Teachers of Psychology in the Secondary Schools calls for donations
Over the last decade, APA's Teachers of Psychology in the Secondary Schools (TOPSS) has offered 34 teaching workshops for more than 1,100 teachers from 20 states and Canada, awarding nearly $45,000 to winners of research and essay competitions, producing a dozen unit lesson plans to help teachers plan their courses and recognizing excellence in teaching. To provide even greater resources for teachers of high school psychology, APA's TOPSS committee is organizing a campaign in conjunction with its 10th anniversary to raise $70,000 to extend its outreach at the precollege level. Reaching this goal will help TOPSS establish a permanent endowment fund, giving greater flexibility to TOPSS initiatives. A lesser amount will not result in a permanent fund, but will be devoted to current initiatives already supported by the American Psychological Foundation (APF). A permanent fund could subsidize a variety of programs, including summer psychology workshops for students, outreach to underrepresented groups and development of psychology classes in high schools not yet offering them.
To help make the plans a reality, contribute to the campaign with a donation, made by check to the APF TOPSS Fund and mailed to the APA address.
Nominate your colleagues for
APA's Committee on Psychology
and AIDS Leadership Awards
APA's Ad Hoc Committee on Psychology and AIDS (COPA) invites nominations for its first Psychology and AIDS Leadership Awards. Nominees will be identified as "emerging" or "distinguished" leaders in one or more areas of influence: service provision, research, teaching/mentoring or policy/advocacy.
Service recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding effort and leadership in the delivery of psychological services to people living with or affected by HIV/AIDS or the delivery of technical or support services to community agencies that provide HIV/AIDS-related services.
Research recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding effort and leadership in the conduct and dissemination of high-quality research in the areas of HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, care or policy.
Teaching/Mentoring recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding effort and leadership in educating psychologists or students of psychology about HIV/AIDS practice, research or policy.
Policy/Advocacy recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding effort and leadership in policy/advocacy-related activities that improve the welfare of people living with or affected by HIV/AIDS or that improve the delivery of prevention services to individuals and communities affected by HIV/AIDS.
Emerging leaders are psychologists who have received their doctorate within the past 10 years. Distinguished leaders are psychologists who have worked for 10 years or more after receiving their doctorate. Award recipients will be announced at the APA's 2002 Annual Convention in Chicago, Aug. 22-25.
All nominations must include a 500-word maximum statement of support for the nominee, a current curriculum vitae and three letters of reference. Reference letters should indicate whether the candidate is being nominated as an emerging or a distinguished leader as well as the categories in which the candidate has made
contributions.
Materials must be received by Friday, May 31. Incomplete nominations and materials sent after the deadline will not be reviewed. Send nomination materials to Robert Beverly, Office on AIDS, at the APA address.
2002 Pinnacle Project
gears up for fall
APA's Center for Gifted Education Policy (CGEP) is preparing a new initiative for high school students who have demonstrated a deep interest and high ability in the social sciences. Modeled after last year's American Psychological Foundation Pinnacle Project, and included as part of the Decade of Behavior initiative, this project will be a one-day event held in the fall.
The project plans to enhance gifted students' interests in the social sciences and to help them distinguish how each discipline approaches important problems. Selected students and teachers will work together to generate questions on a pre-arranged phenomenon such as terrorism, the global economy or immigration. These questions will be posed to a panel of experts from several disciplines. After the question-and-answer period, the remainder of the day will be devoted to instruction on how to generate good research questions in the social sciences.
For more information about the project, visit the CGEP Web site, www.apa.org/ed/cgepactivities.html.
APA book named outstanding academic title
"Comprehending Suicide," a publication of APA Books, was chosen as an Outstanding Academic Title for 2001 by CHOICE, a journal published by the American Library Association for college and academic librarians. "This is a gratifying recognition of excellence" for both the author, Edward Shneidman, PhD, and APA's publishing program, says Julia Frank-McNeil, senior director of APA books.
To learn more about Shneidman's book, visit www.apa.org/books/431652A.html.
Good news for new doctorates: Upgrade from student affiliate to full member status at no extra cost
Paid APA student affiliates who have received or are about to receive their doctoral degrees are eligible to upgrade their student affiliate status to full member status at no additional cost in 2003.
APA is currently sending applications to eligible individuals. If you are eligible for full APA membership and have received this offer, please return your special upgrade application today or as soon as you become eligible.
If you have not received this upgrade application and wish to, contact APA Membership at the APA address; (800) 374-2721; e-mail:
Membership
--K. HEWLETT
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