APsaA members are extraordinarily involved in the Association and that involvement often finds its expression through committee work. There are over 75 committees within the organization and in order to keep track of their work and contribution to the Association and profession, we ask committee chairs to assist. Below are resources available to APsaA committees as well as answers to questions committee chairs often ask.
Conference calls
In-person meetings are always ideal and we work with each committee chair to determine if they need meeting space at APsaA's two annual national meetings. However, all committee members are not always available to attend the national meetings. And there are times when the work of the committee needs to be done in between national meetings. In those circumstances, the National Office is available to help you set up conference calls. If you plan on using conference calls, be sure your committee has funds available in its budget.
Tina Faison is the person on the National Office staff to contact about setting up a conference call. You can reach her at 212-752-0450, Ext 23 or tfaison@apsa.org. Before you call or email Tina, determine the date and time you would like for your conference call (when indicating the time, be sure to include the time zone, i.e. 7:00pm eastern time).
GoToMeeting
GoToMeeting is an online webinar service which allows committee members to view, from their computers, the computer screen of the Chair (or anyone else the Chair might designate). When reviewing multiple documents, it is often helpful to use GoToMeeting so time isn't wasted while everyone finds the right document or page.
For more information about how to use GoToMeeting, contact Brian Canty in the National Office at 212-752-0450, Ext. 17 or bcanty@apsa.org.
Committee Workroom
If you are a member of an APsaA committee and your committee chair has chosen to have a web presence, your committees will be listed in this section.
If you are a Committee Chair and don't have APsaA's Guide to Committee Web pages, you can download it here.
Appointment of Committee Members
In the spring of each year, committee chairs will receive a listing of committee members whose terms will end after the next June Annual Meeting. If committee chairs would like to re-appoint some of those members for another term, please contact James Guimaraes in the National Office (jguimaraes@apsa.org). For those committee members who have already served two terms, we strongly recommend that they rotate off thereby allowing other members to participate and perhaps provide new ideas and energy. Of course, if the Chair thinks an individual should remain on the committee for a third term because of a unique contribution they make to the group, this will be honored.
Information About Surveys
APsaA committees often decide to conduct a survey regarding some issue relevant to its work Long experience at APsaA has shown that sometimes surveys aren't really necessary; the information may exist already. When surveys are necessary, amateur or inadequate construction can obviate any potential value.
Before embarking on a survey project, committee chairs are encouraged to talk to their Division Coordinator and others about the goal of the survey, and why it is necessary. With less involved surveys, we encourage committee chairs to get informal consultations with members who have some survey experience. When a more serious or large-scale survey is being done, it may be necessary to engage a specialist in survey development.
The Executive Committee may specifically request a consultation before approving funding for a survey in which case the Executive Committee will provide guidance on where to obtain the consultation.
Committees are often intrigued with the idea of creating a new award or honor. This can become a problem as the organization gets so overloaded with awards that: a) they lose their meaning; b) necessary communications such as application announcements get lost; and c) it becomes difficult to appropriately honor each winner. If your committee already offers or sponsors an award, please reevaluate it from time to time to see if it is still serving its original purpose and maintaining its usefulness. If your committee would like to create a new award or honor, including one without a financial reward, you should prepare a brief proposal including the rational, timing, review process, and communications needs and submit the proposal to the Executive Committee for approval.
Guidelines for Writing Position Statements
A number of APsaA committees are interested in and see the value of the Association issuing position statements on a variety of issues. To that end, APsaA has developed a document that can be used by committee chairs who don't know where to start or how to actually write a position statement. Click here to access APsaA's Guidelines for Writing Position Statements.
Records
Committee chairs are strongly encouraged to maintain a file, binder, or files with all committee products, minutes and other materials for the committee's ongoing work and to aid in the committee chair's successor in assuming leadership of the committee. If it is appropriate for your committee, also maintain your committee's procedures so that the next chair will know what needs to happen when. |