APA President Candidates – Responses to D52 Questions
Note from the Presidential Trio:
The Presidential Trio invited each candidate for APA President-elect and Board of Directors to answer three questions that we believed to be of relevance to the International Psychology division. Our division does not endorse candidates, but we believe in providing information about the candidates. Below, please find how each of the presidential candidates responded to the same three questions. Candidates who are Division 52 members are noted.
Without any explicit encouragement for any particular candidate, we do urge members to vote!
CYNTHIA DE LAS FUENTES, PhD
1. What role, if any, is there for psychology outside of the U.S. in the activities and mission of APA?
APA has an important role in helping psychologists better communicate their scientific findings to the global public in ways that facilitate desired impact. This is most true for the science that is being produced by psychological scientists working in the areas that address global concerns because they have critical knowledge to offer the world, whether they are examining the spread of communicable diseases, evaluating effective strategies for encouraging recycling, addressing the trafficking of women and girls, or studying migration and human responses to inequity, war, poverty, and climate change. While there are already some mechanisms in place to promote psychology-based knowledge, I believe we must strongly advocate for and facilitate interdisciplinary and international collaborations that take advantage of research-practice opportunities that can inform and impact real world and global problems. To my mind, working in silos is no longer an option for solving the 21st century problems.
2. What projects and plans are in your campaign platform to further the globalization of psychology, particularly in relation to the governance, structure, and policies of APA, and its Directorates and Divisions.
As president, I will work toward decreasing our reliance on WEIRD subject pools, decreasing barriers to access to our science (i.e., the least we can do is publish our abstracts in other languages, especially those relevant to the work being produced), and increasing the generalizability of our science across borders (e.g., climate change knows no borders, nor does the migration patterns that result from it), collaborating with multinational psychological associations means we can address psychological concerns that affect us all. This perspective makes us less ethnocentric, more culturally humble, and facilitates our being more inclusive and collaborative partners. Key to enacting a global perspective is supporting the APA’s Office of International Affairs and its many initiatives (e.g., U.N. team, Global Psychology Alliance, International Learning Partner Program), Division 52, and international initiatives within Divisions and SPTAs. As president, I will work to do my part to facilitate this process.
3. What are your thoughts about supporting the establishment of a new elected APA Board position for an APA Member or APA Affiliate living outside of North America and not a U.S. citizen?
Because this is the first time I learn of this proposal, my thoughts are that I would be curious to learn more about the rationale and desired impact of such a role and would desire to collaborate with the movers of the proposal on what may be the best processes toward achieving their goals. Having been on the BOD in the past, I am not sure that is the best vehicle for some desired outcomes, or whether adding more positions (rather than slating one of the member-at-large positions) is a process we want to replicate (e.g., as we have with COR). Without further information, I must be prudent at this time and maintain a curious and open stance.
DIANA L. PRESCOTT, PhD (Division 52 Member)
1. What role, if any, is there for psychology outside of the U.S. in the activities and mission of APA?
Many of psychology’s critical issues are global (e.g, COVID, immigration, racism, war). I have been promoting this perspective as Board liaison to CIRP and as a Division 52 member. This perspective has been woven into APA’s strategic plan. One operational principle is to “Embrace a global perspective. Advance psychology globally through international engagement, association efforts, and meaningful collaborations.” Part of APA’s strategic goals are to “increase the influence of psychology on policy decisions at the international…level(s).” I want to broaden APA’s tent to include all psychologists with their unique mixture of characteristics, regardless of where they live. I am serving as a member at large on the board of the International Association of Applied Psychology (IAAP) and as secretary of Division 17 (Professional Practice), and I present internationally on rural integrated care. These activities demonstrate my commitment to an essential role for psychology and APA outside of the United States.
2. What projects and plans are in your campaign platform to further the globalization of psychology, particularly in relation to the governance, structure, and policies of APA, and its Directorates and Divisions.
I intend to extend our initiatives of addressing deep poverty and health equity to rural and underserved areas globally. APA has developed relationships with international partners, establishing many Memorandums of Understanding with other psychological associations. Our ability to connect virtually has increased the possibility of international collaboration (e.g., the hybrid APA Convention, the Global Psychology Alliance). As APA President, I would include, connect, and unify people, and I look forward to partnering with Division 52 to make a positive difference in psychological health and well-being world-wide. Our campaign platform relies on inclusion within and outside of our organization. I highly value the diversity and strengths of psychologists in APA as well as around the world. We must address the pain we are witness to each day, resulting from factors like the COVID pandemic, racism, war, xenophobia, natural and human disasters (such as hurricanes, floods, and fires exacerbated by climate change).
3. What are your thoughts about supporting the establishment of a new elected APA Board position for an APA Member or APA Affiliate living outside of North America and not a U.S. citizen?
I think it is a great idea to codify our commitment to the international nature of our organization by representing this value in the form of an APA Board position. In our slating process, the Board considers what perspectives are being reflected on the Board and what viewpoints are missing. This assessment is communicated to the NASCC (Needs Assessment, Slating, and Campaign Committee). We reorganized APA to be nimbler, enabling us to respond quickly and reflect what perspectives are needed on the Board during a given year. Representing this emphasis on an international perspective concretely (such as how the graduate student perspective is represented by the APAGS member on the Board) provides a mechanism to ensure this international perspective is reflected and considered in Board deliberation. I am very comfortable with this member being an APA Member or APA Affiliate living outside of North America and not a U.S. citizen.
Our campaign website is: dianaprescott.com
BETH N. ROM-RYMER, PhD (Division 52 Member)
1. What role, if any, is there for psychology outside of the U.S. in the activities and mission of APA?
A global perspective must be cultivated as the foundation for the future of psychology, APA, and those we serve and teach. Since 2019, I have been collaborating with psychologist colleagues in Brazil, Canada, China, Jamaica, UK, Netherlands, Norway, South Africa, Japan, Singapore, and Taiwan, to expand the scope of psychological practice and to serve the most vulnerable among us. It is critical to approach our numerous international partnerships with an attitude of collaborative science/flexibility/honesty, via a commitment to reciprocity/respect and a desire to learn from them, as well as contribute. We are looking forward to the in-person 26th South African Psychology Congress. I have partnered with my South African colleagues to create a symposium that highlights their work in building a powerful Prescriptive Authority Movement. As APA President, I will ensure that APA’s global perspective is envisioned with opportunities and support for clinical services expansion, serving those most in need.
What projects and plans are in your campaign platform to further the globalization of psychology, particularly in relation to the governance, structure, and policies of APA, and its Directorates and Divisions?
As APA President, I will fully abide by the Resolution on Promoting Global Perspectives in U.S. Psychology, adopted as APA Policy by the APA Council of Representatives in February 2017. The Resolution’s tenets include:
- Promoting inquiry that includes comprehensive global perspectives and content in psychological theory/practice/education/research and policy.
- Recommending that APA boards/committees/Council routinely and systematically incorporate comprehensive global perspectives in their work/develop criteria against which to evaluate this impact/coordinate with APA International Affairs Office.
- Developing guidance and best practices for ethically sound/culturally aware international collaborations.
- Encouraging psychologists to understand that international collaborations are often influenced by power hierarchies, and that dominant frameworks marginalize subordinate frameworks on global and local levels.
- Encouraging U. S. psychologists to learn/use local languages in conducting professional work in communities domestically and internationally.
- Promoting comprehensive global perspectives across association activities including publication practices, public interest, science, education, and professional initiatives.
3. What are your thoughts about supporting the establishment of a new elected APA Board position for an APA Member or APA Affiliate living outside of North America and not a U.S. citizen?
As a young, French-speaking college student, I spent a summer living with a Quebecois family and working at the local community center, teaching music to my school-age charges. The following summer, I worked as a student psychologist, music teacher/dance teacher, at a large residential school, in the southern French Alps. Beyond the work that I did, I spent hours talking with my colleagues, in French, about local politics, international affairs, and sharing our personal narratives. Throughout my career, I have sought to form international partnerships. The richness of these cultural, linguistic relationships continually advance my work.
I wholeheartedly support the establishment of a Board position for a psychologist outside of the United States! Creating this new position is inclusive/pluralistic, gives substance to our global outreach, and moves us to a more diverse and global organization, informed by those whose voices communicate authentic perspectives that otherwise might not have been heard.
KIRK SCHNEIDER, PHD (Division 52 Member)
1. What role, if any, is there for psychology outside of the U.S. in the activities and mission of APA?
I have been a long-time advocate of existential-humanistic and existential-integrative psychology, which have deep roots in the understanding and treatment of humanity, not just U.S. psychology. I have also had the honor of speaking and teaching in many countries including the UK, China, France, Japan, Argentina, Jordan, Greece, Lithuania, Russia and Germany among others. In that light, I see APA’s mission as modeling a psychology of the whole human being, rooted in our common relationship to our physiology, behavior, cognition, interpersonal life, and cosmic mystery of existence. If you look at my platform statement you will see that I address these dimensions in responding to what I view as the top psychosocial challenge of our times (globally, not just in the U.S.)–emotionally restorative relationships. These are relationships in which people feel heard and seen and that get at the roots of their problems. Although I don’t have the space to describe this platform in detail here I provide a summary in Question 2.
As an example of my international concerns, I will be facilitating a one-on-one dialogue format-The Experiential Democracy Dialogue, which is detailed in my latest book The Depolarizing of America: A Guidebook for Social Healing, for the Harvard Alumni for Mental Health on Sept. 17. This dialogue will feature a Harvard professor from the John F. Kennedy School of Government and an independent Chinese scholar, who is also a member of the Chinese Communist Party, on the topic of U.S.- China relations.
What projects and plans are in your campaign platform to further the globalization of psychology, particularly in relation to the governance, structure, and policies of APA, and its Directorates and Divisions.
Following is a summary of my campaign platform and its implications for the globalization of psychology:
Social crises are exploding today and we need to mobilize our discipline for action. I propose that we develop a National Corps of Psychologists to facilitate “emotionally restorative relationships” throughout our country. These are relationships that help people to feel seen and heard and that get at the roots of their problems. Specifically, I call for this Corps to provide highly structured, healing dialogues to address the alarming cultural and political divides in our country. I also call for the Corps to provide equitable access to longer term, emotionally restorative psychotherapy. This framework moreover would be integrative, comprising, as appropriate, medical, cognitive-behavioral, psychodynamic and existential dimensions of practice. The Corps would also foster a wide range of services to enhance individual and public well-being. For example, it could expand the availability of first responders to aid police dealing with mental health emergencies; provide consulting services to organizations in impoverished communities, and bolster the time and quality of psychological services in schools, hospitals, prisons, governmental and diplomatic settings–wherever such services are in greatest need today. I also view this National Corps as a model for such programs internationally. I believe the aim and mission of the Corps–to provide people with sustained and affordable, emotionally restorative relationships is critical to addressing the crises in mental health and organizational viability in many places throughout the world, and would help our world generally to achieve a more peaceable and flourishing state of being.
To fund this National Corps of Psychologists I would use the platform of APA president to call on the support of government, private industry and others who care about the state of our profession and world. Such funding in turn would generate the pilot studies, grants and other forms of support that would help to discern the viability and long-term sustainability of given Corps services. The superb resources of our research as well as applied and practice communities will be very much needed in this timely, broad-based effort.
Finally, to see my related proposals–such as a summit of APA Division leaders and a federal office of psychological advisors–visit here.
What are your thoughts about supporting the establishment of a new elected APA Board position for an APA Member or APA Affiliate living outside of North America and not a U.S. citizen?
I think this is a wonderful idea and would go a long way to bridging many gaps–theoretical and practical–in cross-cultural psychology. It would also bring us a key step closer to a genuinely holistic picture of humanity, a goal that has been long sought by those of us concerned about what it means to be fully, experientially human and how that illuminates a vital and fulfilled life.
As previously noted, I have been an invited speaker at many international venues, and I have consistently felt deeply gratified, not only by the professional exchanges but by the rich and lasting bonds that were formed, and that now form the basis for mutually expanded theoretical and practical applications as a result. My books The Handbook of Humanistic Psychology, Existential-Integrative Psychotherapy, The Polarized Mind, and The Depolarizing of America reflect this enriched and expanded view–and I propose to offer it if elected APA president. Thank you deeply for your consideration of my candidacy. It bears repeating that there are enormous stakes in this election–for our discipline, our society, and our world.