Q1
: How will you assure APA constituents, the general public and the international community that APA is committed to upholding the highest ethical standards?
First, the association’s ethics director should report directly to the CEO. This strategy parallels universities, whereby athletics directors report directly to the university president. Hence, the CEO is responsible for the Ethics Office’s actions. Second, the ethics director must have access to external consultation. Law firms employ such strategies. If the ethics director has a conflict with the CEO or the organization more generally, the director can seek external counsel. That consultant would then be permitted to communicate directly with the president and the body that supervises the CEO, if necessary. Third, I would publicly announce and justify these changes.
Q2: How would you promote communication and outreach to communities of color in response to domestic and international human rights and social justice issues?
As president, I will represent APA at meetings of the Alliance of National Psychological Associations for Racial and Ethnic Equity, as well as attend meetings of the individual ethnic-minority psychological associations. The alliance offers an opportunity for respectful, bi-directional, egalitarian communication between APA and communities of color. My involvement with several international psychological associations already affords me opportunities to share APA’s mission to benefit a global society and, in turn, incorporate differing worldviews. I will devote some of my Monitor presidential columns to issues of equality and social justice — my body of professional work has always reflected these values.
