Special Edition October 2007

Greetings from the Editor

Dear members of the Society for Humanistic Psychology,

We are producing this special issue of our APA Division 32 Newsletter to address two crucial issues for our Society. The first is the matter of apportionment balloting and, the second, nominations for fellows. Below you will find letters from our Society President, Frank Farley regarding apportionment balloting and from Past President, David Rennie, regarding nominations for Fellows.

Although your attention to both matters can make a significant difference to the life of our division, I especially want to say a few things about our apportionment ballot which, as you will see in Frank’s letter, determines how many seats we have of the APA Council and therefore how many votes we have representing the views of our Society, the single division of APA devoted exclusively to the development of distinctively human psychology.

For years we have been limited to having just one representative on Council, a representative that we are guaranteed simply by existing as a division. Although every year we plead for more members to cast votes for Division 32, our Society for Humanistic Psychology, we continue to just fall short of the total number required for that second seat.  For example, last year just 286 members of the division (a little over a third) returned their apportionment ballots.  Of those 286 members returning ballots, 57 members allotted all 10 votes to Division 32. In total we received 1,145 votes or 0.71 % of the total votes cast.  Although 21 of the 56 Divisions received fewer votes, we still did not have quite enough to win an extra seat on Council. Art Lyons has been doing a wonderful job representing us on Council but it would be great if he had some help!

The good news is, we are very, very close. Specifically, we are  shy of an extra Council representative by a mere 150 votes, or 0.09 % of the total votes cast.  In other words, if just 15 more of our several hundred members had returned their ballots and allotted all 10 votes to Division/Society, we would have earned an additional representative.

Please heed our President, Frank Farley’s request to give as many votes as possible to our Society for Humanistic Psychology and , if at all possible, cast all your votes for 32! Remember, we are the only division dedicated solely  to the development and deepening of distinctively human psychology. That is a mission of mighty significance not only in the American Psychology Association, but in this country and in the world. Sure, we may be as Jerome Bruner once quipped, an ant fighting a dragon. If so, so be it. But let’s be the strongest, surliest, most resilient and compassionate ant that dragon has ever encountered.

Finally,  please remember to get your nominations for fellow status to David Rennie before November 1!
With warm Regards,
Erik
Erik Craig
Editor, Newsletter of the Society for Humanistic Psychology (APA Div. 32)
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Important Memo from Frank Farley,
President of the Society for Humanistic Psychology 

TO: All Voting Members of Division 32

FROM: Frank Farley, Div 32 President

TOPIC: THE UPCOMING APPORTIONMENT BALLOT FOR COUNCIL  REPRESENTATIVE

 You will soon be receiving your apportionment ballot that determines how many Council of Representatives  members our Division has. At present we have one Representative on Council. We need to have enough apportionment votes given to our Division to receive enough additional votes to warrant the seating of an additional Representative! We need to have as many possible voices as we can for humanistic psychology on the floor of Council and in the forums and governance of APA.

As Art Lyons, our current Representative recently reminded us, “Division 32 is now an official member of the Divisions for Social Justice. It would be wonderful for our Division to have continuity in its involvement with this group. One way to ensure that is for the Division to receive enough votes to obtain a second seat on Council. We are only about a couple hundred votes away from making this a reality. While that may sound like a lot of votes, remember each APA member gets to allocate 10 votes. If you want to see a Humanistic perspective better represented in Council  assign as many votes as possible to support our Division. It is Council that discusses and debates and votes on APA policy.” 

UNQUESTIONABLY, THIS ISSUE IS ENTIRELY IN YOUR HANDS! IT’S YOUR VOTE.

PLEASE CONSIDER GIVING ALL OR MOST OF YOUR APPORTIONMENT VOTES TO HUMANISTIC PSYCHOLOGY--DIVISION 32.

Thank You!
Frank

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Letter from David Rennie,
Past President, Society for Humanistic Psychology

Re: Fellows in the Society for Humanistic Psychology

Division members who believe they are qualified to become fellows of the Society are encouraged to consider applying for election to Fellow status in Division 32.  The criteria and procedure for application are spelled out in the Fellowship Status Manual available at the link below. All necessary forms are also available. If you need a list of current Fellows of the Society to assist you in your application this is also available at the link Division 32 Fellows, 2008

Current Fellows of the Division of Humanistic Psychology are also encouraged to nominate other members of the Division for potential election to Fellowship status in APA. Criteria for Fellow status are spelled out in the materials at the links below.

The deadline for receipt by the Division’s Fellows Chair of nominations is November 1, 2007. The deadline for receipt of completed dossiers is November 30, 2007.

Under APA rules, Fellowship is an honor bestowed upon members who have made an "unusual and outstanding contribution or performance in the field of psychology". All fellows must satisfy APA-wide criteria for fellowship. In addition, Division 32 criteria awards fellowship status to members who have made "extraordinary humanistic contributions that have had a long-term impact on psychology or society that can be documented." A member can either apply for Fellowship, or can be nominated by a member of the Division. Once nominated, the member is notified of his or her nomination and is asked to complete the Uniform Fellow Application and to send Standard Evaluation Forms to three Fellows who will provide endorsements. At least one of these endorsers must be a Fellow of Division 32. The application is then reviewed by the Fellowship committee of Div 32. The Fellowship Committee then recommends to the Executive Committee of Division 32 those nominees it wishes to be considered for election. Following Executive Committee action, the nominations are sent to the APA Membership Committee for final review
and approval. New Fellows are announced at the Divisions Annual Business Meeting during the APA Convention.

Fellows are reminded that APA rules permit Fellows of other APA Divisions to become Fellows of Division 32 without their election having to be ratified by APA.

We strongly urge all members to contact other people in the Division who are qualified and might want to apply or nominate someone for Fellowship this year. For further information regarding APA requirements and Division 32 standards, or to send letters of nomination, please contact:

 David L. Rennie
Chair, Div 32 APA Fellowship Committee
Department of Psychology
York University
4700 Keele Street
Toronto, ON, Canada M3J 1P3
Email:  drennie@yorku.ca
Fax:  416-736-5814
Phone:  416-736-2100 ext. 66262

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