Past-president column

As I write this, I have had the chance to reflect on the activities of our division at the annual APA convention in Washington, D.C., in August; the wonderful work our division members accomplished throughout the year; and my tenure as division president.

With regard to the convention, first of all, a shoutout to Kate Morris, who served as our program chair and did a terrific job. All of us who attended the great presentations — everything from to understanding family issues in returning veterans to identifying research issues in first episode psychosis to recognizing trauma sequalae in female firefighters to advising members planning for retirement — know we covered a wide range of important issues, and had great attendance at our talks — some were standing room only.

We also had several lively events in the hospitality suite and many sections seemed re-energized, enhancing plans for advocacy, increasing membership, and more opportunities for students and ECPs. That was all wonderful to see.

I also want to congratulate our many 2017 division award winners; the recipients of this year’s awards were announced at our annual division meeting, with a fun reception following the business meeting. It was great to have Arthur Evans, PhD, CEO for APA and a member of our division, attend the business meeting and reception and share some words with our membership. It was also very moving to hear Thomas Kirchberg, PhD, reminiscence about our recently deceased president-elect, Lorraine Greene, PhD, as he received the Lorraine Greene Award for Social Justice.

Here is the complete list of the recipients of this year's division awards:

• Harold M. Hildreth Distinguished Public Service Award: Daniel R. Kivlahan, PhD.
• Leadership in Education Award: Robert D. Morgan, PhD.
• Lorraine Greene Award for Social Justice: Thomas M. Kirchberg, PhD, ABPP.
• Michael S. Neale Award: Kim T. Mueser, PhD.
• Peter J.N. Linnerooth National Service Award: John A. Fairbank, PhD and Greg M. Reger, PhD.
• Psychologists in Public Service Distinguished Career Award: Mary A. Jansen, PhD.
• Psychologists in Public Service Early Career Achievement Award: Tess Marie-Schrader Neal, PhD.
• Psychologists in Public Service Wayfinder Award: Julii M. Green, PhD.
• Psychologists in Public Service Student Award: Kendra M. Anderson, MS.
• Psychologists in Public Service Student Award - Distinguished Mention: Shaynna Herrera, MA and Tina M. Lincourt, MA.
• 2017 Psychologists in Public Service Best Paper Award in “Psychological Services”:
  “The Connecticut Latino Behavioral Health System: A Culturally Informed Community-Academic Collaboration.” Authors:  Manuel Paris, Jr., Michelle A. Silva, Esperanza Diaz, Luis E. Bedregal, Robert A. Cole, & Luis M. Añez-Nava. Psychological Services, 2016, Vol. 13, No. 2, 140-147."

I also want to share a few reflections on the presidential year just gone by. As many of you know, my presidency was a bit of a last-minute initiative after the sudden death of Lorraine Greene. In some ways, this was a division rebuilding year. We held an active strategic planning meeting in June and addressed several important topics, which we followed up on in our executive meeting at the convention in August. These included:   

• Continuing to refine our mission statement.
• Developing job descriptions for division offices so we can attract candidates who understand their potential positions and are willing to meet the obligations.
• Beginning a discussion of ways to protect our funding so we can establish an ongoing program to support student or ECP research or other professional activities.
• Strengthening our capacity to offer more division webinars for CEUs (now that we have been approved to offer CEUs again — thanks to Abigail Tucker, PsyD).
• Broadening our social media presence.
• Strengthening our education, membership, and communication clusters.
• Identifying more ways for students and ECPS to be involved in the division.
• Deciding if we should hire part-time help to assist in division tasks that seem hard for us to manage with volunteer staff, such as keeping our membership materials up to date.
• Supporting section efforts to be more involved in advocacy.

These are all ambitious projects that will continue into the next year, under Linda Richardson’s capable presidential leadership.

As we transition to the new year, I want to remind folks that the time for soliciting nominations for division leadership positions and awards will be on us before you know it. I encourage all of our members to consider becoming more involved in the division — either by nominating or running for an office (self-nominations are welcome) — and/or nominating a member for an award. We have a very hearty group of involved division members, but we would love to have more. It can sometimes be daunting to start up in a new organization but we really do want to invite you to become more active.

Finally, I want to thank the many people who helped me during the year, especially Tim Carmody, PhD, Femina Varghese, PhD, Anne Klee, PhD, Dave Pilkey, PhD and Linda Richardson, PhD. I leaned on you all a great deal and I so appreciate the support.