Happy October! I am coming off the excitement of a VERY successful Annual Conference on Teaching but also coping with jet lag from the West to East coast flight! A HUGE thanks to ACT Director Lindsay Masland and her conference committee: Brittany Avila, Jacqueline Goldman, Kate Jansen, Alison Melley and Blake Nielsen. Their hard work before and during helped to make the conference an inspiring three days.

I hope everyone who attended ACT left with the same sense of excitement and purpose without jet lag. If you were not able to join us in Portland, remember that there will be an online conference in February. Be sure to check out the details on the ACT web page.

STP has a lot going on. There are a few positions available at our Get Involved page. Please do think about applying to serve in one of these positions. There is always a name you can email if you have more questions.

We also will be seeking applications for three members of our Executive Committee:  STP President Elect, VP for Membership, and VP for Diversity and International Relations. The deadline for these positions is November 15, 2023.

I want to share some of the announcements, recognitions and awards from the conference so everyone in STP knows about the great work so many people are doing. There are far too many people for me to name individually, but know that your service to STP is valued.

Keli Braitman, past Vice President for Grants and Awards presented STP’s annual awards. I am always impressed by the accomplishments of our award recipients. This year’s recipients are:

·         Wayne Weiten Teaching Excellence Award (2-year college) – Heather Schoenherr

·         Mary Margaret Moffett Memorial Teaching Excellence Award (high school) – Maria Vita

·         Wilbert J. McKeachie Teaching Excellence Award (graduate student) – Skyler Mendes

·         Jane S. Halonen Teaching Excellence Award (early career) – Leslie Berntsen

·         Robert S. Daniel Award (4-year college) – Colleen Seifert

·         Civic Engagement Award – Michael Figuccio

·         Mentorship of Teachers Award – Jessica Hartnett

·         Promoting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award - Milton Fuentes

Membership has been busy. The winner of the first annual Design Contest was Jenny Kunz. Her design appears on stickers that were distributed at ACT and will be distributed at other STP-sponsored conferences in 2024. These stickers are sure to become collectibles! This will be an annual contest so look for the announcement and consider submitting a design. The MidCareer Psychology Committee is now officially a committee and is preparing to offer webinars next year. STP’s mentoring services have moved to the Membership area.

Resources has also been busy. There have been special editions of Teaching of Psychology and two new e-books. There are twelve new peer-reviewed syllabi and four new peer-reviewed resources. The Tagging Project has made it easy to find what you need across all our sites quickly.

Diversity and International Relations is continuing to discuss ways to incorporate Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging across all endeavors. They also facilitated the DEIB training for the Executive Committee. Our international presence is growing rapidly and STP will be represented at international conferences in India, Mexico, France and Sweden. Our Director of STP Programming at International Conferences, Susan Nolan, has been making even more connections internationally, so STP has become visible across the world.

Programming has had a successful year. In addition to ACT, STP was present at many conferences. Conference directors include Melissa Maffeo (APA), Molly Metz (APS), David Berg (NITOP), Drew Christopher (SPSP), and Judith Bryant (SRCD).  Garth Neufeld oversees the outstanding work of the regional conference coordinators. Brooke Whisenhunt coordinated the speaker selections for our co-sponsored lectures (with APA’s Board of Education Affairs) at APA 2023.

The Executive Committee (EC) has been working for you as well. We have been discussing fiscal responsibility and what that means for our budget. We are exploring ways to honor our members who have passed. We are creating a way to collect demographic information from our members, so we have some data for maintaining and creating programs. Please know that the EC is here to work for you. Let us know if there are concerns or suggestions.

A final note (and a terrific opportunity for college faculty): If you are in higher education and have ever wondered about the Advanced Placement Psychology exam, they are looking for readers (i.e., graders) from higher education. It is a great chance to see how the AP scores are calculated as well as to meet fabulous teachers from all over the world. Plus, you get paid. Next summer’s reading will be in Kansas City.  If you are interested, contact Kristin Whitlock.