The IPA Membership Committee works hard each year to pursue three driving goals of recruitment, retention, and connection. Current committee members include:

Ashley Banta, IPA Student Representative
Angelica Castro Bueno, Student Liaison from Diversity and Social Justice Committee
Alissa Doobay, PhD, Co-Chair
Suzanne Hull, IPA Executive Director
Nicole Keedy, PhD, Co-Chair
Jenna Paternostro, PhD, Liaison to Early Career Psychologists Committee
David VanHorn, PhD, Committee Member

The committee continues to benefit from four ancillary members who assisted with projects such as reaching out to non-renewed members to encourage renewals and contacting Lifetime members to inquire about continued active engagement in IPA. These members include:

Ashley Freeman, PhD
Laura Fuller, PhD, ABPP
Lauren Garvin, PhD
Stacey Pawlak, PhD

The Membership Committee’s current Strategic Plan Worksheet, which guides committee efforts, is available for review in the overarching IPA Strategic Plan: www.iowapsychology.org (linked under the Committees tab).

As Co-Chairs of the Membership Committee, we have been honored to work with a committee that epitomizes the phrase “small but mighty.” Over the past year, this committee has successfully assisted in the recruitment of 40 new members, 19 of whom are student members. Additional goals met by the Membership Committee included:

• Assisting with activities to promote connection at conferences
• Requesting funding to support a number of social events across the state
• Creating an infographic regarding benefits to student members (https://iowapsychology.org/student-benefits-expanded)
• Posting thank-you videos and recognition to IPA leaders and committee participants
• Updating welcome emails sent to new members
• Sending emails and letters to prospect members and newly licensed Iowa psychologists
• Preparing a letter to send to all licensed psychologists in Iowa regarding the benefits of IPA membership
• Contacting members to encourage renewals
• Conducting a full review of the list of Lifetime Members, involving direct outreach and various information-seeking methods to ensure an accurate listing of current membership

Last summer, the Membership Committee announced a committee initiative to form a Marketing Consultant Workgroup. This workgroup has worked independently over the past year, under the leadership of Dr. Jenna Paternostro, to identify and select consulting groups to assist with updates to IPA’s branding and website design. As an exciting step in the process, the Workgroup offered a first look at the new IPA logo to Spring Conference attendees. This rebranding process is moving into a final phase and we anticipate seeing a full brand reveal, including a newly designed website and updated marketing materials, within the next few months.

Each May, the Membership Committee Co-Chairs provide an update of membership numbers for a spreadsheet listed under the Member Resources tab of the IPA website, which members may access by clicking this link and entering their login information: https://iopa.memberclicks.net/member-resources?servId=9168.

Aside from a reduction in the Lifetime member total following the outreach project listed above, we have continued to celebrate membership growth for the past several years. We continue to have a high number (40%) of licensed psychologists living in Iowa as members of the association, which places us among the top of small state associations.

The Membership Committee remains particularly proud of a gradual increase in recruitment of student members who have served as active contributors to IPA, and many of whom we hope will be future leaders of the association. Many thanks to members of Executive Council and IPA committees, all of whom devote countless hours to create a professional home for a vibrant and supportive psychological community. Thank you to all IPA members for being part of this phenomenal association!