American Psychological Foundation

Perlman is 2007 distinguished teacher of psychology

APF will present Baron Perlman, PhD, with the 2007 Charles L. Brewer Distinguishing Teaching of Psychology Award at the APA/APF awards ceremony on Aug. 18 at APA's 2007 Annual Convention in San Francisco.

Perlman earned his doctorate in clinical psychology from Michigan State University in 1974 and spent a year working in its psychology department, which shaped his professional identity as an academic psychologist and clinician. In 1975, he joined the psychology department at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh.

Perlman credits award namesake Charles Brewer with teaching him the importance of attending to all facets of the psychology curriculum, including its history and structure, to enhance teaching.

Perlman also acknowledges the contributions of his students who, often without realizing it, have helped refine his classroom effectiveness and raised thought-provoking questions about teaching.

Perlman will deliver "Thoughts from a Think House: Reflections on Teaching," at APA's convention on Aug. 19, at 2 p.m.

Overmier establishes APF international fund

In 2004, J. Bruce Overmier, PhD, president of the International Union of Psychological Science (IUPsyS), made a $10,000 pledge to APF to launch the APF International Psychology Development Fund. The fund will support international capacity building programs that advance the science and practice of psychology for the understanding of behavior and the benefit of human welfare in the international context. Programs may include workshops, seminars, educational initiatives and outreach efforts to promote psychology in transitional and developing countries as well as attract students and young scientists to discipline.

The goal is to raise $50,000 by January 2010. So far, the fund has raised $15,000.

Overmier is a professor of psychology, neuroscience and cognitive science at the University of Minnesota and a professor of biological and medical psychology at the University of Bergen in Norway. His research spans specialties of learning, memory, stress, psychosomatic disorders and their biological substrates.

To contribute to the International Psychology Development Fund, call APF at (202) 336-5622 or send your contribution to the foundation at the APA address and indicate "IUPsyS Fund."

APF meets fund-raising challenge

APF successfully met both portions of Barbara Golden's fund-raising challenge. APF received $10,000 from Golden by raising more than $40,000 from October to December 2006, and received another $10,000 by raising $30,000 from January to April of this year. Golden initiated the challenge grant to highlight APF's work in violence prevention. Golden is a Chicago-based psychologist and well-known philanthropist who serves on the Board of Directors of the Raymond F. Kravis Center of the Performing Arts Inc., in West Palm Beach, Fla.

"Violence-domestic violence, violence in the workplace, school violence and the violence of terrorism-are the primary concerns of our time," says Golden. "Investment in research will light the way for intervention and prevention."

She serves on APF's Advancement Committee and has been a generous supporter for several years. In addition to her 2006-07 challenge grant, Golden helped raise more than $28,000 by hosting an APF fund-raiser at her home in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., in 2004.

Apply for dissertation award

Submit applications for the 2007 APF Todd E. Husted Award, which recognizes an individual whose dissertation shows potential to help improve mental health services for those with severe and persistent mental illness. To qualify for the $2,000 award, topics should:

• Foster the development of a more comprehensive, humane and responsive system of mental health care.

• Develop a protective and humane sequencing of interventions to prevent deterioration, homelessness and premature death of those with serious mental illnesses.

• Develop effective methods of improving patient compliance with medication and treatment for those with impaired insight resulting from schizophrenia and bipolar affective disorder.

• Demonstrate practical methods of improved identification and treatment of people who enter the criminal justice system as a result of mental illness.

• Foster methods to improve training and social attitudes of professionals in the criminal justice system regarding the role of serious mental illness in some offenders' behavior.

• Increase access to and use of appropriate services and supports for the most treatment-resistant and severely mentally ill individuals.

The deadline is Sept. 15.

Nominate a colleague for Millon award

The Theodore Millon Mid-Career Award in Personality Psychology will be conferred annually through 2008 to an outstanding mid-career psychologist who is advancing the science of personality psychology in such areas as personality theory, personality disorders and personality measurement. The recipient will receive $1,000 and a plaque at APA's Annual Convention.

Nominees should be no less than 10 years and no more than 20 years beyond their postdoctoral degree. Nominations should include a cover letter outlining the nominees contributions to the science of personality psychology and an abbreviated curriculum vitae. Self-nominations are permitted. Letters in support of the nomination are encouraged.

Send nomination materials to Diane J. Willis, PhD, c/o Lynn Peterson, Division of Clinical Psychology, PO Box 1082, Niwot, CO 80544-1082. The deadline is Oct. 1.

Rickel gives $10,000 to establish dissertation award

In March, Annette U. Rickel, PhD, a clinical practitioner and professor of psychology at Cornell University Medical College, gave $10,000 to APF to establish the APF Annette Urso Rickel Foundation Dissertation Award for Public Policy.

The $1,000 award, which will be given annually for five years, will support dissertation research on public policy that has the potential to improve services for children and families that face myriad of psychosocial issues. APF will present the first award in 2008.

Rickel received her doctorate from the University of Michigan and most recently was a professor of psychiatry at Georgetown University Medical Center. She is a fellow and past president of APA's Society for Community Research and Action, and was a fellow of the American Council on Education. She served on President Clinton's Task Force for National Health Care Reform and has received several research awards from institutions such as the National Institutes of Health and the MacArthur and Kellogg foundations.

Rickel has authored or co-authored seven books, numerous research articles and chapters that deal with early-intervention programs for individuals at high risk for psychopathology.

To apply for the new award, applicants must be graduate students in psychology enrolled full time and in good standing in a graduate program in psychology at a regionally accredited university or college located in the United States or Canada. Visit www.apa.org/apf for more information.

--E. Merck, I. Ramos and D. Schwartz