415)393-5685.

Metropolitan New York Association for Applied Psychology

METRO recommenced its schedule of monthly dinner meetings in September. The topic of the November 17 meeting was "Forging New Organizational Identities: The Challenges of Facilitating the Merger and Post-Merger Process" presented by Connie Steensma and Larry Gould of The ACCEL Group. Paul Sackett of the University of Minnesota will be presenting "Selection in the Post Affirmative Action Era" on December 9. For information contact Seymour Adler (212)539-7593.

Mid-Atlantic Personnel Assessment Consortium (MAPAC)

MAPAC's Winter Meeting is right around the corner and you won't want to miss it! Workshops will focus on mid- and upper-level managerial selection. Bruce Davey of Bruce Davey & Associates will present a training workshop on "Role Playing Exercises and Oral Interviewing in Managerial Selection" and Ilene Gast will present "Utility Analysis and Managerial Selection: Return on Investment Revisited: Establishing the Practicality and Economic Utility of INS's Promotional Assessment System." "Competency/Personality Assessment in Midlevel Managerial Selection " will be discussed by Rick Jacobs of Saville & Holdsworth Ltd/Landy Jacobs. Harry Brull of Personnel Decisions, Intl will speak on "Executive Selection in the Public Sector," and "Innovative Approaches to Written Tests for Managers" will be presented by Betsy Kaido and Tom Lyons. "Approaches to the Structured Oral Interview" will be the focus of Richard Tonowski and Leroy Sheiby's presentation. The meeting will also feature a lunch panel and round table discussion on "The Future of Managerial Selection " with panelists Rick Jacobs, Harry Brull and Ilene Gast. The Winter Meeting will in Harrisburg, PA on January 27-29. For information on upcoming events, contact Linda Dunn (212)794-5672.

Minnesota Professional for Psychologists At Work (MPPAW)

Announcing a new organization for I/O Psychologists! MPPAW will have six scheduled meetings at the University of Minnesota on Thursday evenings. The program will include a social hour, presentation, and question and answer session. The first meeting was held on September 24^th and featured Frank Schmidt of the University of Iowa who answered the question "Ninety Years of Research in Personnel Selection: What Have We Learned About What Works and What Does Not?" Richard Arvey of the University of Minnesota spoke on "Emotionality as a Predictor of Job Performance" on October 15th. The first newsletter was published in September and included a MPPAW member profile, member news, organizational information, etc. Call Sid Teske at (612)348-4443 for more information about membership, programs, and upcoming meetings.

PSC/Florida

The Personnel Selection Council of Florida's October 29 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida featured speakers Ron Frankel and John Burns with the Florida Department of Veteran's Affairs who discussed the Veteran's Preference in Employment. Future meetings are in the planning stages. Contact Desiree Bice (954)724-1351 for more information.

PTC/Arizona

The Personnel Testing Council of Arizona will end 1998 with a half-day O*Net workshop on December 3^rd. The presenter will be Ruth Hoppe, an occupational analyst with the Western Area Occupational Analysis Field Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. Ruth will provide participants with an informative and interesting overview of the Department of Labor efforts in making the O*NET a reality. The Board of Directors is planning a range of programs for 1999. For more information contact: Terry McKinney at (602)261-8861 or tmckinne@ci.phoenix.az.us, Vicki Packman at (602)236-4595 or vspackma@srp.gov.

PTC/Northern California

PTC/NC hosted Dave Milne of Bay Test Services who spoke on test administration issues at the July meeting. Additional events are in the planning phase. Contact Sharon Rose for more information (510)676-6265 or srose@corehrc.com.

PTC/Metropolitan Washington

PTC/MW's November meeting featured Dr. Wayne Camara who spoke on "Accommodations for Persons with Disabilities: Results of Attempts to Establish Comparability in Cognitive Tests and Remaining Concerns." Dr. Bev Dugan will be giving the PTC/MW Presidential Address at the December 9 luncheon meeting. Contact Ann Quigley (202)268-3952 for information. The PTC/MW also has a very good website that can be accessed through IPMAAC Online! Their newsletter provides summaries of past presentations, job announcements and a professional calendar.

PTC/Southern California

The Personnel Testing Council of Southern California's Fall Conference was held in October in Manhattan Beach, California. The theme was "Unearthing Hidden Potential, exploring non-traditional means of assessment. Wayne Flick presented "The City of Torrance vs. Department of Justice Case (Recent Developments)" at the November 25^th luncheon program. There will be no meeting in December. Additional meetings are in the planning phases. Contact Ross Hessler (714)536-5917. PTC/SC holds a luncheon meeting in Monterey Park, CA on the fourth Wednesday of each month. PTC/SC and its upcoming activities are now listed on IPMAAC Online!

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 at (909)387-6086.

WRIPAC

The Western Region Intergovernmental Personnel Assessment Council (WRIPAC) will be celebrating its 20^th anniversary at its next meeting at the Bahia Resort Hotel in San Diego. The meeting dates are Thursday January 28^th to Friday January 29^th 1999. The meeting will include presentations from such distinguished speakers as Harry Brull, Sr. VP Public Sector Services, Personnel Decisions International; Donna Denning, Personnel Research Psychologist, City of Los Angles; and Paul Kaiser, Principal Personnel Examiner, NYS Dept of Civil Service. For more information on the meeting, please contact Mark Rau at (209) 297-2335. In addition, two workshops are being offered prior to the meeting on January 27, 1999. "Job Analysis Made Easy" and "Selection Planning". The job analysis workshop, presented by Mike Willihnganz and Karen Coffee, will explain a practical and efficient method of identifying critical tasks and associated knowledge, skills and abilities for selection procedure development. The selection planning workshop, presented by Donna Terrazas, will explain how to identify the right selection procedures for any type of job. (Workshop fees: $100 for WRIPAC members, $120 for non-members). For more information, please contact Kathryn Paget (909) 387-6086.

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.