Report From the APA Council of Representatives, 2/20/09
José Cortina
George Mason University
The APA Council Representatives (Weiss, Knapp, Locke, Cortina) attended the winter meeting in Washington DC February 20–22. This is a summary of the items that might be relevant for SIOP.
1. President James Bray is forming a task force on the Future of Psychological Science as a STEM (science, tech, engineering, and math) discipline. Psychology isn’t widely recognized as a science, and this has consequences for funding and for our influence over policy. We will seek a voice on this task force.
2. President Bray has also formed a task force on homelessness. Virginia Schein will represent SIOP for a back-to-work perspective
3. President Bray has formed a “Conference Within the Conference [CWC] at APA.” This CWC will have a research emphasis and tracks that are relevant to SIOP such as methods and evidence-based practice. We are teaming with Division 5 on the methods track.
4. APA is $3.4 million in the hole for 2008. We have seen a 40% drop in investments, and revenue is way down. CEO Norman Anderson is cutting expenses at headquarters with a hiring freeze and merit increase freeze. As a result of these and other cuts, a $309K surplus is projected, but this is probably optimistic.
5. We voted on a, APA vision statement:
The American Psychological Association aspires to excel as a valuable, effective and influential organization advancing psychology as a science, serving as:
- A uniting force for the discipline;
- The major catalyst for the stimulation, growth, and dissemination of psychological science and practice;
- The primary resource for all psychologists;
- The premier innovator in the education, development, and training of psychological scientists, practitioners, and educators;
- The leading advocate for psychological knowledge and practice informing policy makers and the public to improve public policy and daily living;
- A principal leader and global partner promoting psychological knowledge and methods to facilitate the resolution of personal, societal, and global challenges in diverse, multicultural, and international contexts; and
- An effective champion of the application of psychology to promote human rights, health, well-being, and dignity.
Those who were part of the SIOP strategic planning process will be gratified to know that it took APA an entire year to get this far. By contrast, it took SIOP about 6 hours, and it was generally acknowledged that it should have been done in about 90 minutes.
APA membership has been flat for about 10 years, due mostly to declining numbers of affiliates. SIOP is one of a handful of divisions with growing membership, and we have a larger percentage of members under the age of 50 than any other division. APA is beginning to look to us for advice on this issue.
After years of grappling with the role of psychologists in national security detention settings, the council moved to make the results of last fall’s membership vote in support of a petition resolution official APA policy. The petition resolution prohibits psychologists from working in settings where people are held outside of, or in violation of, either international law or the U.S. Constitution. The only exceptions to this prohibition are in cases in which a psychologist is working directly for the person being detained, for an independent third party working to protect human rights, or providing treatment to military personnel.
Council received the report of the Task Force for Increasing the Number of Quantitative Psychologists.
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