Due to safety protocols due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the August 2022 Council of Representatives (COR) meeting was held on August 3rd and 4th in a hybrid fashion, accommodating both remote and in-person attendees. In attendance, as representatives for Division 5, were elected Council members Rachel Fouladi, PhD (2018-20, 2021-23; attending remotely) and Amy Schmidt, PhD (2022-24; attending in person). Online Townhalls held weeks prior to the COR meeting provided opportunities for good preparation, feedback, and refinement of items in advance of the Council meeting. Use of online platforms at the meetings facilitated presentations, discussions, and voting procedures for in-person and remote attendees.
A plenary session was held as usual on the evening on August 2nd prior to the opening of the full Council meeting. During the plenary session, Council members received an update on the Advocacy Coordinating Committee’s work. An update from the Ethics Code Task Force was also provided. In addition to these updates, the candidates for APA President Elect were given a forum to present their platforms. It was also announced that Rachel Fouladi (Division 5 COR rep) was elected to the Council Leadership Team (CLT Member at Large, 2024-06). The CLT Team manages the work of council, determining processes for council including selection of topics for discussions and provision of recommendations on agenda items that council would consider. Rachel’s term on CLT will continue after her term on COR as Division 5 representative officially ends (see Council Leadership Team).
Caucus meetings, which prior to the pandemic were scheduled and held on the evening of the plenary sessions, were held online on July 29th, several days prior to the hybrid Council meeting. Although some Council members could not participate in the Caucus meetings due to other commitments, this scheduling and format permits wider participation of Council members in the Caucus meetings and discussions. During these online Caucus meetings, caucus priorities and items of relevance to the Caucus specified interests are actively discussed. Council members, who are elected COR representatives of Division 5 or who are elected as representatives for other Divisions or SPTAs (State, Provincial, or Territorial Associations), continue to be active in the caucuses (e.g., CASAP -- Coalition for Academic, Scientific, and Applied-Research Psychology) as members in general or as members of the caucus’s executive committee. Amongst other topics of discussion at the CASAP Caucus meeting, at the invitation of the current CASAP President/chair (Rachel Fouladi), APA Chief of the Science Directorate, Mitch Prinstein, PhD, provided an update regarding current priorities and actions within the directorate and engagement with Division and CASAP Leadership. Prinstein highlighted the growth of the team in the Science Directorate, some activities to advance scientific practice as well as methodological awareness and capacity including hosting of “Essential Science Webinars” (one of which was “Mixed Feelings about Mixed Methods in Psychological Scienceopens in new window”, which included current and former members of Division 5 and Division 5 Section leadership: Fredrick Wertz, PhD and Eric Youngstrom, PhD, and Joseph Gone, PhD), as well as broad work to enhance communications strategies to increase engagement with the bi-weekly science update e-newsletter, Science Spotlight, to which anyone can subscribe). Also invited was Office of General Counsel to the APA, Deanne Ottaviano JD, who provided an overview of recent activities including preparation, writing and submission of Amicus Briefs based in psychological science in collaboration with or with support of CASAP members and leadership, and provided recommendations of how to contact the office in case of pending litigation where psychological science could be brought to bear.
Over the course of the two days of COR meetings and deliberations, Council heard from APA CEO Arthur C. Evans, PhD and APA President, Frank C. Worrell, PhD, as well as other members of the APA leadership team. Additionally, Dr. Jason Cantone, JD, PhD, COR rep for Division 41 (Law and Psychology) was awarded a presidential citation, and Rosie Phillips Davis, PhD, ABPP, former President of the APA, was presented with the Raymond D. Fowler Award for Outstanding Member Contributions.
Of special note at the August 2022 COR meeting, APA adopted a Racial Equity Action Plan (Item 7) that outlines the next steps that the association and psychology should take to prioritize and operationalize the commitments made in the association’s 2021 apology for its role in contributing to racism. Council approved the plan by a vote of 149–8 with 2 abstentions. The plan is divided into five sections: Knowledge Production; Health; APA/Workforce; Training of Psychologists; and Education. Each section lays out priority actions and concludes with a summary of social impact and innovation. The full reportopens in new window is available on the APA website . In the list of item discussions that follows, we highlight a recommendation about methodological development and practice that will be of particular interest to members of Division 5.
The draft minutes of the August 2022 COR meetingopens in new window are available on the APA website. Below we provide a brief overview of items and reports from the August 2022 COR meeting. Italicized items may be of particular interest to Division 5 members.
Main items from the August 2022 COR Meeting
Note: Item labeling (e.g., Item 4) refers to the number as it appeared in the corresponding 2022 meeting Agenda as was distributed to the members of COR.
Elections, Awards, Membership and Human Resources
Item 2. COR voted to elect the 73 members listed to Fellow status, on the nomination of the indicated divisions and on the recommendation of the Fellows Committee and the Board of Directors.
Item 3. COR voted to approve amending APA’s Association Rules 110-7 and 110-8. These rules set out the timelines for nominating and electing the various officers of the association. In general, the amendments allow for an extension of the period during which association members can nominate candidates for President elect and the period during which nominees for President Elect can submit personal statements.
Ethics
- No items.
Divisions and state and provincial and territorial associations
- No items.
Organization of the APA
Item 4. Council policy manual: Extension of Guidelines. COR voted to extend the expiration date for the Principals for Quality Undergraduate Education to February 2023 and to extend the expiration dates for the Guidelines for Psychological Practice with Transgender and Gender Nonconforming People and the Guidelines for the Use of Nonhuman Animals in Behavioral Projects in Schools (K-12) to December 31, 2024.
Item 5. COR voted to approve extending the working timeline of the Council Leadership Team Evaluation Task force by one year, to sunset in August 2023.
Item 6. CORadopted as APA policy the following Resolution on the Imposition of Death as a Penalty for Persons Aged 18 Through 20, Also Known as the Late Adolescent Class: … “Therefore, be it resolved that APA calls upon the courts and the state and federal legislative bodies of the United States to ban the application of death as a criminal penalty where the offense is alleged to have been committed by a person under 21 years of age.”
Item 7. COR voted to receive the Report on Psychology’s Role in Dismantling Racism: Racial Equity Action Plan and charge the APA CEO and Board of Directors with implementation of the priority actions outlined in the report. Three recommendations in the action plan that may be of particular note for Division 5 members depending on whether they are working in college/university or applied settings, our recommendation are to:
- Elevate the discipline’s understanding of, and regard for epistemic diversity and affirm that the body of psychological science centers the experiences of people of color and empirical work that aims to broaden our epistemology by evaluating diverse approaches such as indigenous knowledge, research, and a range of methodologies conducted across the epistemological continuum.
- Redesign traditional methodologies used to conduct, review, communicate, disseminate and report psychological research to ensure equity, diversity and inclusion, including expanding ways that the psychology community documents scientific, scholarly and social impact”.
- Influence curriculum development to incorporate qualitative, participatory, and socially engaged research, concepts of liberation psychology, systemic racism, and population health into the psychology curriculum across all levels of training.
APA’s racial equity plan is articulated in an equity press release as well as in a racial equity plan report.
Item 8. COR voted to approve that the third week of April be proclaimed Psychology Week, an annual celebration of psychology that includes “Psychology Day,” recognized by the United Nations community and certain other institutions.
Publications and communications
No items.Educational affairs
Item 9. COR voted to postpone the item titled, Guidelines for Equitable and Respectful Treatment of Graduate Students in Psychology Training to a future meeting of Council.
Items 10. COR voted to approve forwarding to the Membership a vote to amend the APA Bylaws so that each of the various boards will include a graduate student member. At the request of COR, the bylaws amendment ballot will be sent to the membership with statements in favor of adopting and against adopting statements in addition to an explanatory statement.
Item 11. COR voted to approve the continued recognition of Rehabilitation Psychology as a specialty in professional psychology for a period of seven years.
Item 12. COR voted to approve continued recognition of Clinical Psychology as a specialty in professional psychology for a period of seven years.
Item 13. COR voted to approve the continued recognition of Psychoanalytic and Psychodynamic Psychology as a specialty in professional psychology for a period of seven years.
Item 14. COR voted to approve the recognition of Psychoanalysis as a subspecialty in professional psychology for a period of seven years.
Professional affairs
Item 15. COR voted to adopt as APA policy the Guidelines for Psychological Practice with Women with Serious Mental Illness and approved December 31,2032 as the expiration date for the Guideline.
Scientific affairs
- No items.
Public interest
Item 16. COR voted to adopt as APA policy a Resolution on Psychology’s Role in Addressing the Impact of, and Change Required with Police Use of Excessive Force Against People of Color and Other Marginalized Communities in the United States. The resolution states APA’s opposition to police use of excessive force and against people of color and other marginalized people and declares that APA will advocate for programs and practices that eliminate the use of excessive force and for law enforcement standards and practices within police departments to reduce the detrimental impact of police misconduct and use of excessive force, and to promote a healthy relationship between police officers and their communities. There are many aspects to this item, of particular interest to some members of Division 5 will be the statement that: “IT RESOLVED that the APA supports research and subsequent program development in collaboration with police and communities in…validation of assessment tools to support improved police selection and interventions to address bias and use of excessive force”
Ethnic minority affaris
- No items.
Item 17. COR voted to approve amending Association Rules so that the Committee on International Relations in Psychology will be renamed the Committee for Global Psychology.
Financial affairs
- No items.
New business
Item 18A. New business item was submitted at the August 2022 meeting: NBI18A/Aug 2022, APA Resolution to Oppose Mental Health Screening Questions on Character and Fitness Examinations for Licensure to Practice Law.
Business pending
Item 19. COR was provided with an update on the business pending item, Reiteration of APA’s Values on Discrimination in Light of Contemporary Resurgence in Discrimination and Hates Crimes (NBI#20A/Feb 2019).
Item 20. COR received as information an update on the business pending item, Healthcare Practice Guideline Policy (NBI #13B/March 2018).
Information items/paper updates received as information
Council received a variety of updates, such as, but not limited to those pertaining to the Organization of the APA.
Item 21. COR was provided with an update from the Council Effectiveness Implementation Oversight Task Force. Dr. Maysa Akbar, APA Chief Diversity Officer, provided an update on activities of the Equity office regarding actions of the APA towards an audit of the APA and a Template of a Diversity Matrix for the audit. As a reminder, the Ethnic Diversity and Inclusion Frameworkopens in new window being used by the APA, which was released in 2021, is available.
Item 22. COR received as information an update from the Advocacy Coordinating Committee.
Item 23. COR was provided with an update on the expiration of the recognition of sleep psychology as a specialty in professional psychology.
Item 24. COR received as information an update on the work of the Advisory Steering Committee for Development of Clinical Practice Guidelines and APA Guideline Development Panels and plans for 2022.
Item 25. COR was provided as information an update the 2021 report summarizing APA activities at the United Nations.
Item 26. COR received as information the 2021 Audited Financial Statements.
Additional updates/reports on the schedule included:
- An update on the APA Presidential Work Group on Reconciliation with First Peoples
- An update from the Council Effectiveness Task Force.
- A written litigation report from the Office of General Counsel on the nature and status of current litigation in which APA has been engaged, either as a party or as amicus curiae, since February 2022. Within the litigation report, amongst other updates there was an update which may be of interest to Division 5 members. Specifically, there was an update regarding the following Supreme Court Case. Following is an excerpt from the litigation report: ” Students for Fair Admissions, Inc., v. President & Fellows of Harvard College and Students for Fair Admissions, Inc., v. University of North Carolina–(U.S. Supreme Court)–Involves (1) Should the Supreme Court decide that institutions of higher education cannot use race as a factor in admissions, thus overruling its previous decision in Grutter v. Bollinger? (2) Does the University’s race-conscious admissions process violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by discriminating against Asian American applicants and favoring White applicants?... APA’s brief cites a compelling body of scientific evidence supporting the educational benefits of campus diversity, as well as research showing that improving racial-ethnic diversity in higher education remains a compelling need as prejudice and underrepresentation of racial and ethnic minority groups are still present on college campuses today. Furthermore, the brief offers a wealth of empirically based psychological research confirming that a lack of racial-ethnic diversity within higher education poses significant educational obstacles for both racial-ethnic minority and nonminority students alike, and that a racially and ethnically diverse student body not only buffers these effects, but improves educational outcomes for all students.”
- An update regarding the American Psychological Foundation.
Respectfully submitted,
Rachel T. Fouladi, PhD
Amy Elizabeth Schmidt, PhD
(Note: this will be Amy’s last update – as mentioned above in the introduction, Division 5 did not have enough members apportion their votes to the division to continue holding two seats on Council. This highlights the importance of attention to and participation in votes and specification of vote allocations.)