Apply for free pharmacotherapy training through Div. 18

Div. 18 (Psychologists in Public Service) and Alliant International University have created a new program for psychologists practicing in the public sector to receive tuition-paid training in a clinical pharmacotherapy program that meets APA criteria for prescriptive authority.

The program will allow Div. 18 members to earn a postdoctoral master's of science degree in clinical psychopharmacology at Alliant. The two-year training program combines distance learning and in-person attendance at one of several meeting sites around the country. Div. 18 and Alliant plan to soon seek grant funds that Alliant will use to waive the program's $9,800 tuition for successful applicants.

To be eligible, applicants must be Div. 18 members, licensed to practice in a state or province and employed at least 30 hours per week in one of the types of agencies covered by Div. 18 section charters, including:

* Veterans Administration or state mental hospitals.

* Correctional facilities.

* Police and public safety settings.

* Community mental health centers.

* Native American or Native Canadian treatment facilities.

The division encourages women and minorities to apply. Successful applicants must work in a public sector agency for two years after completing their training.

Applications are due Feb. 1, 2005. For a copy of the call for applications, e-mail Bob Ax, PhD, at shrinkart@aol.com. To join Div. 18, contact membership chair Bill Safarjan, PhD, at bsafarjan@tcsn.net or visit www.apa.org/divisions/div18.

Div. 26 journal names new editor

Div. 26 (Society for the History of Psychology) has selected James H. Capshew, PhD, a professor at the University of Indiana, to succeed Michael M. Sokal, PhD, as editor of the division's journal, History of Psychology, in 2006. In 2005, Capshew will accept manuscripts as editor-elect and Sokal, the journal's founding editor, will edit the journal.

Beginning Jan. 1, psychologists who want to submit manuscripts to History of Psychology should send them to Capshew at: Department of History and Philosophy of Science, Goodbody Hall 130, 1011 E. 3rd St., Bloomington, IN 47405-7005.

Join a task force to advance and advocate for psychotherapy

Div. 29 (Psychotherapy) is engaged in an initiative to include division members in promoting and advancing psychotherapy. The initiative, operating under the Task Force on Advancement and Advocacy of Psychotherapy, is conducted by working groups representing the three missions of the division: training, research and practice.

The working groups will identify specific action recommendations in the coming months and present them to the Div. 29 Board of Directors.

The working groups already have made some recommendations during the past few months, which include:

* Encouraging more collaboration between practitioners and researchers. Practitioners report that they could benefit from greater access to applied and clinically based research that can inform their direct practice. They already work with research by observing clinical patterns in practice before researchers investigate such patterns in a controlled study.

* Advocating for expanding federal funding guidelines for psychotherapy research. The research working group suggested developing a Web site where researchers could list projects they want to pursue and practitioners could sign on to participate.

* Developing a research mentoring program. The training working group suggested creating a listserv on which students interested in research could work with faculty at other universities.

To learn more or join the project's working groups, e-mail Linda Campbell, PhD, at lcampbel@uga.edu or Leon VandeCreek, PhD, at Leon.Vandecreek@Wright.edu.

Div. 44 forms new gender identity committee

The Transgender Task Force of Div. 44 (Society for the Psychological Study of Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Issues) has now become the Committee on Gender Identity. Nikayo Embaye, PhD, and Randall Ehrbar, PhD, will continue serving as co-chairs, while Walter Bockting, PhD, Armand Cerbone, PhD, Marg Schneider, PhD, and Michael Stevenson, PhD, will contribute.

The committee is exploring how the psychological profession might best meet the needs of transgendered individuals and the transgender community. The committee aims to help Div. 44 address transgender concerns, including those related to gender identity, gender variance and intersex status. It will also support the work of an APA task force that will address these concerns within APA.

--M. GREER