When I ran for APA president-elect in 2017, I asked us to “Dream Big and Do More.” Now, at the end of my presidential term, I can say for sure that we did. We have a strategic plan called “Impact” that is helping us to transform APA internally and externally in ways that share the best that psychology has to offer in science, practice, education and the public interest.
As part of that vision, we worked together to raise awareness of deep poverty, and thousands of APA members and other groups nationwide took part in my five-week deep poverty challenge as a first effort to end this social, psychological, economic and political scourge. I know that you will continue that work in your communities until you see real change.
Meanwhile, hundreds of psychologists participated in PsycShorts, our psychological science video festival and competition, to help the public better understand that science is the foundation of psychology. Now, educators across the country are using these videos as teaching tools.
We made great strides in advocacy, too. APA Chief Executive Officer Arthur C. Evans Jr., PhD, testified before Congress on the opioid crisis, and we lobbied to gain more support for student loan forgiveness, gun-violence research, humane changes in immigration policies, returning science to the U.S. Department of Justice and much more.
Of course, there is still plenty of work ahead. Our field has yet to address many issues, including how our profession’s upcoming majority female representation will impact psychology’s power dynamics and service delivery, and how technology and data collection will affect the rights of research participants and patients. We must also consider rewriting our Ethics Code to better reflect the wide range of cultural values held by the diverse populations affected by the code.
As I end my term as APA president, I want to thank everyone who made it such an exciting, memorable and impactful year. As I see it, “dreaming big” points the way to change, and “doing more” is harder than we think—but it’s the way to get big things done. And as witnessed by our collective efforts, we can make a difference. Thank you for letting me serve.
