In Brief
In November and December balloting, APA members overwhelmingly approved two amendments to the association's bylaws and apportioned the makeup of APA's Council of Representatives for its 2008 legislative year.
One bylaws change will restructure the APA Membership Committee, which handles membership concerns as well as APA fellow nominations. A new Membership Board will oversee APA membership recruitment and retention, while a new Fellows Committee will review APA fellow nominees and make recommendations. The Membership Board will set the criteria the Fellows Committee will use and forward the committee's fellow recommendations to APA's Board of Directors. The amendment passed by a margin of 8,114 to 450.
The other amendment, which was approved 7,712 to 681, clarified the number of candidates required for APA board and committee election slates. APA's Board of Directors must now nominate at least two people for each vacancy on an APA board or standing committee, after receiving recommendations from the relevant board and committees.
On the same ballot, members also allotted votes to determine the composition of APA's 2008 Council of Representatives. Each member can divide 10 votes among APA's divisions and the various state, provincial and territorial psychological associations (SPTAs). For 2008, divisions picked up one additional seat as a group, making the ratio of division to SPTA seats 100-to-62. Most SPTAs hold one seat, though Pennsylvania and California have two. Other results of interest:
The largest groups holding council seats are Divs. 12 (Society of Clinical Psychology), 14 (Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology), 39 (Psychoanalysis), 40 (Clinical Neuropsychology) and 42 (Independent Practice).
Divs. 25 (Behavior Analysis) and 36 (Religion) picked up seats, while Divs. 35 (Society for the Psychology of Women), 39 and the New York State Psychological Association lost seats.
The new Div. 56 (Trauma) will hold a seat for the first time in 2008.
-D. Smith Bailey
FURTHER READING
For more information, visit www.apa.org/governance.
