Volume 21: No. 2, February 2007

February 2007 Announcements

Tanaka Memorial Dissertation Award: Apply Now!

APA’s Committee on Ethnic Minority Affairs (CEMA) is requesting nominations for the Jeffrey S. Tanaka Memorial Dissertation Award in Psychology, which recognizes work that contributes to a better understanding of the psychological issues and concerns facing communities of color.

Tanaka was an Asian-American scholar and psychologist whose work emphasized the importance of culture and ethnicity in the scientific understanding of behavior. A fellow of APA’s Division 5 (Evaluation, Measurement and Statistics), and member of Divisions 8 (Society for Personality and Social Psychology) and 45 (Society for the Psychological Study of Ethnic Minority Issues), Tanaka was Chair-elect of CEMA at the time of his death in 1992.

CEMA welcomes applications for this prestigious annual award from individuals who filed their dissertations in 2005 or 2006. The winner receives a nominal cash award, APA Convention registration, a travel award sponsored by the APA Science Directorate to APA’s 2007 convention in San Francisco, and an invitation to share the dissertation’s highlights with the membership.

The deadline for submission of abstracts is April 1. Please contact the APA Office of Ethnic Minority Affairs (202-336-6029) for more information, or visit the website.

Call for Nominations: Meritorious Research Service Commendation

The APA Board of Scientific Affairs (BSA) is soliciting nominations for the Meritorious Research Service Commendation. This commendation recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions to psychological science through their service as employees of the federal government or other organizations. Contributions are defined according to service to the field that directly or indirectly advances opportunities and resources for psychological science. This may include staff at federal or non-federal research funding, regulatory or other agencies. Nominees may be active or retired but ordinarily will have a minimum of 10 years of such service. The individual's personal scholarly achievements (i.e., research, teaching, and writing) are not considered in the selection process independent of their service contributions.

To submit a nomination provide the following:

• A letter of nomination that describes and supports the individual's contributions (e.g., nature of the individual's service to psychological science, positions held, program development activities). The nomination letters should be no more than two pages long.

• A curriculum vita

• Three letters of support from scientists, at least two from outside the nominee's organization

Deadline for submitting nominations is March 15, 2007. Please send nominations to Suzanne Wandersman. For a list of past recipients, visit the APA website.

Reviewers Needed for Program Evaluation Standards

The Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation is seeking reviewers for the third edition of its program evaluation standards. The standards are sanctioned by ANSI, and are widely used in the US and internationally for evaluations focusing on educational programs. APA is an institutional member of the JCSEE; therefore, it is important for APA members to act as reviewers so that the standards reflect member perspectives.

The new standards will be available online to selected reviewers February 15 to March 15, 2007. Reviewers are expected to review at least one standard, and preferably at least one chapter, during that time. Written feedback is due on March 15, and will be used by the JCSEE to ensure that standards reflect the views of experts, and sound program evaluation practices. Reviewers will be acknowledged in the new standards (unless they wish to remain anonymous).

If you are interested in reviewing the standards, or would like more information, please contact Jeff Braden (APA's representative to the JCSEE) via email, or by phone at 919-513-7393.