We met at the Holiday Inn SunSpree Resort at Wrightsville Beach, February 19^th through the 21^st, 2008. Over 180 conference participants, including 45 students, made the 19^th annual conference of the North Carolina Association for Behavior Analysis a great gathering for people interested in behavior analysis across the state and region. The new larger meeting space and accommodations made it possible for us to hold eight conference workshops for psychology and behavior analyst CEs that attracted over 170 people. We offered top notch behavior analysis topics throughout the conference that brought 41 people seeking behavior analyst continuing education credits at an affordable price. With the larger meeting space we were also able to double the number of concurrent sessions offered on the middle day of the conference—from 6 to 12. Though the final numbers and conference evaluations are not yet completely tallied, early indications are that the conference workshops, presentations, and hotel accommodations were thoroughly enjoyed.

 

Even before the actual conference got started, people were learning from prominent behavior analysts in four pre-conference workshops by Brian Iwata, University of Florida, Mark Sundberg, Sundberg & Associates, Kelly Wilson, University of Mississippi, and Jeannie Golden, NCABA Past President from East Carolina University. We started off the conference proper with our award presentations with the Technical Utilization Award going to Tony Boss, a Behavior Specialist from the Murdoch Developmental Center, the Student Scholarship Award to Pam Mims, our NCABA Student Representative from UNC-Charlotte, the “Do Things” Award given to Denny Reid, from the Carolina Behavior Analysis & Support Center, and the Fred S. Keller Excellence in Behavior Analysis Award to Jim Favell, retired Director of Research from the J. Iverson Riddle Developmental Center (JIRDC). Congratulations to all award recipients and also those who were nominated. After the awards we were treated to invited addresses by Gretchen Thwing, Jim McGimsey and Ron Mazik from Advoserv in Mt Dora, Florida, and Brian Iwata.

 

Next was the NCABA student symposium, hosted by Pam Mims, which included outstanding presentations by April Mustian, UNC-Charlotte, Valerie Mazzotti, UNC-Charlotte, Rachael Cushing, UNC-Wilmington, and Latisha Blue, East Carolina University. A panel on Relational Frame Theory and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy with Kelly Wilson and Rhonda Merwin, Duke University, was hosted by Ruth Hurst, NCABA President Elect from UNC-Wilmington and Martin Ivancic of JIRDC. The first day of the conference was topped off by the evening poster session, hosted by Jennifer Deacon, NCABA Vice President, where 16 data-based posters and three university behavior analysis programs were showcased. Mark Sundberg and Kelly Wilson did a superb job of judging the posters for NCABA. The Outstanding Student poster was awarded to Pam Mims and the Overall Outstanding poster, also selected from the student group, went to Erica Blackwell, Ruth Hurst, Ashley Stretton and W.E. Crews from UNC-Wilmington. Congratulations again to the award recipients.

 

The second day of the conference opened with Brian Iwata, and Carol Pilgrim, UNC-Wilmington, both former Presidents of ABA International, discussing the future of behavior analysis with conference participants. This was followed by 12 concurrent sessions over the next three hours—for a listing of the presenters and topics please go to our website—and then three invited addresses after lunch by Mark Sundberg, Kelly Wilson, and Jeannie Golden. After closing down the silent auction we celebrated our award winners at the crowd favorite NCABA Social, where we were treated to wonderful live music by the Bad Ash Band from JIRDC. You can view pictures from the social & other conference events here on the website by clicking the link at the top of this page.

 

The final morning of the conference opened up with the annual NCABA Business Meeting and the announcement of the newly elected officers.

Ya-yu Lo, NCABA Member at Large from UNC-Charlotte, was elected Vice President, Beth Schmitt was re-elected as Secretary/Treasurer, April Mustian was elected as Student Representative, and Kelly Sutton, JIRDC, was elected as Member at Large. Ruth Hurst moves into the role as President, Jennifer Deacon moves into the role of President Elect, Jim Clark will continue his second year of service as Member at Large, and Duke Schell once again enjoys the role as Past President. Jamie Clary finishes six years on the NCABA Executive Council in three separate capacities—Student Representative, Secretary/Treasurer and President—but will remain as a non-voting Board member as our NCABA webmaster. Best of luck to the new Board as they prepare for the Twentieth Anniversary celebration in 2009.

 

The rest of the morning was rounded out with an invited address by Carol Pilgrim and an invited symposium hosted by Denny Reid, with papers presented by Perry Lattimore and Marsha Parsons from JIRDC, and Wendy Fitch from Cleveland County Schools. After wrapping up the NCABA conference proper, four workshops were held in the afternoon taught by Maureen Schepis, past NCABA President and Director of the Center for Early Communication & Learning, Kelly Wilson, Mark Sundberg, and Barbara Metzger, past NCABA Board member and Assistant Professor from Sam Houston State University in Texas.

  

See you all next year for the 20^th NCABA reunion!

 

~Duke Schell, 2008 NCABA President ~

2008 Conference Highlights