Sometimes, as Co-Chairs of the SPSSI Membership Committee, we are asked the question, “What does the Membership Committee do…exactly??”  So, we would like to (re)introduce our committee charge and provide an update on our work. The SPSSI Membership Committee is broadly charged with initiatives concerning SPSSI membership, such as building awareness about SPSSI, encouraging individuals to join SPSSI, and facilitating members’ continued commitment. Additionally, we review SEAS Grants, which provides funds for small-scale events that promote SPSSI membership through networking and other collaborative opportunities.

As part of our committee work, we assessed the factors that impact membership to SPSSI. In particular, during the 2022-2023 academic year, in consultation from SPSSI Council and the Executive, Diversity, Early Career, Graduate Student, Internationalization, Policy, and Teaching and Mentoring Committees, the Membership Committee designed and distributed a membership and climate survey asking about SPSSI’s climate as an organization and how to best serve its members. This survey included the first ever SPSSI climate survey, and the last membership survey occurred in 2013. The Executive Summary of the survey report was shared with the SPSSI community in August 2023, and is available on the SPSSI Website.

Based on the results of this survey, during the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 academic years, the committee developed and has begun to implement a membership recruitment and retention plan, in consultation with SPSSI Council and SPSSI Central. Our recommendations specifically meant to: address recruitment and retention challenges rooted in cost for membership; address challenges to conference attendance due to a variety of reasons, such as related to cost/funding, mobility, health, and international travel; support targeted recruitment of new members, including students and other early career scholars, scholars from underrepresented and oppressed populations, and international scholars; address practical challenges to people renewing membership; and address membership getting more involved and feeling more connected with SPSSI. 

We would like to acknowledge SPSSI Membership Committee members’ significant contributions to these efforts, including Andrew Stewart (past Co-Chair), Liz Sweigart (past member), Nathan Cheek, Catherine Cottrell, Melissa Marcotte, and Heidi Putney. 

Currently, we are reaching out to SPSSI Committees to implement the recruitment and retention plan. If you are a member of a SPSSI committee, please be on the lookout for communication from us. However, regardless of whether you serve on a committee or not, we are very open to and interested in collaboration on these initiatives, so we invite any SPSSI members to reach out to us if you might be interested in sharing ideas/suggestions, and/or getting involved in any ways big or small in carrying out the membership recruitment and retention plan. 

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