Report from APA Board of Scientific Affairs
Meeting
March 19-20, 2010
Submitted
by Tom Wallsten (University of Maryland)
APA
Consolidated Meeting Plenary
Norman Anderson report:
APA ended 2008 with a $5M deficit; by early 2009, there
was a net loss of assets. They had to take steps to correct the problem, e.g.,
hiring freeze, eliminate merit increases, be thrifty in many ways. Ended 2009
with a $6.6M surplus; beginning 2010 with a positive $1M margin.
Strategic plan is guiding much of what APA does these
days.
BSA
Meeting March 19, 2010
Science
Directorate Update (Steve Breckler): Responsible for a large array of programs.
·
Advances training institutes
·
Summer science fellowships
·
Research ethics
·
Testing and assessment
·
Science government relations
·
Science leadership conference
·
Scientific awards
·
More…
Budget decreased from $8M+ in 2008 to $7M+ in 2010 (about
$3M goes right back – rent, etc., so the $1M hit is a very big deal). Staff
decreased from 40+ FTE to 30+ FTE. (These types of staff and budget reductions
were proportional across directorates.)
Program reductions
·
No more grants for scientific conferences
·
No more office of applied psychological
science
·
Reduced support for outside organizations and
activities
·
Center for workforce studies reduced
·
APA libraries and archives reduced
·
Other reductions …
This year will celebrate five years of science leadership
conferences.
Board
and Council Actions
Treatment guidelines: Idea is for APA to develop
treatment guidelines for practioners based on scientific evidence. This has
been a rocky project. Began with a concern by CAPP (Committee for the
Advancement of Professional Practice) that
practioners be reimbursed for services. But there needs to be a science base
for their work, which means the science community therefore must be
involved. EDs of the Science, CAPP and
Practice Directorates worked together to establish a steering committee to make
this a reality for specific problems (e.g., depression). This project is just
getting off the ground now.
·
How will BSA nominate members of steering
committee? A call will go out for nominations – process not clear yet. In the
end, there will be consensus among all three boards as to the configuration of
people. Steering comm. Will pick the topics, provide guidance to panels of
experts. They will do a systematic review of the literature, different from
journal articles; start and end in different places.
Public education campaign: look for best way to implement
the campaign and assess outcomes in a way consistent with APA strategic
planning.
Model licensing act:
Dues discount: Starting 2012, the current discount of 25%
in APA dues for members who also are members of other societies that belong to
the Federation of Associations in Behavioral and Brain Sciences (FABBS)[1]
or of APS will be changed to a discount of $25.
NIMH funding: Board of Directors has formed a working
group to advise APA staff on possible actions it might take on this issue. APA
has been working on this for about 5 years. Problem is very complex.
Psychology
as a STEM discipline Task Force (Jennifer Manly)
James Bray, immediate past APA president, began this
project – to assure that psychology is considered a STEM discipline. STEM
designations influence federal funding – improve nation’s progress and welfare;
keep competitive. Psychology is inconsistently seen as a STEM discipline. E.g.,
NSF calls psychology STEM on paper, but then excludes it in much practice. Why
is this so? Public sees psychology as a helping profession, not a science. More
traditional sciences are distancing themselves from psychology. The report is
due out by May. There will be a session at the APA conference on this.
Science
Student Council
Convention programming: mentoring, elevator speech
practice, employment opportunities, funding possibilities, how to disseminate
psychology research effectively. Early Grad Student Research Award increased in
popularity – 159 submissions this year; improve web presence.
BSA
Governance
Now co-chairs, Jennifer Manly and Leona Aiken. They want
the BSA to become proactive, not reactive. There was discussion of many
governance details.
There was a lot of discussion on how representatives to
the Treatment Guidelines Task Force will be appointed. A discussion of the fact
that the lit review will be a huge job and people will need to be paid to do
it.
Propose
big ideas for APA to act on, consistent with the strategic plan
·
Advocate
for funding for psychology science
·
Facilitate
psychology in multidisciplinary research
·
Increase
participation of scientists in APA
·
Public
education campaign re scientific advances in psychology
·
Applying
psychology science to public policy
·
Lifespan
education/training of psychology
March
20
Worked on input to APA strategic plan