Daniel Balva, PhD, is presented with a Presidential Citation for his leadership and contributions to the field of international psychology as well as for his fervent advocacy of graduate students in psychology across the globe.
Daniel Balva is a postdoctoral psychology resident at the Veterans Affairs Pacific Islands Healthcare System in Honolulu, Hawaii. He served as the student chair of APA’s Division 52 (International Psychology) from 2021–22. During his time as chair, Balva worked to decrease student membership dues, create new graduate student scholarships that support international students within the U.S. and abroad, and obtain voting privileges for students in Division 52.
In addition, Balva established the Global Student Psychology Committee (GSPC). The goal of this committee is to bring together students in psychology from across the globe to engage in meaningful discourse, form cross-cultural collaborations, and form worldwide student networks to foster the internationalization of psychology. To date, the GSPC has had over 50 student representatives from more than 30 countries around the world. Balva’s efforts with the GSPC have been recognized by APA’s Office of International Affairs (OIA), and he was selected to serve as an emerging leader in OIA’s Learning Leadership Institute. Balva has also been involved in several professional initiatives to help advance international psychology. Most notably, he served as a project co-coordinator for Brigitte Khoury, PhD, Division 52 International Licensing Guidelines Presidential Initiative, which focused on mapping laws and regulations for the practice of psychology across the globe, service for which he received a Division 52 Presidential Citation.
Balva is the president-elect of the American Rehabilitation Counseling Association, a division of the American Counseling Association, and was a member of the International Committees of the American Counseling Association and the Association for Multicultural Counseling and Development.