APA will open the ballots for Divison Elections in May 2023. At that time, Divison members will receive an email from APA to vote in the election. In the meanwhile, Division 52 is proud to announce its candidates for elected positions in the Divsion and to post their candidate statements.
Open positions for 2023 include (names in alphabetical order):
- President Elect – Candidates – Michele Ribeiro, EdD, Martha Zlokovich, PhD
- Treasurer – Candidates – Scarlett Choi, PhD, Laura Dryjanska PhD
- ECP Chair—Elect – Candidate – Erinn Cameron, MA
- Student Chair—Elect – Candidates – Antonios Kagialis, Olivia Mounet, MA, Guolin Zhang, MA
CANDIDATES FOR PRESIDENT-ELECT
Duties: Serves one year as President-Elect, one year as President, and one year as immediate Past President. The duties of the President-Elect are to work collaboratively with the “Presidential Trio” (past-current-elect) to provide continuity in the implementation of the Division 52 strategic plan. The President-Elect also serves as Co-Chair with the Past President of the Strategic Planning Committee and participates actively in Division committees on awards and nominations as well as the Board and the Presidential Advisory Committee.
Michele Ribeiro, EdD, ABPP, CGP, AGPA-F
Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS)
Oregon State University
Candidate Statement
I am honored to be nominated to run for the Division 52 President-Elect position. Serving as the division’s secretary for the past four years has given me a strong understanding of how the division operates and the value this community plays in the larger APA structures and within the global community of psychology. There is so much talent and resourcefulness in our division, and the opportunity to grow it and expand our membership to include more global representation is exciting and necessary if we are to meet the challenges of today. Understanding the psychology of people, culture, land, and healing within the global context has been part of my passion and work since the mid-1990s. I more recently engaged with APA’s International Partner program in Cuba and Tanzania and have continued collaborations specifically in Tanzania. My goal if elected is to advance the work of my predecessors with continuing to be a part of global conversations, advocacy, research, and practice and to promote a stronger global network of psychologists. I am strongly committed to APA as an organization and keeping Division 52 attuned to the APA strategic plan, integrating EDI into everything we do, and continuing collaborative work with the Office of International Affairs. Other involvement, I serve(d) on the Council of Representatives (CoR) for Div 49 (Group Psychology and Group Psychotherapy); the Caucus on Promoting Global and Global Human Rights Perspectives; the CoR EDI Advisory Group; and Member at Large for Div 49 and the American Group Psychotherapy Association.
Martha Zlokovich, PhD
Executive Director
Psi Chi, the International Honor Society in Psychology
Chatanooga, Tennessee
Candidate Statement:
I would be honored to serve as Division 52 President, having nearly completed two 3-year terms as D52 Treasurer, and serving on several committees. As a developmental psychologist, I have pursued two career paths. First as a faculty member focused on teaching and learning of psychology, second as Executive Director of Psi Chi, the International Honor Society in Psychology. As ED, I focused on leading Psi Chi’s transformation from a national to an international honor society. Since 2009, Psi Chi grew from one international chapter to 32 in 23 different countries or U.S. territories. In addition, I helped establish our Network for International Collaborative Exchange (NICE) research project; this year’s global project includes researchers from 30 countries. My interest in connecting with people internationally began as an exchange student to Germany and continues to influence my work today. More generally, I have served as President of the Psi Chi Board, Association of College Honor Societies Board, and Society of Psychologists in Leadership Board. As a faculty member I served as Faculty Senate Chair, Psychology Department Chair, Director of the Center for Scholarship in Teaching and Learning, and was elected to the Cape Girardeau Public School Board. Such professional and life experiences enhance my ability to serve as an effective President for D52. Leadership of D52 is critical as people across the globe continue to cope with the aftermath of the pandemic, war, political unrest, violence, and threats to democracy – and look to psychology for addressing these problems.
CANDIDATES FOR TREASURER
Duties: Serves three years as Treasurer. The duties of the Treasurer are to Chair and regularly convene the Finance Committee; to keep accounts that clearly categorize and track all Division income and expenses, to reconcile these accounts with reports from APA finance, and to disburse funds as within the approved budget; and to prepare the annual budget in consultation with the President and the Board of Directors for adopton by the Board of directors.
Scarlett Choi, PhD
Graduate School of Professional Psychology
University of Denver
Denver, Colorado
Candidate Statement:
I am excited about the possible opportunity to serve the Div 52 as Treasurer. As a dedicated member of Div 52, I have served in various roles over the last 3 years including the Henry David Mentoring Award Committee Chair and the 2022 APA Convention Division Program Co-Chair. I enjoyed working with the excellent scholars, professionals and students in our division community and have developed my interest in getting even more involved in and learning more about the division operation.
I believe I have the skills and experience necessary to effectively manage the financial affairs of our fast growing Division. I am currently the Director of the Clinical Psychology PsyD Program at the University of Denver. Accredited by the APA since 1979, our program is one of the oldest, largest, and the most competitive PsyD programs in the nation. As the director of this large department, I manage its operation, develop and implement policies and procedures, maintain its APA accreditation, prepare and manage budgets, and supervise and mentor the faculty and students.
In addition to my professional experience, my interests in quantitative research, scale development, and psychological measurement and assessment also evidence my organized, accurate and detail-oriented nature. If elected as treasurer, I will be dedicated to ensuring that our division operates in a fiscally responsible manner while also ensuring that we have the resources necessary to achieve our goals by working closely with the division board and members. Thank you for considering my candidacy.
Candidate Statement:
For almost a decade I have enjoyed being a member of Division 52, which has been extremely helpful to me in terms of networking and other opportunities. I feel that now is the time to give back by volunteering to serve as the treasurer of Division 52. I do well in terms of financial literacy and understanding the importance of collective decision making in relation to money and budgets. As a former president in other volunteer-based associations (service clubs), I have always worked closely with treasurers in the United States, Ecuador, and Italy. This has given me some solid experience in terms of managing money wisely, taking into account the importance of cultural variables and different economic realities. I would be honored to serve the interests of global psychology as the treasurer of Division 52.
CANDIDATES FOR ECP Chair-Elect
Duties: The Early Career Psychologist (ECP) Chair (within 10 years of doctoral degree) works to increase visibility of ECP representation in the Division and in APA, works to develop resources for career development in an international context and represents ECP concerns to the Board of Directors. The term is 3 years.
Erinn Cameron, MA
University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Stellenbosch University, and Fielding Graduate University
Candidate Statement:
I am excited about the opportunity to serve as the Div 52 ECP Chair-Elect. I have been a dedicated and highly involved member of Division 52 throughout my doctoral studies, serving in various roles. I currently serve as editor of the Division 52 International Psychology Bulletin, 2023 APA Convention Division 52 Program Co-Chair, and am now rotating out of my position as the past student chair. I am also an inaugural member of the Division 52 International Committee for Environmental Justice. I have enjoyed working with the members of Division 52 in these various roles and have built lifelong relationships along the way. I fondly think of Division 52 as my APA home. I am committed to increasing ECP engagement within Division 52 and creating bidirectional mentorship and collaboration opportunities. I also pledge to find ways to bridge the gap between students and ECPs within the division and, more broadly, within APA. I look forward to the continued opportunity to serve the membership of Division 52.
CANDIDATES FOR Student Chair-Elect
Duties: Duties of the Chair-Elect of the Student Committee include: Active involvement with the Student Committee; Active involvement with activiies of the Division 52 Board of Directors; and assisting in the coordination of Division student communications, outreach, and engagement with students and associated Division committees and processes. The term is 3 years. Only Divison 52 Student Members may vote for student Chair-Elect.
Antonios Kagialis
University of Crete, Greece
Candidate Statement:
My name is Antonios Kagialis, and I am a Master’s student in Neurosciences, at the University of Crete, Greece. During my graduate and undergraduate years, I was fortunate to coordinate the local data collection of multicultural projects in Greece and Cyprus, and thus include populations from these two small countries in large international studies. I was also fortunate to be the 2022-2023 NICE (Network for International Collaborative Exchange) chair of Psi Chi, the International Honor Society of Psychology, coordinating the implementation of a cross-cultural research project. In collaboration with esteemed colleagues, this year we increased the program’s international representation from 19 to 30 countries. During this collaboration, I also had the opportunity to mentor our student contributors from around the world, hold regular web meetings with them to hear their concerns and provide them with support on both research-related and academic growth topics.
If elected, my goal would be to further promote the activities of the division to universities both in the US and internationally. I also aim to organize and facilitate open science cross-cultural research opportunities, webinars and conventions on cross-cultural psychology topics by taking into consideration language and time differences, and mentoring and exchange programs that will benefit students irrespective of their personal or university’s resources. Overall, my priority is listening to the current challenges that other students face and proposing culturally sensitive strategies on how they could be resolved.
Being elected would be also a great opportunity for me to further develop my mentoring, personal, and academic skills.
Guolin Zhang, MA
Ball State University
Muncie, Indiana
Candidate Statement:
Being a part of the Division 52 student committee in the past years and having worked with other students with similar interests are my biggest reasons to run for the Division 52 student chair-elect position. I feel blessed that I joined the Division 52 student committee because through this experience I have learned so much and received so much support from the faculty and students I met here. As a Chinese international student, I sometimes do feel out of place while learning and practicing in the field of psychology. I value Division 52 as it is certainly a place where I feel seen, heard, and respected. People here value the internationalization of psychology and hope to challenge the underlying values and assumptions about psychology. I hope that if elected I can help build an inclusive and supportive environment for other students so that they feel seen and supported and can realize and actualize their potential. I hope to continue facilitating the growth of our student committee, creating more cross-cultural mentoring opportunities for our students, and creating more research projects and field projects that advance an inclusive understanding of psychology science and psychology practices. I sincerely hope that future students will be able to feel the same way I do about Division 52 and learn and grow from their experiences here.
Olivia D. Mounet, MA
Fielding Graduate University
USA
Candidate Statement:
I have had the immense honor of working closely with Division 52 in the past and have enjoyed presenting research at the annual conference previously. I am nearing the end of my doctoral journey which has placed me firmly within the realm of social justice issues in the field of psychology. My research interests stem from a desire to challenge the homogenous Western view of psychology and push the field in the direction of globalization, culturally competent diagnostic practices, and meaningful representation within psychological research. I am currently conducting research on the misdiagnosis of personality disorders in gender diverse populations. As a Muslim woman having lived and worked in several countries including Germany, Canada, and the UK, I believe I bring lived experiences to the position of student chair, as well as strong communication skills. Having worked for the last 10 years as a school psychologist, I have been afforded the opportunity to learn how to hear and advocate for individuals and families who may struggle with discrimination, lack of procedural awareness, and the feelings that go along with these challenges.
My hope is to start conversations with other students and professionals in the field that query why “cultural considerations” are often an afterthought or limitation in recent literature, rather than the lens through which the work is conducted. I view the position of Division 52 student chair as one of advocacy and it would be a privilege to earn your support.