W. Rodney Hammond, PhD, is recognized with this APA Citizen Psychologist Presidential Citation as an exemplar of broad and diverse leadership in which he has demonstrated impressive skill in working with people, policies and organizations to improve outcomes for all citizens.
Hammond’s participation on volunteer boards and committees nationally and locally reflects a broad range of interests to better quality of life, from improving mental health and foster care services to improving land use and water rights. Nationally, Hammond served on the Mental Health Task Force of the Carter Presidential Center, and the National Board of Directors of Prevent Child Abuse America. He currently serves on the National Board of Directors of Neighbor to Family, a multi-state children’s foster care program emphasizing keeping siblings together.
On the local level, he began as a member of the Board of the Berkeley Lake Homeowners Association, facilitating the development of an Aquatic Center as a more desirable use of the land to benefit his community and assisting in the creation of the Berkeley Lake Conservancy with a focus on a land trust dedicated to green space. Hammond was appointed as a member of the City Planning and Zoning Commission of Berkeley Lake, Georgia and served as its chair for two terms. He was subsequently elected as a City Council Member in 2014. He was re-elected unopposed in 2017 and will serve until 2021.
Hammond’s quiet and kind character was commended by several of his recommenders, but the mayor of Berkeley Lake summarized his strengths and accomplishments in this way, “His intelligence and integrity always becomes apparent even to strangers in a short time, and because of his amazing communication skills. He is a great listener and conveys an attitude of mutual respect even with very difficult people… His most spectacular accomplishment was in permanently changing the very nature of our city.”