RECENT UPDATES

Each year, the BACB honors an individual with the Michael Hemingway Behavior Analysis Award to commemorate the life and contributions of Michael Hemingway, who played a central role in the development of behavior analyst certification in Florida before serving as a founding member of the BACB Board of Directors. Michael’s commitments to the profession of applied behavior analysis (ABA) and to increasing access to services are reflected in the behavior of the individual who receives this award.

We are pleased to announce that the 2023 recipient of the Michael Hemingway Behavior Analysis Award is Jane S. Howard, PhD, BCBA-D. Dr. Howard is the chief executive officer and cofounder of Therapeutic Pathways, an organization that provides ABA services to individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Dr. Howard was a member of the psychology faculty at California State University, Stanislaus from 1987 through 2014, where she trained graduate students in psychology and special education. In addition to her contributions to service delivery and university training, Dr. Howard has served the profession in numerous important leadership positions. She served on the BACB Board of Directors from 2008 to 2015 and served as its president from 2012 to 2015. During this time, she was the chief architect of the first set of nationally influential practice guidelines for ABA treatment of ASD. Dr. Howard later served on the Board of Directors of The Council of Autism Service Providers from 2016 to 2022 and was one of the organization’s founders. Dr. Howard also published important research demonstrating that the critical feature of effective behavioral treatment for young children with ASD is its behavioral characteristics and not its intensity (Howard et al., 2005; 2014). We are grateful to Dr. Howard for her many important contributions, which have greatly benefitted our science, our profession, and the clients we serve.

We are excited to announce the publication of the March 2023 BACB Newsletter. This issue includes tips for avoiding test-preparation scams, resources for BACB intellectual property use, important ethics communications, and more.

We are excited to announce that BCBAs and BCaBAs now have access to the Journal of Organizational Behavior Management (JOBM) through the Resources tab in their BACB accounts. JOBM is the leading outlet for research on organizational behavior management. Recent topics that appear in the journal include behavioral managerial training, teaching supervision skills, and the functional assessment of employee performance problems, among others. We hope that you find this new resource useful!

This report summarizes common BACB ethics violations from 2019–2021 and the code-enforcement measures taken to uphold the BACB’s mission of consumer protection. Supervisors, organizations, and others can use these data for training purposes, creating policies and procedures, and more.

The BACB used the Labor Insight™ database from Lightcast™ to assess US employment demand for behavior analysts from 2010–2022 and demand by state from the past 12 months. The report reveals strong and increasing demand for behavior analysts throughout the US.

We are pleased to announce the results of our recent Board of Directors election: Sarah Richling, BCBA-D, was elected to serve a three-year term on the Board. We offer our congratulations to Dr. Richling and extend our gratitude to the candidates for running. Thank you to all of the certificants who participated in this important election.

We also wish to congratulate and thank Adel Najdowski, BCBA-D, and Florence DiGennaro Reed, BCBA-D, who were both appointed by the Board to serve a second term.

New year, new data. Review this collection of important BACB milestones in 2022, and remember—we couldn’t have done it without you. Here’s to another bright year ahead.