On the 125th anniversary of the American Psychological Association (APA) and representing the 120,000 members of APA as well as its Board of Directors, I, Antonio E. Puente, president of our venerable association presents a Presidential Citation to Enerio Rodriguez Arias, Tirso Mejia-Ricart, Freddy Paniagua and Carlos Hernandez.
As the future of psychology and of the APA, the horizons of our discipline must begin to encompass individuals and ideas outside our borders. And as the United States becomes more and more like the rest of the Americas, we must look to our American colleagues for beacons of light the will illuminate the darkness of our country and help expand the limits of the science and profession of psychology.
I am here with you on this Oct. 14, 2017, to not only celebrate the Premios Caribeños de Psicología Arias, and the Fundación para el Desarrollo de la Psicología del Caribe, but to celebrate with you both my own heritage as a Cuban but also the bright light that your country’s psychology provides for the rest of the Caribbean and the Americas as we finally move forward to have a psychology for all- not just those in power.
To Arias, congratulations for being the first Dominican to have graduated with a degree in psychology and for continuing to lead your country forward in the establishment of the discipline forward, even today.
To Mehia-Ricart, thank you for establishing psychology in your country at the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo. And thank you for teaching the first and many generations of psychologists, sometimes without remuneration.
To Paniagua, your willingness to leave your country to come to ours in order to not only further your horizons but ours, its pioneering and enlightening. To this day, you push us all to become better psychologists, better people and to realize the importance of diversity of people and thought.
To Hernandez, for decades you have tirelessly and selflessly dedicated yourself to the development of psychology in the Dominican Republic. The Fundación Para el Desarrollo de la Psiciología en el Caribe is a beacon and an oasis in our troubled modern times.
To these pioneers of Dominican Psychology, I, Antonio E. Puente, award a 2017 American Psychological Association Presidential Citation.