JSM 2012 Planning, Invited Session Submission

JSM 2012 will be held in San Diego, CA, July 28-August 2, 2012.

Dr. Elizabeth Stuart, a member of both SMHR and the Social Statistics Section, and the JSM 2012 Program Chair for the Social Statistics Section, made a very thoughtful invitation for SMHR members to consider submitting proposals for invited sessions through the Social Statistics Section, in recognition of the shared interests between SMHR and the Social Statistics Section in topics related to mental health and psychology. Liz attended the SMHR dinner in Miami Beach on August 2, 2011, and shared information on the procedures for submitting invited session proposals. Thanks, Liz, for your thoughtful invitation and helpful information sharing. We understand that several SMHR members have expressed an interest in Liz’ generous invitation, and hope that some successful proposals might emerge.

As an ASA Interest Group, SMHR is eligible to sponsor proposals for invited sessions at the JSM. While ASA Sections have guaranteed slots, Interest Groups such as SMHR do not have guaranteed slots; but we can compete for open slots. If you are interested in proposing an invited session through SMHR, please get in touch ASAP with Dr. Yuanjia Wang, at yw2016@columbia.edu; Yuanjia volunteered to serve as the Program Chair for SMHR.

The submission of proposals for invited sessions for JSM 2012 is currently active until September 7, 2011, so we have a little over a week’s time to submit our proposals. We apologize for the late notice. Up until yesterday, August 29, 2011, SMHR was not listed on the online submission webpage as an eligible entity to sponsor invited sessions. After some inquiries with the JSM 2012 Program Committee, we were officially added to the dropdown menu yesterday, thereby establishing our legitimacy to submit.

For further information on submitting proposals for invited sessions, please see the article “JSM 2012 Invited Sessions Sought” in the July 2011 issue of Amstat News, http://magazine.amstat.org/blog/2011/07/01/jsm-2012/, and the online submission webpage, http://www.amstat.org/meetings/jsm/2012/invitedsessions.cfm.

Given the pleasant and collegial experience with the inaugural SMHR dinner at JSM 2011, we would like to hold the second SMHR dinner at JSM 2012. We also plan to consult ASA’s meeting department to find out whether we can reserve a meeting room at JSM 2012 for an SMHR business meeting and mixer. Please stay tuned.