Candidate statement for President-elect: Christine L. B. Selby

Christine L. B. Selby, PhD, received her doctorate in counseling psychology from the University of North Texas in 2000 and received her master’s degree in athletic counseling from Springfield College in 1994.

Currently, Christine is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Husson University where she teaches upper level courses in sport psychology and eating disorders. Enrollment in these courses usually attracts students from myriad disciplines including nursing, physical therapy, education, and psychology. Encouraging discussion among students has allowed them to examine issues from an interdisciplinary perspective. Christine also maintains a part-time private practice specializing in sport psychology and eating disorders. She is a licensed psychologist in Maine, a certified consultant with AASP, and a member of the 2008-2012 USOC Sport Psychology Registry. In her role as a practitioner she has had the opportunity to speak to various local groups (e.g., students, civic groups, professionals from diverse fields) on the topic of eating disorders in general as well as the particular difficulties that athletes encounter. Christine’s involvement with the Division began as a master’s degree student when she assisted editing the Newsletter and subsequently was selected to be student representative in 1993. More recently, she served as liaison to the Academy for Eating Disorders under Michael Sach’s Presidency, reviewed convention submissions, and was appointed as Chairperson of the Membership Committee serving in that capacity from 2008 to 2011.

Statement

I am honored to have been asked to run for president-elect of Division 47. I have enjoyed my formal involvement with the division as a student in the 1990s and during the past few years as a professional member (see Biography). In addition to these formal activities my participation on Division 47’s and related email list demonstrates my commitment to understanding the issues that confront the field at this time and to approaching the issues as rationally as possible while acknowledging the merit of opposing viewpoints. Two issues currently stand out as challenges in this field:

1) whom do we serve (e.g., athletes and sport personnel, other performers, exercisers?) and 2) what do we call ourselves (e.g., sport psychologists, performance enhancement consultants?). Developing sound answers to these questions will involve working closely with the leadership of other organizations invested in the same concerns. Moreover, work in this area will help to clarify in what ways the field can be more regulated. A possible direction for these discussions is the appropriateness of the practice of Sport and Exercise Psychology becoming a specialty area akin to Counseling and Clinical Psychology. These issues will not necessarily have easy or direct solutions; however, I am committed to working with the current and future leadership of the Division and sibling organizations on these and other significant concerns. I believe my professional and interpersonal approach to identifying and working through challenges will be an asset to these efforts.