Established in May 2016, the Office on Early Career Psychologists was fortunate to engage Eddy Ameen, PhD, as its first director, who brings years of experience with APAGS. The office seeks to be a hub where early career psychologists (ECPs) can connect, learn and grow professionally in the first 10 years after attaining their graduate degree. The office supports the policy and issue directives of the seven-member Committee on Early Career Psychologists, centralizing APA’s diverse resources for ECPs, developing new resources to help our members thrive and highlighting the importance of ECPs in APA’s mission.
The office and committee worked steadily in 2016 to advance the needs of psychologists, particularly in terms of postdocs, licensure, mobility and specialty training. As the field begins to have groundbreaking conversations in these areas, we are bringing important data and constituent voices to bear on the future of psychology. ECPs collaborated with APAGS on penning members’ concerns regarding the Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards’ (ASPPB) proposed Step 2 licensure exam. We also collaborated with APAGS’ Leadership Institute, pairing five students with five ECPs for a yearlong experiment in project-based leadership development.