Board of Educational Affairs Advisory Council on Accreditation

By authority of its role in the APA Policies of Accreditation Governance (adopted by the APA Council of Representatives in 1991), the Board of Educational Affairs (BEA) announces the formation of its Advisory Council on Accreditation.

The purpose of the Advisory Council is to review the composition of the Committee on Accreditation (CoA) and make recommendations to the BEA regarding (a) how that structure (i.e., composition) may require change given the current state of education and training in psychology, and (b) the frequency of future reviews of CoA composition and how such reviews should be structured.

  Members of the Advisory Council were appointed by BEA on the basis of nominations received from all constituencies affected by accreditation policies and practices according to the following criteria:

1 representative of BEA to serve as Chair;

4 leaders in the discipline and profession of psychology who represent breadth of perspectives across CoA composition domains of academic leadership in graduate education at the departmental level, in professional education and training programs within academic and service settings, and practitioners of the profession representing independent and institutional practice who are knowledgeable about issues of accreditation;

2 members from outside the discipline of psychology, 1 to have leadership experience in accreditation within another profession and 1 to have leadership experience in government or non-government recognition of accrediting bodies;

1 member to represent perspective of graduate students;

2 ex officio members, I to be appointed by the CoA and 1 to be appointed by the  APA Board of Directors (BoD).

Listed in that order, the Advisory Council members are:

Ronald H. Rozensky, Ph.D., Chair
Elizabeth M. Altmaier, Ph.D.
Jill N. Reich, Ph.D.
George Stricker, Ph.D.
Melba Vasquez, Ph.D.
Melvin D. Shipp, O.D.
Howard L. Simmons, Ph.D.
David S. Miller (graduate student)
David S. Hargrove, Ph.D.
(CoA Chair and ex officio member)
Charles Brewer, Ph.D., (BoD ex officio member)

The Advisory Council wants to hear from all constituencies affected by accreditation policies and practices about issues related to its charge.  One opportunity for such will be during the Advisory Council’s first meeting, to be held concurrent with the 2003 Education Leadership Conference (ELC) such that on September 7 the Advisory Council will hold a “town hall” open meeting for ELC participants for the airing of questions and concerns.  For other information about the Advisory Council, including ways in which to have your interests and concerns represented in that group’s deliberations, please refer to the APA Education website (http://www.apa.org/ed/) or contact Paul D. Nelson, Ph.D., APA senior staff officer for the Advisory Council (pnelson@apa.org).