In July/August issue:

In September issue:

Candidates answers are limited to 100 words for each question.

5. What social or professional issues, e.g., diversity, aging, managed care, prescription privileges, will you emphasize during your term?

6. How do you propose to deal with membership recruitment and retention?

LUDY T. BENJAMIN JR., PhD

Recent data show that psychology lags behind all other sciences in graduating ethnic-minority students with doctoral degrees. Historical studies of inclusion have demonstrated the richness of insight and understanding provided by a diversity of experiences and beliefs. Add to that the prediction of a mid-21st-century America in which Anglos will comprise less than 50 percent of the population and we have all the motivation we need to create a representative psychological discipline. We must aim our recruitment efforts into middle schools and high schools by showing minority students the potential value of their contributions to our practice and science.

Our training in behavioral problem-solving has proven amazingly adaptable so that psychologists can be found in hundreds of occupations. Some suggest that this diversity means that APA cannot serve the needs of all psychologists. However, for those who believe there is value in all kinds of psychologists working together, then APA is the only organization offering that opportunity. A critical need is to increase the research and academic membership while maintaining the strength of the practice base (AMA did not, and now only 30 percent of physicians belong). A first initiative will use local representatives to recruit colleagues in colleges and universities.

Ludy T. Benjamin Jr., PhD, is a professor of psychology at Texas A&M University.

ALICE F. CHANG, PhD

Promoting wellness, ethnic-minority and women's issues, and expanding opportunities across the discipline each resonate very strongly for me. I would, however, develop a specific presidential initiative only after wide consultation. I believe an initiative that models inclusion in its development and implementation will more effectively advance any of those themes.

I'd also like to build upon existing efforts to promote prescriptive authority and address the issues raised by managed care. And, as it's such a relief to view aging as an issue in my own life, I'm eager to improve our ability to study and serve an aging population.

Frankly, we must turn President Kennedy's dictum on its head and "ask not what its members can do for APA; ask what APA can do for its members." Activities such as the Task Force on Nonacademic Employment for Scientific Psychologists, identifying opportunities in the marketplace and helping training programs adapt to prepare graduates to fill real and existing needs, provide the kind of service that gives psychologists a reason to join and remain with APA.

I have always believed in and practiced mentoring. Throughout my presidential cycle, I will work to institutionalize the participation of new psychologists throughout the association.

Alice F. Chang, PhD, does private practice, research and consulting in Tucson, Ariz.

GERALD C. DAVISON, PhD

Psychological science that informs and that is informed by creative and self-observant applied work is the most effective and socially responsible avenue to promoting the public good, as well as to advancing our field. A comprehensive study of humankind requires the inclusion of many complex variables that, because we are in part a social science, have political and moral significance.

My reservations about prescription privileges derive from my belief that psychology is being underestimated with respect to the importance of a psychological level of analysis, as well as the practical tools we have developed in both research and application.

I have been concerned for many years with the disaffection of many of our less applied colleagues, some of whom have left APA for other organizations (rather than maintaining multiple memberships). Worse still, younger cohorts of psychologists, including those in applied specialties, no longer welcome the earning of their doctoral degrees as a much-anticipated occasion to become full members of APA. I would hope to staunch this wound by enhancing the relevance of APA for those who are alienated. I believe that my focus on the complex interdependence of creative science and innovative application can contribute to recruitment and retention.

Gerald C. Davison, PhD, is a professor of psychology at the University of Southern California.

NORINE G. JOHNSON, PhD

As I have as President, Div. 35 (Women), as APA Board of Directors liaison to the Public Interest Directorate, as MPA President and Board member, I will continue as a priority the advancement of social justice and the valuing of diversity. Specifically, I will continue to work toward the implementation of the CEMMRAT and Multicultural Conference recommendations.

I will emphasize addressing the damaging practice of managed care on both the public and the profession of psychology.

I will emphasize expanding the opportunities for psychology research, education and practice. My vision and leadership style involve an integration of issues and collaboration of constituency groups.

RECRUITMENT:

RETENTION:

Members will stay if they perceive the association as relevant.

Many practitioners' incomes are decreasing and many state associations are experiencing membership losses.

Norine G. Johnson, PhD, member of APA Board of Directors, private practitioner.

NATHAN N. STOCKHAMER, PhD

Providing access to care for those now victimized by managed care is my number one priority. People are dying; it's that simple. They are dying because of managed health-care denials of needed mental health treatment. There are many important social and guild issues on which we could spend our organizational resources, but the victims of mental health managed-care abuse are unable to speak for themselves. If APA does not speak for them, who will? We must allocate sufficient resources to impact the intense public debate taking place in Congress, courts and the media.

"Membership recruitment" is a function of organizational performance and trustworthiness. For APA, the critical organizational challenge is to address the needs of the members rather than those of the governance and administration. Similarly, there is inevitable organizational pressure to use membership communication to support the existing elite, thereby obscuring organizational problems. The gradual erosion of relevance and trust this creates is deadly to any membership base. Since the APA president is the only member of the Board of Directors elected by the membership, the president must communicate candidly with the membership and fight to direct APA resources to members' needs.

Nathan N. Stockhamer, PhD, ABPP, is a psychologist psychoanalyst in private practice in New York City.



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