American Psychological Foundation
The American Psychological Foundation (APF) received more than $182,500 in contributions last fall from four well-known APA members. The lion's share of these contributions will support the growth of the APF General Fund, which ensures the efficient functioning of the foundation across all of itsactivities.
The donors are:
M. Brewster Smith, PhD, APA's 1978 president, who donated more than $107,500.
"As I look back on six decades of involvement in psychology," Smith says, "I feel very grateful for the way that psychology and the APA have been woven into the fabric of my life. The foundation speaks for all psychology. It provides a way in which psychologists with the widest variety of special interests and concerns can selectively support those concerns as they involve the field."
After serving in World War II as an enlisted psychologist focusing on personnel selection and as an officer active in survey and mass communication research, Smith became increasingly concerned with the applications of psychology to peace, the avoidance of nuclear and environmental catastrophe and the promotion of social justice. In the conceptual and organizational affairs of psychology, he has sought to mitigate the strain between science and practice as well as to further scientific empiricism within the discipline while recognizing cultural and historical contexts.
"I hope that others in a position to do so will also augment the APF's general endowment," Smith adds, "because such support creates both stability and flexibility for the foundation in facilitating its valuable work."
Dorothy W. Cantor, PsyD, APA's 1997 president, who pledged $50,000. Cantor believes her contribution "reflects a commitment to the foundation's goal to expand funding of innovative programs and research."
"I have asked that my gift be directed toward the development of the new APF focus on the mind-body connection, particularly in regard to women and heart disease," she says.
Cantor has been an active advocate for professional psychology since she earned her degree from the Rutgers University Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology in 1976. Cantor chaired the Psychology in the Schools Committee of the New Jersey Psychological Association (NJPA) and later became a member of the NJPA board and its president (1986). She was a member of the APA Council of Representatives for New Jersey and a member of the APA Board of Directors. Cantor initiated the Task Force on the Changing Gender Composition of Psychology and the Task Force on Urban Initiatives while serving on the APA Board, as well as the Task Force on Adolescent Girls. She is currently chair of the APA Insurance Trust. She maintains a full-time private practice in Westfield, N.J., and has just assumed APF's presidency.
Ruth G. Matarazzo, PhD, and Joseph D. Matarazzo, PhD, who donated $25,000 to follow up a $43,000 gift made in 1997. After their original donation, the APF trustees recognized the Matarazzos by naming one of the foundation's graduate scholarships in their honor. This second gift will help ensure the scholarship in perpetuity.
"We each recall the impact that predoctoral fellowships had on our two careers," says Ruth Matarazzo. "Thus, we are happy to be able to pay back that debt by helping tomorrow's generation of soon-to-be psychologist colleagues."
Ruth Matarazzo has been on the faculty of the Oregon Health Sciences University School of Medicine since 1957, as a professor from 1967 to 1999 and as women liaison officer to the Association of American Medical Colleges from 1978 to 1990. She has been president of the Portland and Oregon Psychological Associations, served as Oregon's delegate to APA's Council of Representatives and as a board member of the Western Psychological Association. Her APA governance activities have included the Committee on Accreditation, the Policy and Planning Board, the Board of Educational Affairs and the Membership Committee. She has been active in community and national groups promoting the status of women, historic preservation and opera.
Joseph Matarazzo has served as chair of the department of medical psychology at the Oregon Health Sciences University School of Medicine for the past 40 years. He has also served as president of numerous organizations, including the APA in 1989, the APF from 1994 until last year, the American Association of State Psychology Boards, the International Council of Psychologists and the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research.
Ted Baroody is assistant director of the American Psychological Foundation.
