Date: January 7, 2004
Contact: Pam Willenz
Public Affairs Office
(202) 336-5707

PSYCHOLOGIST RONALD F. LEVANT ELECTED APA PRESIDENT FOR 2005

WASHINGTON — Psychologist Ronald F. Levant, Ed.D., M.B.A., Dean and Professor at the Center for Psychological Studies at Nova Southeastern University in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida has been elected president of the American Psychological Association (APA) for 2005.

Dr. Levant is best known for his pioneering work in the new psychology of boys and men. He has developed the theory on normative male “alexithymia” – the idea that men are socialized to ignore much of their emotional lives, except for a few socially accepted emotions, such as anger and lust. He has conducted research programs on fathering and masculinity ideology from a multicultural perspective. He was also the co-founder and first President of APA’s Division 51 (the Society for the Psychological Study of Men and Masculinity). He recently chaired APA’s and the American Psychological Foundation Task Force on Promoting Resilience in Responses to Terrorism, 2002-2003.

As APA president, Dr. Levant wants to focus on encouraging Americans to get yearly “mental health” checkups as many already do for their cholesterol and blood pressure. “People tend not to think of psychologists as part of their everyday life, but they should. I would like to see psychologists viewed by the public in the same way as physicians and dentists are – as science-based professionals who are extra-ordinarily helpful in preventing disease.” To accomplish this, Levant proposes a public education campaign along with petitioning Congress to include psychology as a health profession within federal health legislation like medicine, dentistry, osteopathy, veterinarian medicine, optometry and podiatry are.

Levant also wants to increase the diversity of APA’s membership and staff. He would like the staff and members of the association to “look like America”. This can be accomplished by dialoging with key leaders that head ethnic minority organizations, like the Council of National Psychological Associations for the Advancement of Ethnic Minority Issues, and its constituent groups, in order to determine how to attract more minorities in the field of psychology and create more awareness of prejudices and multicultural sensitivity, said Levant. “Whether you’re a psychologist working as a clinician, academic, in the schools or as a consultant in the business world, you need to be sensitive to the undercurrents of racism that still exist”, he added.

Levant has authored, co-authored, edited or co-edited over 250 publications, including 13 books, over 125 refereed journal articles and book chapters in family and gender psychology and in advancing professional psychology, and over 100 newsletter columns. Specifically, Dr. Levant has served as Editor of the Journal of Family Psychology (1992-97), as guest editor for special issues of The Counseling Psychologist, Psychotherapy, Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings, and The Journal of African American Men, and serves on the Editorial Boards of eleven journals. He is now Associate Editor for Professional Psychology: Research and Practice.

Levant received his BA in Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley and graduated with Honors and Great Distinction. He received his doctoral degree in clinical psychology and public practice from Harvard University and his MBA in General Management from Boston University and graduated with High Honors. He was formerly on the faculty at Boston, Rutgers, and Harvard Universities, and was a clinician in solo independent practice and a clinical supervisor in hospital settings. Levant is originally from Los Angeles, California.

Dr. Levant has been interviewed and profiled for hundreds of articles on the psychology of gender issues and family life in Fortune, Industry Week, Newsweek, Time, U.S. News and World Report, People Magazine, Men's Health, Boston Magazine, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, New York Times, New York Daily News, Christian Science Monitor, U.S.A, Today, Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, United Press International, Gannett, and numerous metropolitan and local newspapers. He has also appeared on a number of national television and radio shows, including "20/20," and "The Oprah Winfrey Show."

The American Psychological Association (APA), in Washington, DC, is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States and is the world’s largest association of psychologists. APA’s membership includes more than 150,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in 53 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance psychology as a science, as a profession and as a means of promoting health, education and human welfare.

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