Ethics Activities

Congratulations to Miranda Wood for her winning essay, “To Screen or Not to Screen: Ethical Considerations for Mental Health Providers Conducting Suicide Screenings in Schools,” which the committee voted as the 2025 winner of the American Psychological Association Ethics Committee’s Graduate Student Ethics Writing Competition. Wood earned her undergraduate degree in psychology from Baylor University and is currently pursuing a graduate degree in clinical child psychology at the University of Missouri-Columbia and focuses her research on evidence-based youth mental health in the HEART lab led by Kristin Hawley, PhD. 

The Ethics Committee awards the winner of the annual competition $1,000. In addition, Wood received convention registration, travel to and from the APA 2025 convention in Denver, Colorado, three nights hotel accommodations, and Wood will present her paper at an upcoming Ethics Committee virtual webinar. The paper will also be prepared for publication in the journal Ethics and Behavior under the mentorship of Ethics Committee members. Wood wishes to thank Erin Bullett, PhD for her mentoring support in preparing her essay.

The Ethics Committee is appreciative of the assistance of the staff and editors of the journal Ethics and Behavior.

The APA Ethics Committee proudly recognizes Tiffany Chenneville, PhD, and Janet T. Thomas, PsyD, as the 2025 recipients of the Lifetime Award for Accomplishments in Ethics Education, honoring their exceptional leadership, scholarship, and service in advancing ethical practice across psychology.

Congratulations to Tiffany Chenneville, PhD, who was awarded the 2025 APA Ethics Committee’s Lifetime Award for Accomplishments in Ethics Education. Chenneville, a Marie E. and E. Leslie Cole Endowed Chair in Ethics and Professor of Psychology and Pediatrics at the University of South Florida, is internationally recognized for her transformative contributions to ethics education in psychology. 

Chenneville's career reflects a sustained commitment to advancing ethical practice, research integrity, and global health equity. Chenneville’s scholarship spans professional ethics, research ethics, treatment ethics, and the ethical dimensions of integrated behavioral health care, with a particular emphasis on HIV and matters of sexual health among youth and marginalized communities. 

A prolific educator and mentor, Chenneville has taught numerous graduate and undergraduate ethics courses. Her leadership as an ethics educator is complemented by influential scholarship addressing decisional capacity, confidentiality, autonomy–protection tensions in minor research, ethical humility, and ethical challenges in global and interdisciplinary contexts.

Chenneville’s publications in leading journals such as the American Psychologist and Ethics & Behavior have helped shape contemporary discourse on topics such as ethical practice in integrated care, scientific integrity, psychologists’ responsibilities in pandemics, and the ethical implications of emerging technologies. Her cross-cultural ethics work—including research collaborations in Kenya, South Africa, India, England, and Canada—demonstrates a longstanding commitment to culturally responsive, justice-centered ethical frameworks. 

In addition to her scholarship, Chenneville has profoundly advanced ethical understanding across research, practice, and education through professional service, including formerly chairing the APA Ethics Committee. Chenneville’s career embodies the values of integrity, humility, and global responsibility. Read Chenneville's curriculum vitae (PDF, 584KB)opens in new window. 

Congratulations to Janet T. Thomas, PsyD, who was awarded the 2025 APA Ethics Committee’s Lifetime Award for Accomplishments in Ethics Education.  Thomas has been a licensed psychologist since 1986 and in private practice in Saint Paul, Minnesota, since 1991. Her background includes work in medical, psychiatric, rehabilitation, college counseling, and community mental health settings.

Thomas also offers clinical supervision to applicants seeking licensure as psychologists and counselors. Additionally, she specializes in clinical and ethics consultation for mental health professionals facing ethical dilemmas, impasses with clients or supervisees, and allegations of unethical behavior by clients, employers, students, or supervisees. A significant portion of her practice involves providing board-ordered remedial courses and mandated supervision and consultation aimed at helping psychologists and other mental health professionals as they recover from ethics complaints.

Thomas’s ethics background also includes serving as chair of the Minnesota Psychological Association’s Ethics Committee and a member of the APA Ethics Committee. She has taught graduate courses, including supervision and consultation, and professional ethics at multiple institutions, including Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota, the Minnesota School of Professional Psychology, and the University of Saint Thomas.

Thomas has been an ethics item writer for the Examination for the Professional Practice of Psychology since 2011 and coleader of the ethics domain for the EPPP-2 since its inception. She has presented ethics training to mental health professionals in the United States and in several international venues. Her ethics publications include book chapters, journal articles, and the book, The Ethics of Supervision and Consultation: Practical Guidance for Mental Health Professionals, published by APA. A second edition is currently in process. Read Thomas's curriculum vitae (PDF, 221KB).opens in new window