A. Mission Statement
The Committee on Early Career Psychologists (CECP) represents the unique interests and concerns of early career psychologists. The mission of CECP is to promote the expertise of ECPs and foster leaders with the passion and innovation to advance psychological advocacy, education, practice and science.
The committee consists of seven members of the association all within ten years of receipt of the doctorate degree (at the start of their term) representing Education, Practice, Public Interest, Science, Division, State, Provincial, and Territorial Psychological Associations (SPTAs), and Governance and Membership. Committee members are appointed by the Board of Directors for staggered terms of three years.
B. APA Committee on Early Career Psychologists
- Julie Radico, PsyD (2015-17) — Chair
Governance and Membership Representative - Tyson D. Bailey, PsyD (2016-18) — Vice chair
Practice Representative - Erika Carr, PhD (2016-18)
Divisions Representative - Maria Cristina Cruza-Guet, PhD (2015-17)
Science Representative - Robyn L. Gobin, PhD (2016-18)
Public Interest Representative - Jasmin Llamas, PhD (2017-19)
Education Representative - Eric Russ, PhD (2017-19)
SPTA Representative
C. Activities
In 2017, the Committee on Early Career Psychologists (CECP) celebrated important victories. One of these victories was the election of an ECP as a member-at-large to the APA Board of Directors (BoD) for a three-year term (2018-2020). This is the first time the board seated an ECP. Representation at all levels of APA is one of CECP’s key priorities.
While considering its next tasks, the committee focused on supporting its constituents. CECP realized it was time to update its vision, mission and strategic plan. The committee spent much of the year considering how to structure these important guiding statements, as well as soliciting feedback from members of APA governance and ECP members. While CECP did not get an opportunity to have a final vote on the strategic plan in 2017, most of the work was completed. CECP will utilize this document as guide over the next five years and is excited with the scope of the projects that will come out of this important endeavor.
The Office on Early Career Psychologists was instrumental in helping bring several important resources to fruition, including the following:
- A state licensure toolkit and monetary awards to two state psychological associations (Missouri, Alaska) with grants to stimulate advocacy efforts so that their states count pre-internship hours for licensure and thereby reduce healthcare shortages.
- A number of fun whiteboard videos on topics important to early career psychologists.
- A biweekly newsletter with the latest news and resources in academia, practice and general professional development.
- Beginning to study ECP attitudes about the postdoctoral experience and specialty training to inform future directions of the field.
CECP continues to focus on opportunities to advocate for our constituents, including concerns about the EPPP Part 2 that is scheduled to be released in 2020. We have written two letters of concerns to the APA Board of Directors based on feedback we have received from ECP members and attended stakeholder meetings to share our opinions. We are also working on advocacy efforts to preserve fairness in graduate study and options to repay and forgive student loans; on issues of adjunctification and fairness in the academic job market; and financial literacy. We continue to support the professional development of ECPs by offering the APA Achievement Award for Early Career Psychologists to support APA convention attendance and sponsoring a wide variety of ECP-focused programs at the annual APA convention and an ECP programming track at Practice Leadership Conference.