Leadership

The Board of Directors (BoD) is the governing body for the Division and is elected by the membership. The BoD meets twice a year to debate and discuss the activities of the Division.

We often hear that academic leadership is an heroic task. If it is compensated at all, it is done so at a level not approaching the worth of the work. The effort required to be an effective leader sometimes occupies the better part of one’s day. Those affected by your leadership decisions are quick to let you know when they don’t agree with your action, and slow to let you know when they are happy with the work you’ve done.

I am in my tenth year of involvement with Div. 49 leadership, and I can tell you that, at least here, these are false descriptions. Working with us gives you the opportunity to influence the priorities of the field, how psychology is represented and understood by the lay public and by lawmakers, how the public is served by our expertise, and how the next generation of budding psychologists are trained. And these are real opportunities — each leadership team from years past can show you positive changes that resulted from their efforts. There is little “busy work” of questionable purpose. Division members are strongly supportive of their leadership. As well, if you are curious about becoming involved in APA leadership, divisional work is a great starting point. Most of our colleagues who sit on the committees that steer APA have divisional leadership experience. If you want to be a prominent voice in the future of our discipline, start here.

Div. 49 leadership is a small group of twelve energetic people whose interests at once overlap with yours and differ in intriguing ways. Service is thus a great way to expand your contacts and grow as a professional. Some of my closest professional friendships have resulted from my involvement in Div. 49 leadership, and they are people whom I would never have thought to approach at a conference (and it’s probably safe to say that they would not have approached me). The leadership team is by design a mix of senior and junior professionals. If you are the former, you get the chance to help mentor new professionals, and if the latter, you get to work closely with people who have a lot of experience and are sharing that experience exclusively with you.

The division’s executive leadership team is listed below. Any of them will happily talk with you about the opportunities we offer. Please don’t hesitate to contact anyone, or to come talk with us at APA.

Craig D. Parks, past president, Div. 49 (2016-17)

President: Amy Nitza, PhD
President-elect: Noelle Lefforge, PhD, ABPP
Past President: Josh Gross, PhD
Secretary: Martin Kivlighan, III, PhD
Treasurer: Debra O’Connell, PhD