MPA ELECTIONS (2024)

ELECTIONS 2024 will happen in the Fall of 2023 or early Spring 2024! For information about running for Council, read below!

You may have questions about what it means to be on Council. Please see below for some of those commonly asked questions and answers to them.

Who makes up the MPA Council? MPA is run by a seven person committee referred to as Council. It consists of the President-Elect, President, and Past President and three additional members of Council. All six of these positions are elected by the membership. The seventh member, the Executive Officer, is appointed by Council. There are then ex-officio members including the Associate Executive Officers, Treasurer, Program Committee Chair, and Convention Manager who provide information to the Council.

How long does a position on MPA Council last? All elected positions are for three year terms. Each year, we elect a new President-Elect and a new member of Council.

What do Council members do? All major decisions about the direction and management of the conference are managed by the MPA Council. Some of these are specific and happen every year (e.g., selecting from nominations for the Program Committee, appointment new chairs of program committee, selecting new MPA Fellows, awarding Diversity Travel Award winners), while others are more broad (e.g., deciding how to invest our resources under the guidance of the Investment committee, deciding on new initiatives for the conference). 

What is the time commitment, generally? The time commitment is not very significant assuming there are no developments that require Council to act quickly (e.g., during the start and high points of the COVID pandemic, Council was busier than usual). All members of Council are expected to attend a meeting on the Wednesday evening before the conference; they are expected to attend the conference itself; they are expected to meet usually two times (via Zoom) between the conferences; they have various tasks during the year which often involve smaller meetings or work via email (e.g., fellow selection, award selection).

What specifically does the Council member do? The Council member sits on the seven person Council and helps guide the conference. In addition and every year, Council members select winners of the diversity travel award. Council members may also serve on the Investment Committee or other committees that are developed during the course of the year.

What specifically does the President-Elect do? The President-Elect sits on the seven person Council and helps guide the conference. In addition and every year, the Presidential team (President-Elect, President, and Past President) select MPA Fellows and the winner of the MPA Excellence in Mentoring award. The President-Elect, in the year they serve as President, is responsible for selecting the five to seven Presidential Keynote speakers, giving the Presidential Address, and writing the President’s Message in the program book. 

Who is eligible for Council member and President-Elect? All members with faculty appointments are eligible for both President-Elect and Council member. Due to our bylaws, the new Council member must not be from the area of Social of Clinical/Developmental psychology (as both will be represented on the Council in the coming year).

A person may be eligible, but what makes them a good candidate for Council or President-Elect? The members of MPA themselves decide who they want to serve on Council in these roles, but MPA Council believes the most important factors often involve prior involvement and attendance with MPA and an excitement and enthusiasm for the position. We strongly encourage people to apply for both positions and we also wish to explicitly state that seniority or status in the field is NOT an expected requirement for either position. That is, Council members and the President-Elect are not required to have a prominent research record or be from a research focused institution. While membership does indeed vote on the final candidates, Council is excited for a strong pool of nominees and encourages people to apply. 

How are nominees selected to run for the position to which they were nominated? Each position must have at least three people who are candidates (so thee people for Council member and three people for President-Elect). The people with the most nominations are asked to be candidates. If two people have the same number of nominations, they may both be asked even if this means we end up with more than three candidates for a position (e.g., if Person A gets 15 nominations, Person B gets 12 nominations, and Persons C and D both get 10 nominations, all four people would be asked to run).