Candidates for APA President
Q1: What do you see as the most critical issues facing psychology with respect to education and training at all levels (including internships) and how would you focus on these concerns?
We face two major challenges. First, professional psychologists, students and trainees offer an ever-expanding knowledge base, yet training opportunities and economic support are shrinking. As APA president, I will commit to creating innovative solutions for training infrastructure and internships through new institutional partnerships, for example, with relief organizations and peacekeeping operations. Second, as we position professional psychology in an increasingly multicultural, global environment, we must ensure the ethno-cultural applicability of our methods and findings. Twenty-first century psychology training and education must draw on time-honored processes of mentorship and learning-through-doing, while simultaneously expanding to bring new knowledge to new contexts.
Q2: What do you see as the role of science in psychology?
Psychological science, with its power to do good and responsibility to do no harm, offers the surest means for achieving our profession's twin goals of advancing knowledge and promoting human welfare. As APA president, I will fight to uphold scientific independence, promote participation of previously marginalized groups in all aspects of research, press for integration of practice and research expertise, and emphasize initiatives to increase NIH and NSF funding for behavioral research. I will work with leaders of other science professions to ensure that federal funding for research is disseminated based on rigor and relevance, not predetermined political agendas.
