Carolyn Robertson Payton, EdD, was a psychologist and the first female and African-American to be appointed director of the United States Peace Corps. Payton served as a field assessment officer for trainees before being appointed as the Peace Corps director for the Eastern Caribbean region based in Barbados. Her success in the position led to gender as a qualifier being officially dropped as a Peace Corps requirement for consideration of overseas positions.
She earned her master's degree in clinical psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her doctorate of education in counseling and student administration from Columbia University. For her master's thesis, Payton conducted a comparative study on the intelligence of blacks and whites using the newly introduced Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale. Black participants were selected based on age, gender and socioeconomic level, and for one of the first times had been included in the development and application of test norms for a prominent intelligence test.
Payton worked as a psychologist at Livingston College, a psychology instructor and the Dean of Women at Elizabeth City State Teachers College and as a faculty member at Howard University. At Howard, she taught child, abnormal and experimental psychology, but was better known as the director of the Howard University Counseling Service, and later served as the dean of Counseling and Career Development. There, she provided counseling to staff, student, community members and developed in-house training and clinical supervision programs. Additionally, she pioneered the use of group therapy techniques for African-American clients and focused providing clinic.
Payton was an active member of APA for over forty years and was one of the original members of the Task Force on the Psychology of Black Women. The APA Carolyn Payton Early Career Award is named in her honor. She is a recipient of the Distinguished Professional Contributions to Public Service Award and the APA Award for Outstanding Lifetime Contributions to Psychology.