Div. 35 Fellows

The American Psychological Association (APA) states that fellow status is an honor bestowed upon APA members who have shown evidence of unusual and outstanding contributions or performance in the field of psychology. Fellow status requires that a person's work has had a national impact on the field of psychology beyond a local, state or regional level. APA specifies that “a high level of competence or steady and continuing contributions are not sufficient to warrant fellow status. National impact must be demonstrated...Volume of work does not necessarily convey impact and unusual/outstanding contributions.”

Criteria for APA “Fellow” Status

• Doctoral degree based in part on a psychological dissertation.
• Prior status as a member for at least one year and nomination by a division to which the member belongs.
• Active engagement in the advancement of psychology.
• Five years of acceptable postdoctoral experience.
• Evidence of unusual and outstanding contribution or performance in the field of psychology.

Div. 35 Criteria for Fellow Status

Div. 35 provides an organizational base for feminists interested in teaching, research or practice in the psychology of girls, women and gender. Its purpose is to promote feminist scholarship, research, teaching and practice and to advocate for policies that advance social justice and equality for women and men across their intersectionalities and transnationally. Div. 35 is the feminist voice of APA.

Div. 35 requires that candidates for fellow demonstrate that a significant part of their unusual and outstanding contributions were made directly in the service of furthering the psychological understanding, well-being and rights of girls and women from a feminist perspective. These contributions should be documented and must include at least one of the following:

• Produced innovative and impactful scholarly (theoretical and/or research) psychological publications on girls, women, femininities or gender in well-refereed journals or in books with a favorable citation record by other scientists over an extended period of time.
• Served as editor or associate editor over an extended period of time of a major psychology/social science feminist journal in the field of women, femininities and gender.
• Produced and delivered innovative and impactful peer-reviewed or (preferably nationally or internationally) invited psychological presentations/workshops on girls, women, femininities and gender from a feminist perspective over an extended period of time.
• Provided distinguished and sustained feminist and women-focused leadership and service (within Div. 35 and beyond) that contributed to the growth and recognition of Div. 35.
• Created innovative and preferably nationally impactful feminist methods/programs of teaching/education/training that significantly advanced the psychology of women, femininities and gender.
• Developed feminist assessment tools or interventions for girls and women that transformed preferably at the national level the practice of psychotherapy/counseling/consultation and/or educational and harm/morbidity/mortality prevention and/or empowerment enhancement programs for girls and women.

Paths to Div. 35 Fellow

Initial fellow path

Members of Div. 35 who are APA members but are not fellows of APA may apply for fellow status in Div. 35 and APA. They are known as initial fellow applicants and must meet both APA criteria and Div. 35 criteria for fellow status. Initial fellow applications are evaluated by Div. 35 Fellows Committee and by APA's Fellows Committee.

To apply for initial fellow status via Div. 35, individuals need to use APA Fellows online application platform. This system allows nominees, endorsers and the Div. 35 Fellows Committee chair to review and/or submit the required documents online. The online system replaces the paper-based process. All candidates' documents must be added to the system to be considered by the Fellows Committees. Applicants must be current APA members and current Div. 35 members to access APA's fellows portal.

Applications for initial fellow status require letters from three Div. 35 fellows, as well as other materials as described in the APA Fellows online application. The APA fellows webpage has resources for applicants (PDF, 866KB) and endorsers. One of the resources is a sample endorsement letter (PDF, 75KB) indicating the type of information the APA Fellows Committee looks for when evaluating fellow applications.

All initial fellow materials including the endorsers' letters must be submitted to the online system by Dec. 21, 2018. Complete applications are reviewed by Div. 35 Fellows Committee. Applications receiving a positive evaluation by Div. 35 Fellows Committee are forwarded to the APA Fellows Committee for review and vote. Fellow status is granted by the APA Fellows Committee.

The application deadline for initial fellow is Dec. 21, 2018.

Current fellow path

Members of Div. 35 who are already APA fellows may apply to become a fellow of Div. 35. These applicants are known as current fellow applicants. Current fellow applications require submission of a curriculum vitae and a letter highlighting the reasons the applicant meets the criteria for fellow status in Div. 35. Current fellow application materials must be submitted via email to both Silvia Sara Canetto, PhD, at her professional or personal email, as well as to Louise Douce, PhD. They are evaluated by the Div. 35 Fellows Committee only.

The application deadline for current fellow is Feb. 8, 2019.

Div. 35 fellows are good sources of information about applying for fellow. They are also the persons who can write letters of endorsements for Div. 35 fellows applications.