Nevada ABA

By Christina Lydon

The Nevada Association for Behavior Analysis (NABA) continues to prioritize the growth of the organization with increased outreach throughout the state by focusing on the value of membership for all levels of study or credential.

NABA monitors matters of public policy that impact behavior analysts in our state. NABA’s public policy committee chair, Molly Halligan, M.A., BCBA, LBA, stays abreast of legislative changes that may affect behavior analysts and the populations they serve related to funding, licensure criteria, and management. Her work in this area has allowed NABA to actively support state-level changes that improve the quality and accessibility of behavior analytic services.

NABA has continued to work throughout 2022 and 2023 to increase membership and member engagement as well as inclusivity within the organization. The organization passed several bylaw changes in 2022 to that end, including removing the Ph.D. requirement for prospective Presidents, adding a member class for RBTs and a provision for the addition of an RBT representative to the Board, allowing for electronic voting rather than restricting votes to those attending the conference, and establishing a Past-President position to ensure consistency during board transitions. Virtual town hall meetings continue to be held periodically to create an open forum for discussion between board and committee members, NABA members, and other interested parties. Also, our At-Large Representative Melissa Almanza, MEd, BCBA, LBA has worked diligently to maintain current avenues of communication with our membership while also advocating for NABA to establish a presence at new networking opportunities.

Additionally, NABA has made it a priority to offer learning opportunities throughout the year. NABA’s practice committee continues to be active, continuing their organization of a series of free virtual Q&A sessions with experts on topics of interest. NABA is also in the process of developing a library of asynchronous content collected from previous events that will ideally be made available to members for educational purposes.

NABA will present a live, in-person, annual conference in October 2023. The conference will take place at the Whitney Peak Hotel, in Reno, NV from October 12, 2023, to October 15, 2023.

None of this would be possible without the hard work of the NABA Board, NABA Committee Chairs, and NABA committee members. The NABA executive board changes over each year in January, with the exception of the Past-President, and each executive board member serves an elect year prior to the start of their term. Current NABA leadership is listed below.

President: Christina Lydon, PhD, BCBA-D, LBA

President – Elect: Gregory Smith, PhD, BCBA-D, LBA

Past – President: Megan McGrew, PhD, BCBA, LBA

Treasurer: Natasha Hughes, MEd, BCBA, LBA

Treasurer-Elect: Jennifer Thomas, MA, BCBA, LBA

Secretary: Kathleen Soyka, MA, BCBA, LBA

Secretary – Elect: Deborah Meinberg, MA, BCBA, LBA

At-Large Representative: Melissa Almanza, MEd, BCBA, LBA

At-Large Representative – Elect: Chantal Rainford,
MA, BCBA, LBA

Student Representative: Angel DePriest, BCaBA

Student Representative – Elect: Donna West NABA

Committee Chairs: Molly Halligan, MA, BCBA, LBA (Public Policy) Jennifer Bonow, PhD, BCBA-D, LBA (Practice)