Call for Nominations:  2013 Newman-Proshansky Award

We are now soliciting nominations for the 2013 Newman-Proshansky Award. The award is the Division’s professional achievement award for career contributions. When it is bestowed to an environmental psychologist, it is called the “Proshansky-Newman award,” and it is the “Newman-Proshansky award” when conferred to a population psychologist. This year, we are looking to make the award to someone who has made a contribution to the population psychology part of the division. Nominees need not be current members of the Division, but their body of work should reflect substantive contributions to population psychology. The award consists of a certificate and an opportunity to present an invited address at the APA convention in the year following the award.

Nominations should include the candidate’s curriculum vitae along with a detailed statement indicating why the nominee is a worthy candidate for the award and supporting letters from others who endorse the nomination.

Send your nominations to the Chair of the Awards Committee, Jennifer Veitch, by email.  The deadline for receipt is Monday, January 7, 2013.

The review panel will include the committee members and a selection of recent award recipients.

About the Newman-Proshansky Award:

The award is named after Sidney H. Newman and Harold M. Proshansky, both early leaders in the establishment of environmental and population psychology. Past recipients of the Newman-Proshansky Award are Toni L. Falbo (2007), Joseph L. Rodgers (2009), and Nancy E. Adler (2011). Past recipients of the Proshansky-Newman Award are Irwin Altman (2006), Robert Sommer (2008), Gary W. Evans (2010) and Paul C. Stern (2012).

Sidney Newman was active in the APA Task Force on Psychology, Family Planning, and Population Policy established in 1969 that brought population and human reproductive issues to broader attention in American psychology and eventually led to the formation of the Division, having edited an influential monograph together with Vaida Thompson in 1976. Among other positions, Newman served in the U.S. Public Health Service and in the Center for Population Research at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Harold M. Proshansky helped give definition to the field of environmental psychology when his Environmental Psychology in the Real World was published in 1976. Proshansky abandoned his earlier laboratory research because he saw the methods, rather than the problem, as driving the research and sought to pursue psychological research on problems of poverty, prejudice and group conflict. Proshansky became provost and then president of the Graduate School and the University Center of the City University of New York.

Open Position: Sustainability and Human Behavior, University of Michigan

The School of Natural Resources and Environment (SNRE) at the University of Michigan seeks to fill a tenure-track position at the assistant professor level. The position is part of a cluster of hires in the area of sustainability and human behavior, with a particular focus on the conditions that lead individuals, organizations, communities, and other social agents to participate in environmentally sustainable behavior and to enhance sustainability. Applicants should demonstrate a strong record of  interdisciplinary research in domestic and/or international arenas with grounding in the social and behavioral dimensions of sustainability.

Applications are invited from candidates with expertise in one or more of the broad array of social and behavioral sciences, and allied professional fields including anthropology, economics, history, political science, psychology, sociology, geography and related disciplines such as business, landscape architecture, public policy, environmental sciences, social work, law, and public health. Evidence of research in empirical (including experimental) social and behavioral sciences, risk analysis, common-pool resources, and/or decision-making under uncertainty is desirable, as is the ability to work collaboratively with diverse faculty employing a broad range of analytical approaches. 

In addition to strong disciplinary training and perspective, we seek candidates with interest in integrating knowledge from multiple academic domains. The position, one of a cluster of three across the University of Michigan, is inherently interdisciplinary. It brings together new and existing faculty in cross-disciplinary teaching and research efforts on the relationships among human actions, behaviors, and sustainability. In addition to the SNRE position, the cluster includes the Ford School of Public Policy and the Department of Urban and Regional Planning. This cluster hiring effort is intended to broaden and deepen the University’s commitment to research and teaching in the area of sustainability. A successful candidate will help build greater cohesion and capability among the large and diverse UM faculty and students interested in this field. Thus, candidates should possess the interest, skills, and temperament to interact effectively with other researchers. 

A successful candidate is expected to:

1. Develop and sustain a nationally recognized research program that attracts external funding while contributing to the interdisciplinary problem-focused mission of SNRE
2. Teach, mentor and supervise highly motivated doctoral, master’s, and undergraduate students
3. Collaborate with interdisciplinary faculty within SNRE and across the university
4. Contribute through service to the stewardship of SNRE, the University of Michigan, and relevant professions

SNRE’s mission is to contribute to the protection of the Earth’s resources and the achievement of a sustainable society. Our faculty is diverse, with natural scientists, social scientists, engineers, designers, and planners working together in a vibrant integrative setting. The School offers a professional master’s degree in six fields of study: conservation ecology; environmental informatics; sustainable systems; environmental policy and planning; behavior, education and communication; and environmental justice. It also includes a Landscape Architecture program that offers a Master of Landscape Architecture degree. In addition, SNRE participates in multiple cross-campus degree programs, including an undergraduate Program in the Environment and dual degrees with other UM units in urban and regional planning, business, engineering, law, and public health. The SNRE student body comprises more than 400 master’s and 60 doctoral students.
 
This full-time, 9-month faculty appointment commences on September 1, 2013. Review of applications begins on December 15, 2012, but applications will be considered until the position is filled. The following application materials should be sent in PDF format to sustainabilityandbehavior@umich.edu: a letter of interest; curriculum vitae; a writing sample; statement of current and future research plans; statement of teaching philosophy and experience; and three letters of recommendation.
 
The University of Michigan is an AA/EO employer and individuals belonging to under-represented groups are encouraged to apply. 
 
Rachel Kaplan
Samuel T. Dana Professor of Environment and Behavior
School of Natural Resources and Environment
University of Michigan
440 Church St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1041, USA
734.763.1061