Letter from BAAMS President, Dr. Chris Furlow
Welcome to 2021 ! I believe I am not alone in being particularly grateful for a fresh start and an opportunity to revisit goals that were placed on hold in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The BAAMS Executive Council convened in this spirit on January 12th, setting two primary objectives that we hope will allow BAAMS to better serve behavior analysts in our state for 2021. Two major themes emerged with regard to goals– efficiency and connection.
In terms of efficiency, it became clear in 2020 there were a few tasks that required our immediate attention. The Executive Council members have shifted their focus on increasing structure and organization by managing member rosters and emails, assigning any additional responsibilities that have emerged since the founding of our association but have not yet been assigned to a position, the consolidation of records that have been spread out across multiple platforms, and the limitations of current service providers that have been discovered. Obviously, the improvement of these systems is vital to our success. Thus, our first objective:
- BAAMS Executive Council will conduct a review of the BAAMS Constitution with specific regard to the position description and duties; amendments will be compiled for a vote at the Annual Business meeting. This review will address issues raised at the end of 2020 regarding membership records, email communications, social media management, and regular publishing of a newsletter.
To this end, we have established two working groups– a Records and OrganizationTask Force to compile all relevant BAAMS materials and resources into a single location and a Service Provider Task Force to review our email provider, website host, and other essential account information.
Last year, behavior analysts in Mississippi felt the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as programs closed across the state. It’s important to celebrate the resilience each of us showed in our personal and professional lives– learning to conduct sessions using online platforms, incorporating best-practices as new research became available, managing our own work-life balance under shelter-in-place orders, the list goes on. It comes as no surprise that the
value of connection within the behavior analyst community of our state was discussed for 2021. Of course, we all await the day we can gather in-person again; but in the meantime, BAAMS hopes to provide a platform for our members to connect with one another more frequently than our annual conference. And so, BAAMS EC 2021’s second objective:
- BAAMS will host, in addition to the Annual Convention, two hour-long CE opportunities throughout the year exclusive to Full Members; BAAMS will host one hour-long learning event exclusive for Student Members.
Finally, we noted another theme that prevailed in our first Executive Council meeting—our passion for our profession. When asked to introduce themselves, EC members shared their personal stories of discovering ABA, a love for something that “made sense” and would allow them to make meaningful changes in the lives of others. We know this holds true for all of our members and is a stark reminder why we continue to do what we do for our clients despite the adversity we continue to face in the new year. I wish you all well as you, too, set your ambitions for 2021 in a vastly different world than one year ago.
BAAMS 