2004 Annual Reports for Boards and Committees
APA Committee on Ethnic Minority Affairs
Personnel/Membership
The APA Committee on Ethnic Minority Affairs (CEMA) convened two meetings in the year 2004 (March 26-28 and October 1-3). The Fall 2004 consolidated committee meetings, in which CEMA participated, marked a return to the two meetings per year meeting-cycle which had been suspended due to budgetary constraints experienced by APA in 2002 and 2003. The APA Office of Ethnic Minority Affairs (OEMA) continued to staff and support the work of the Committee.
CEMA members in 2004 were: Tawa M. Witko, PsyD (chairperson), Alvin N. Alvarez, PhD, Priscilla Dass-Brailsford, EdD, Stephen M. Quintana, PhD, William D. Parham, PhD (chairperson-elect), and Elizabeth M. Vera, PhD. Dr. Parham was appointed to CEMA, by CEMA's parent board, the Board for the Advancement of Psychology in the Public Interest (BAPPI) to fill the vacancy left by the resignation of Robert M. Sellers, PhD, on February 12, 2004, and whose original term of service was January 1, 2003 to December 31, 2005. Dr. Parham's term of service will end on December 31, 2005.
Drs. Witko and Vera participated in their last CEMA meeting in the Fall 2004. Their terms of service expired on December 31, 2004. CEMA expressed its great appreciation to both Dr. Witko and Dr. Vera for their outstanding dedication, commitment, and demonstrated leadership. Their efforts were instrumental in CEMA's ability to accomplish its mission, goals and objectives despite APA's financial hardships during much of their tenure. Their expertise, insight, and meaningful contributions have been a great credit to the Committee. The Committee acknowledged both Drs. Witko and Vera for their outstanding terms of service on CEMA, and were presented Jefferson Cups by Dr. Parham, as CEMA's 2004 chairperson-elect, as a token of the Committee's expression of appreciation for their tireless efforts.
Ruth A. Turner, PhD, and Jennifer J. Manly, PhD, were appointed to CEMA by BAPPI with terms of service to begin January 1, 2005 and to end December 31, 2007. The APA Board of Directors ratified BAPPI's appointments during its December 10-12, 2004 meeting in Washington, DC.
The remainder of this report is organized around CEMA's major goals and objectives as revised and approved on March 1, 2003.
GOAL I: Increase the numbers of ethnic minority psychologists in the profession, as well as in the membership and leadership of the Association, state psychological associations, and APA divisions, and promote activities that increase recruitment and retention of ethnic minorities in psychology.
CEMA nominated approximately 50 ethnic minority psychologists/APA members for consideration to serve on APA governance groups.
CEMA met with members and staff of the APA Policy and Planning Board (P&P), the APA Committee on Division and APA Relations (CODAPAR), and the APA Membership Committee to discuss issues relevant to ethnic minority recruitment and retention in the profession and in the association. The discussion yielded the following recommendations for consideration by all:
(1) Encourage governance groups participating in the consolidated governance groups meetings cycle, to include the American Psychological Association of Graduate Students (APAGS) to establish more formal collaboration efforts with CEMA; (2) Use existing funds earmarked to assist in the promotion of ethnic minority student recruitment, for both promoting/highlighting what APA has done to enhance/benefit ethnic minority communities, and identifying other linkages, organizations, and groups that can be targeted; (3) Make every effort to inform the members of color in APAGS of what OEMA does, and link those students with the efforts/activities of APA's major Directorates; (4) The APA membership office might consider contacting those students of color who have dropped from the membership rolls and inquire about why students resigned and/or failed to pay dues; (5) Consider the possibility of creating a Abuddysystem, i.e., senior persons of color to link up or meet a student of color; and (6) Re-establish/re-institute the practice during convention that promoted opportunities for the presentation of dissertation research and/or encouraged first time presenters.
CEMA met with the APA Ad hoc Committee on Early Career Psychologists (CECP) in order to begin a dialogue on the possible development of collaborative projects and priorities.
GOAL II: Increase efforts to empower ethnic minority psychologists within the Association as well as increase the recognition of the contributions of ethnic minority psychologists inside and outside of the Association.
CEMA approved the nomination of the following psychologists of color for APA awards
APA Public Interest Directorate: Jewelle Taylor Gibbs, PhD (research/public policy), Jessica Henderson Daniel, PhD (senior career); Rose Clark, PhD; and Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela, PhD,
APA International Humanitarian Award; and Bertha G. Holliday, PhD, Raymond D. Fowler Award.
CEMA in collaboration with the APA CEMRRAT2 Task Force, sent a memorandum to the APA CEO Norman B. Anderson, PhD, in response to his request for feedback on his Five Points of Emphasis initiative. Along with comments/feedback on the Five Points, CEMA and the Task Force applauded Dr. Anderson for including language among his Points that specifically states that the Association should: AWork to ensure that APA and psychology can meet the science and practice needs of a multicultural nation and world.
CEMA responded to a request from BAPPI regarding the establishment of a new committee within the APA Public Interest Directorate, the Committee on Socioeconomic Status. In sum, CEMA explained that it does not generally consider important issues associated with: (1) Wealth and privilege; (2) Low-income European Americans; and (3) Classism, e.g., bias and prejudice associated with social class. Moreover, CEMA noted its concern that issues of class and race/ethnicity are often confounded. Therefore, CEMA recommended the creation of an APA Task Force on Social Class. The Task Force could be charged to explore and identify: (a) Psychological issues associated with social class and (b) Mechanisms and structures that would maintain an Association-wide awareness of class issues. However, if it is not feasible to establish such a governance group, CEMA advocated that additional seats to be allocated to BAPPI dedicated to experts working with and addressing issues relevant to social class.
CEMA appointed Dr. Quintana as its representative to the Coalition of Psychology in Schools and Education (ICPSE). Dr. Quintana attended ICPSE meetings that were convened in Washington, DC, on May 7-9, and December 3-5, 2004.
CEMA hosted two Open Meetings during consolidated meetings for members of color in the APA governance structure. The main topics of discussion during the Saturday, March 27, 2004 meeting were: (1) The need exists for the creation of a listserve for members of color in APA governance and on the C/Rs; (2) Efforts should be taken to follow-up on the implementation of the recently adopted multicultural competency guidelines; and (3) There are no members of color serving on the APA Board of Directors. On Saturday, October 2 the meeting focused on the APA Council of Representatives (C/Rs) report on diversity in course content, publications, and training programs (C/Rs Agenda Item No. 28A, July 2004). The comments/recommendations listed below represent the collective ideas of those governance members attending CEMA's open meeting. Participants requested that CEMA present these comments/recommendations to BAPPI for consideration in the further development of this C/Rs approved initiative.
Desired outcomes of Task Force efforts
The Task Force should prepare a resolution for adoption by the C/Rs in support of its specific recommendations.
Map out the critical governance and training groups that have a role in ensuring increased accountability and competence related to diversity in training programs, course content and publications.
APA would encourage all training programs to establish a system of accountability for ensuring multicultural competence in training. To this end, the Task Force might recommend the organization of a summit of training directors, graduate department chairpersons, etc. that would focus on Aaccountability for multicultural training.
The Task Force would identify mechanism for ensuring increased multicultural competence among psychology faculty.
Create an awareness of where we are on these issues and where we want to go.
Related to the establishment, composition and charge of a Task Force
The membership composition and priorities of the Task Force must be clarified.
Membership should include persons who are highly familiar with the editorial process, have significant experience in conducting multicultural research and who have senior editorial experience B such persons should provide oversight of publications assessment.
If assessment of training, course content and publications is staged, consideration should be given to rotating the Task Force membership to ensure that oversight for each stage is provided by/with persons with appropriate knowledge and experience.
It is important to clarify the scope of diversity to be addressed (race, ethnicity, gender, age, etc.???)B the broader the scope, the more difficult and expensive will be the associated assessment.
All assessment procedures should demonstrate high validity.
Related to the assessment of training
A comprehensive survey would go beyond graduate programs and address all or a larger part of the educational pipeline (high school, undergraduate, internship).
Need to assess the extent to which students= multicultural competence is formally assessed.
Need to assess data related to compliance with accreditation Domain D
Need to provide data related to assessment of the multicultural focus of training in scientific psychology programs.
Need to assess the multicultural competence of faculty.
Related to assessment of course content
Need to assess the availability of material on diversity; need to analyze a sub-sample of course syllabi relative to their diversity content
Related to the assessment of publications
This assessment should extend beyond an analysis of the content of recent APA psychological literature; it must also include assessment of the processes related to inclusion and exclusion in the published literature.
CEMA hosted a breakfast meeting, attended by over 25 persons, during the APA 112th annual convention in Honolulu, Hawaii. Invited guests included presidents of state psychological associations (SPAs) and the chairpersons of SPA and division committees on ethnic minority affairs, and ethnic minority persons involved in APA governance. For the tenth year, this breakfast has enjoyed co-sponsorship from the APA Practice Directorate and the Office of Division Services. The breakfast provides a forum for its invitees to meet, discuss, and network on relevant issues of concern. This year's breakfast theme focused on Native Hawaiians/Indigenous People of the World and the issue of health disparities. The breakfast's keynote speaker was Arthur Evans, PhD, Deputy Commissioner of Mental Health and Addiction Services for the State of Connecticut.
GOAL III: Increase the understanding of the need for scientific research on ethnicity and culture.
CEMA continues to be concerned about the underrepresentation of ethnic minorities at all levels of the editorial pipeline (reviewer to editor) of APA journals.
CEMA reviewed and discussed further action in the development of an action plan in support of the APA racial profiling resolution.
CEMA awarded the Jeffrey S. Tanaka, Memorial Dissertation Award in Psychology to Tiffany Yip, PhD, for her dissertation research entitled, A Situational variation in ethnic identify and psychological well-being: A palm pilot study of Chinese American students,(New York University, 2003). In addition, Honorable Mention recognition was accorded to Glen McCabe, PhD, for his dissertation research entitled, Finding the healing path: The therapeutic conditions of Aboriginal traditional healing, (University of Manitoba, 2003). Members of the CEMA Dissertation Award Selection Subcommittee were Drs. Vera (chairperson), Quintana, and Alvarez. The Selection Subcommittee reviewed 19 abstract submissions of which three were selected as semi-finalists, who were required to submit their complete dissertation for review. The winner and honorable mention dissertations were selected from the semi-finalist submissions.
CEMA sponsored a social hour celebrating the presentation of the Jeffrey S. Tanaka Memorial Dissertation Award in Psychology plaque during the APA 112th annual convention in Honolulu, Hawaii. Dr. Parham presented the winner's award plaque to Dr. Yip and acknowledged Dr. McCabe, as this year's Honorable Mention. In addition, CEMA hosted the presentation of the Suinn Minority Achievement Awards during its social hour. CEMA was especially honored that Richard M. Suinn, PhD, was able to join them during this portion of the social hour to announce and present the awards to the following award winners (winners represent three graduate training programs): George Washington University (Clinical Psychology Program); New Mexico State University (Counseling and Educational Psychology Program); Rutgers University, Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology (Clinical Psychology Program).
CEMA's representative to the APA Committee on Psychological Tests and Assessments (CPTA), Dr. Quintana, met with CPTA to continue ongoing collaboration efforts. As a result of the meetings the following actions were approved: (a) placement of the CEMA/CPTA bibliography on the CPTA web site and links from the OEMA web site; (b) the bibliography will be reviewed in two years for updating; (c) a notice shall be sent to the ethnic minority psychological associations soliciting new citations for inclusion in the bibliography; (d) a PsyLIT review will be done and will include issues relevant to neuropsychological testing; (e) CPTA members Freddy A. Paniagua, PhD and Fredrick Leong, PhD, were appointed to work with CEMA's representatives in order to develop a convention session proposal addressing Acultural validity of assessment.The following list of names was generated by CEMA as possible participants: Tony Wong, PhD and Jennifer Manly, PhD on neuropsychological testing issues; Steve Lopez, PhD, Janet Helms, PhD, Richard Valencia, PhD, Richard Dana, PhD, and Roberto Velasquez, PhD.
GOAL IV: Promote increased multicultural competence in psychology
CEMA offered the following recommendations to BAPPI regarding the development of strategies for the infusion, Association-wide, of the multicultural competency guidelines: (1) CEMA viewed the Continuing Education Sponsors Approval System Criteria as a primary vehicle for integrating the multicultural guidelines for licensed psychologists. Therefore, CEMA made specific recommendations to the Continuing Professional Education Committee (CPEC) regarding additions/modifications to the CE Sponsors Approval System criteria that could be made to make multicultural competency issues more central; (2) CEMA believes that in an effort to connect knowledge of the multicultural guidelines with the professional practice agenda priorities, the APA Practice Directorate and State Psychological Associations should be encouraged to develop strategies for lobbying state licensure boards regarding the important relevance of the multicultural guidelines and the inclusion of multicultural training as part of licensure and license renewal requirements; (3) Encourage the use of the multicultural guidelines in the development of a diversity training manual for APA divisions and state psychological associations leadership groups, and APA governance groups; (4) Urge the APA Committee on Accreditation to require that at least one member of an APA accreditation site visitation team have expertise in multicultural issues (preferably a person of color) so that programs= attention to Domain D is given significant weight in accreditation decisions; and (5) That BAPPI requests that APA C/Rs solicit annual reports from all APA boards and committees regarding how the multicultural guidelines are being implemented within their respective focus areas.
CEMA approved a memorandum to the APA Continuing Professional Education Committee (CPEC) that included the following suggestions that CEMA believes may help to promote the inclusion of continuing education content related to multicultural competence: (1) For Standard B, Program Management: It is recommended that the last paragraph be amended to state that A...sponsors are encouraged to jointly collaborate with other organizations as appropriate (e.g., Asian American Psychological Association, Association of Black Psychologists, National Latina/o Psychological Association, Society for Indian Psychologists); (2) For Standard D, Curriculum Content: At the end of the first statement on p. 2 of Standard D, suggest adding the phrase, A...including limitations regarding the generalizability of interventions to vulnerable populations and ethnic minority communities to the end of the sentence; (3) Recommend amending the second statement on page 2, to read, ABecause psychologists work in a variety of professional and cultural settings...; (4) Recommend amending the fourth statement on page 2, to read, AInstructors are expected to inform participants to any limitations of the practice being taught, especially limitations regarding the generalizability to vulnerable populations and ethnic minority communities,...; (5) For Standard E, Program Evaluation: It is recommended to add that instructors be assessed on their success in covering multicultural issues in the program's content; and (6) The continuing education process as a primary vehicle for implementing the APA Guidelines on Multicultural Education, Training, Research, Practice, and Organizational Change for Psychologists.
CEMA did not support the adoption of the resolution on families of incarcerated offenders, and recommended the following modifications/additions: (1) AWhereasstatements should include specific reference to people of color and should be supported by research evidence about and conducted by scholars of color e.g., research conducted by Elizabeth Sparks, PhD and/or Jewelle Taylor-Gibbs, PhD, could be given consideration; (2) Item (a) of the ATherefore, be it resolvedstatement is confusing and seems to pathologize families; (3) Parallel language that follows item (c) of the statement but that addresses research needs, keeping in mind that both foci of researchBapplied and basicBshould be included; and (4) The inclusion of language in the resolution that addresses the following questions would be valuable: How does the family cope? When the person who has been incarcerated is returned to the family, what needs to occur to ensure that the family stays together?
CEMA recommended the following to the APA Teachers of Psychology in Secondary Schools (TOPSS) Work Group as possible revisions to the APA National Standards for the Teaching of High School Psychology: (1) Reference and use the APA CEMRRAT2 Task Force's Textbook Initiative Work Group publication, AToward an Inclusive Psychology: Infusing the Introductory Psychology Textbook with Diversity Content; (2) Clearly indicate that racial/cultural issues should not be relegated to one domain; (3) Revise sections 1.2 (p. 89) and 2.1 (p. 90) to refer to multicultural competency; and (4) Revise section 3.3.
CEMA attended the conference committee meetings during the APA consolidated meetings cycle related to the report of the APA Task Force on the Psychological Effects of Efforts to Prevent Terrorism. As a result CEMA approved and sent a memorandum to the Task Force acknowledging the Task Force's impressive work and conveyed CEMA's understanding that as a result of the quantity and quality of comments, and suggested changes, the Task Force plans to prepare a summary of the meeting's deliberations that will be disseminated to participants and others for further consideration. CEMA will welcome the opportunity to review a revised version of the report before considering further action.
CEMA approved continued collaboration with the APA Committee for the Advancement of Professional Practice (CAPP). CEMA remains committed to the collaborative activities mutually agreed to by CEMA and CAPP, namely:
- Priority 1 Linking the needs of communities of color more directly with the interests and activities of state psychological associations.
- Priority 2 Establishment of a more systematic communication effort between the constituencies that CEMA and CAPP represent.
- Priority 3 Encouraging greater coordination between the Public Policy Office and the Government Affairs Office on advocacy efforts and issues of mutual concern.
- Priority 4 Development of a resolution encouraging state psychological associations to seek inclusion of multicultural training in continuing education and state licensure requirements.
GOAL V: Promote the use of psychological knowledge for the recognition, prevention, and
education of racism.
CEMA developed and approved the introduction of the following resolution to the APA governance review process: Resolution Recommending the Immediate Retirement of American Indian Mascots, Symbols, Images, and Personalities by Schools, Colleges, Universities, Athletic Teams, and Organizations.
CEMA supported adoption of the resolution on Sexual Orientation and Military Service, and opposed the lifting of the ban on military advertising.
CEMA approved the theme, the United Nations World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerances (WCAR), for its 11th invitational breakfast during APA's 113th annual convention in Washington, DC.
CEMA extended its sincere appreciation to the APA Committee on International Relations in Psychology (CIRP) for its partnership in formalizing a program of action by APA around the issues of racism, discrimination, and xenophobia, following the WCAR. CEMA continues to be interested and willing to assist in the development of a final report from the WCAR, as well as formalizing recommendations and dissemination of the final document. To that end, CEMA established a subcommittee of its members to work with CIRP on the WCAR final report to APA. CEMA's subcommittee members include Tawa M. Witko, PsyD, Stephen M. Quintana, PhD, and William D. Parham, PhD, ABPP.
CEMA collaborated with APA CIRP to present a program session for APA's 2004 annual convention in Hawaii. The session, ACarrying APA's commitment against racism forward into national and international contexts: Perspectives of Indigenous peoples,was unique in both presentation and content. The presentation combine a keynote address with panelist presentations. CEMA and CIRP were extremely fortunate to secure a commitment to deliver a keynote address by Mililani Trask, JD, who is an internationally recognized civil rights expert, an Independent Expert member of the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Commission Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples, and native Hawaiian, (Additional information about Ms. Trask can be found at the following web site: http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/pfii/members/mililani.htm. Additional panelists included: Corann Okorodudu, EdD, James Jackson, PhD, Bertha G. Holliday, PhD, Carlota Ocampo, PhD, William D. Parham, PhD, and James M. Jones, PhD.
GOAL VI: Promote and monitor an effective legislative advocacy agenda addressing ethnic minority concerns and their public policy implications -- particularly, in the following domains: Managed care, welfare reform, immigration, anti-affirmative action initiatives, English-only legislation, bilingual education, re-authorization of the Indian Child Welfare Act, and increased ethnic minority training funds.
CEMA received an informative report from Lori Valencia-Greene of APA's Public Policy Office. The Committee was encouraged to consider legislative advocacy efforts that could include scheduled visits with Congressional leadership.
Dissemination of Information
The CEMA Issues of Concern, which summarizes CEMA's deliberations and activities, was prepared and disseminated to State and Division CEMAs, persons of color in APA governance, top APA leadership, and others.
The 2003 CEMA annual report was prepared in a pamphlet-style publication for distribution during the 112th APA annual convention.
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