Harold M. Hildreth Distinguished Public Service Award

Harold M. Hildreth was a longtime friend of Division 18. A division president in 1958 and APA Council member for the division from 1953–56, Hildreth seemed to be naturally inclined toward public service and spent much of his life devoting himself to the application of psychology to wide areas of endeavor. He described himself as having special research interests in socially sensitive areas. His diverse clinical activities ranged from helping to develop police training films, to interests in suicide, homosexuality, and emergency mental health services. He was the second person to serve as the chief clinical psychologist in the department of veteran affairs (1948–1956) and followed that appointment with a distinguished career in the Community Research and Service Branch of the National Institute of Mental Health. He served as a model for dedication and achievement in serving the public.

Hildreth was described by those who knew him as an extraordinary leader who made you believe in the importance of psychology and who had a fantastic memory for personal events which endeared him to others. Beyond personal qualities and interpersonal skills, it was Hildreth’s role as a visionary which constituted his major contribution and which set him apart from his contemporaries. He sketched a glorious, yet eminently believable, future for psychology. Responding to his charisma and infectious enthusiasm, his more practical-minded associates eagerly enlisted in the effort to apply psychology to bettering the human condition.

It was singularly appropriate that, upon his death in 1965, the division established an award for outstanding public service to the public in his memory. The Harold M. Hildreth Award for Distinguished Public Service has remained the highest award that the division could bestow.

This award is for an individual whose work has, over a lifetime career, greatly benefited public mental health. This person is recognized nationally for their expertise and commitment to public service psychology. Nominees will have demonstrated their service through some of the following areas:

• Outstanding effort and leadership in one or more areas: policy/advocacy-related activities that improve the welfare of underserved populations; delivery or administration of psychological services; mentor for psychologists and students of psychology
• Authorship of articles and books which advance public mental health and denote excellence as a psychology researcher in the public interest
• Considered a national expert for their body of work

To submit a nomination, please provide the following:

• A letter of nomination that describes and supports the individual’s contributions (e.g., nature of the individual’s service to public mental health, positions held)
• Curriculum vitae
• Two additional letters of support

Calls for division award nomination materials are emailed via the PUBSERV membership list early spring annually. The submission due date is May 31st annually. Please submit nomination materials by email.

2026
No award presented

2025
Robert (Bob) Morgan, PhD

2024
No award presented

2023
Tara Pir, PhD

2022
No award presented

2021
Anne Klee, PhD

2020
Jeffrey L. Goodie, PhD, ABPP

2019
Mary A. Jansen, PhD

2018
Dave Corey, PhD

2017
Daniel R. Kivlahan, PhD

2016
Randy E. Phelps, PhD

2015
Lorraine Williams Greene, PhD, ABPP

2014
Joel A. Dvoskin, PhD

2013
Ellen Scrivner, PhD

2012
Terence Keane, PhD

2011
Russell Lemle, PhD

2010
Rodney R. Baker, PhD

2009
Guy Seymour, PhD, AFBE, and Robert K. Ax, PhD

2008
Robert Fein, PhD

2007
Scotty Hardgrove, PhD

2006
Walter E. Penk, Jr., PhD

2005
Carol T. Mowbray, PhD

2004
Herbert Dorken, PhD

2003
Paul E. Gendreau, PhD

2002
Ronald F. Levant, EdD, MBA

2001
Edward Mulvey, PhD

2000
Dale L. Johnson, PhD

1999
Frederick J. Frese, III, PhD

1998
Harriet P. Lefley, PhD

1997
J. Wilbert Edgerton, PhD

1996
Alice F. Chang, PhD

1995
Bruce D. Sales, PhD, JD

1994
Lee B. Sechrest, PhD

1993
Patricia F. Waller, PhD

1992
Gary B. Melton, PhD

1991
Robert L. Custer MD and John E. Davis, Jr., PhD

1990
Charles Windle, PhD

1989
Alfred M. Wellner, PhD

1988
Asher R. Pacht, PhD

1987
Durand F. Jacobs, PhD

1986
James Grier Miller, MD, PhD

1985
Patrick H. DeLeon, PhD, MPH, JD

1984
No award presented

1983
Charles A. Stenger, PhD

1982
Cecil P. Peck, PhD

1981
Stanley Schneider, PhD

1980
No award presented

1979
Betty H. Pickett, PhD

1978
Herman Feifel, PhD

1977
Lee Gurel, PhD

1976
Milton W. McCullough, PhD

1975
Henry P. David, PhD

1974
No award presented

1973
Margaret Ives, PhD

1972
Norman I. Farberow, PhD

1971
Henry W. Riecken, PhD

1970
Jerry W. Carter, Jr., PhD

1969
Maurice G. Kott, PhD

1968
John C. Eberhart, PhD

1967
Joseph M. Bobbitt, PhD

1966
Edwin S. Shneidman, PhD