Report from the APA Council of Representatives meeting, August, 2014

The APA Council of Representatives met in Washington, DC in August, during Convention. Similar to the February 2014 meeting, discussion about the Good Governance Project dominated most of the agenda.

Good Governance Project (GGP) /Implementation Working Group (IWG)

Several proposals recommended by the GGP's IWG were discussed by the council at its August meeting.

There was ongoing debate about the structure of council and full consideration of several items was postponed until future meetings, including: the overall size of council; whether council seats will be continue to be allocated on an apportionment basis, based on the size of a division or state /provincial /territorial association) or based on one seat per constituency; and whether to add nine at-large council seats.

The goal of the GGP is to increase member engagement and give members a more direct voice in the decision-making process. It also aims to enable APA governance to respond more nimbly to current issues and to ensure strategic alignment across the organization. The GGP was an outgrowth of the APA Strategic Plan, which focused on optimizing APA's effectiveness.

Other Council Actions

• Early Career Psychologists (ECPs): Council voted to change the Association Rules to require that all APA boards and committees have at least one member who is an ECP (exceptions are allowed if membership criteria for a particular board or committee make this impossible). This is an important measure to give ECPs a voice in governance—key to the future of APA.
• Resolutions: Council adopted several resolutions as APA policy, including a resolution on videotaping interrogations of all felony suspects, to stem false confessions; a resolution on gender and sexual orientation diversity in schools that encourages education, training and professional development for educators and other school personnel; and a resolution in support of the U. N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
• Bringing new voices into governance: Council adopted a policy that supports including members who have not previously served in governance on all APA boards and committees. Such members can note on the election ballot that they are new to governance (by an asterisk on the ballot).
• New APA fellows: A new class of 111 APA fellows were elected by Council. Notably, there were no new fellows from Div. 37 . Division members who would like to become fellows, please visit the division's website for information and criteria.

If division members have thoughts concerning the GGP /IWG proposals, or any other Council matters, please contact me.