APA Council Addresses Budget Deficit and Approves New Ethics Code
Wayne Camara
The APA Council of Representatives held their second meeting of 2002 during the convention in Chicago. APA finances, working capital, and refinancing of two headquarters building were major topics of discussion. A $7 million deficit was projected for this year due to a number of factors, such as substantially lower revenues than projected from institutional sales of electronic publications products and journals, and higher spending than projected. APA has typically budgeted for a staff turnover rate of 5% but given the financial environment turnover was closer to 1.5%. Other spending was approved in anticipation of revenues that were not realized.
To restore a balanced budget, APA took a number of steps. First, since staff salaries constitute a large portion of the budget, APA offered a variety of voluntary incentives to staff for early retirement, termination, and reduced work. Over 100 staff accepted one of these options and several departments now will actually hire staff in the next few months.
The Science Directorate is among the hardest hit units in the Central Office with only 12 of 21 approved staff slots filled. The Central Office has approved hiring of two additional staff, but even after that, the directorate will have a higher vacancy rate than other comparable units. Science representatives on Council spoke about the need to increase staffing to support programs in these areas. Second, increases in dues ($10) and convention fees ($20) were approved for 2003. Third, one of two annual meetings for all boards and committees were canceled for next year, and other expenditures (e.g., travel, staff benefits) were reduced, along with a freeze on hiring and a one-year salary freeze. APA was able to restore a balanced budget with no involuntary reductions.
The Finance Committee noted that APA has funded loans to the building partnerships, established a separate APA Practice Organization, and debts from operations through existing working capital and a $15 million bank line of credit in the past decade. They noted that definitive actions were needed to pay off loans to partnerships and restore working capital. APA has reached an agreement with the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) to purchase their 8% share of the APA Headquarters building which will coincide with refinancing of both APA properties. APA will now own 100% of both properties.
Norman Anderson was approved as APA CEO, effective in January when Ray Fowler retires. Dr. Anderson was a professor of health and social behavior at the Harvard University School of Public Health, where his interests are in the areas of mass media approaches to public health and in health disparities. He is widely known as the first associate director of the National Institutes of Health for Behavioral and Social Sciences Research. As the founding director of the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR), he was charged with facilitating behavioral and social sciences research across all of the [then] 24 Institutes and Centers of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Behavioral and social research in such areas as cancer, heart disease, mental health, diabetes, aging, and many others was under his purview.
Appointed by then NIH Director Dr. Harold Varmus in 1995, Dr. Anderson worked closely with the scientific community nationally to quickly establish the Offices long-term goals and to develop strategies for achieving them, resulting in the first OBSSR Strategic Plan. Under his leadership, the Office organized funding initiatives totaling over $90 million in 5 years. Because of the success of the Office, Congress tripled its budget, enabling the Office to have greater latitude in developing NIH-wide funding activities.
Prior to going to NIH, Dr. Anderson was associate professor at Duke University. Both the Search Committee and APAs Board of Directors unanimously recommended him to succeed Ray Fowler. Other actions taken during this past Council meeting included the following:
- The Code of Conduct and Ethical Principles was approved and is available on the APA Web site and will be published in an upcoming issue of the
American Psychologist.
- A student representative was approved for both the Board of Directors (non-voting) and Council (voting) for 1-year terms.
- Education was added to APAs mission statement that now reads to advance psychology as a science and profession and as a means of promoting health, education, and human welfare
- Guidelines on Multicultural Education, Training, Research, Practice and Organizational Changes for Psychologists
were approved.
In science caucuses, members emphasized the importance of organizing and supporting scientific candidates for APA president. Members noted that APA has been successful in electing three well-known scientists as president in the last 4 years and feel this has helped rejuvenate academic and research members involvement and support for APA. It has also resulted in more attention and focus on academic and research needs among behavioral and cognitive scientists. This year, the Coalition of Academic and Scientific Psychologists again urged all members to vote in the upcoming presidential election and gave their first-place support to Diane Halpern. However, they noted that it is essential for all members to rank candidates for second, third, and fourth choice because of the Hare system used in APA elections.
This is my last year on Council, and I enjoyed serving two consecutive terms for the division.
Kevin Murphy and James Farr continue on Council for SIOP next year. Finally, the Council will be significantly expanded at its next meeting in February 2003. SIOP will gain two additional seats and have a total of five representatives, the second largest division or state group.
January 2003 Table of
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