American Psychological Association Elects Drexel Professor Donald N. Bersoff as 2013 President德雷克塞尔教授唐纳德·N·伯索夫当选2013年度美国心理学会年主席
WASHINGTON—Donald N. Bersoff, PhD, JD, Drexel University professor and national expert on legal and ethical issues in mental health, has been elected 2013 president of the American Psychological Association.
Bersoff serves on the faculties of Drexel’s psychology department and Earle Mack School of Law, where he directs the JD/PhD program in law and psychology. He edited the landmark book心理学中的伦理冲突 Ethical Conflicts in Psychology, now in its fourth edition, and has written more than 100 publications and papers on the interaction of law, psychology and public policy.
“As APA president, my top initiatives will be to have psychologists take the lead in serving the mental health needs of military personnel, veterans and their families; ensure that we train clinicians to work with increasingly diverse clientele; and do whatever is necessary to attract and retain academicians and scientists,” Bersoff said.
Bersoff was the APA’s first general counsel, from 1979 to 1989, during which he authored 50 briefs filed in the U.S. Supreme Court and lower federal and state courts. His work provided social science evidence relevant to issues such as sex stereotyping, women’s and adolescents’ reproductive rights, hospital privileges for psychologists, admissibility of psychological expertise, jury decision making, privacy rights of the LGBT community, children’s testimony and rights of the severely mentally disabled.
A native of New York, Bersoff received his PhD in 1965 from New York University and his JD in 1976 from Yale Law School. He served as an Air Force clinical psychologist from 1965 to 1968, with two years in Southeast Asia.
His other academic positions included developing the nation’s second joint law and psychology program, offered by Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland School of Law, as well as faculty posts at the University of Georgia’s College of Education and Ohio State University.
Elected to three terms on the APA Council of Representatives, he served as president of the American Psychology-Law Society (APA Division 41) and chairman of the Association of American Law Schools Section on Mental Disability Law.
He received the Presidential Citation for Distinguished Service to APA in 2000. His other awards include Distinguished Contributions to Psychology as a Science and Profession and the Ethics Educator of the Year from the Pennsylvania Psychological Association; the Arthur Furst Ethics Award from the Pacific Graduate School of Psychology; and, the Lifetime Contribution Award from the American Psychology-Law Society.
The American Psychological Association, in Washington, D.C., is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States and is the world's largest association of psychologists. APA's membership includes more than 154,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in 54 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance psychology as a science, as a profession and as a means of promoting health, education and human welfare.
===============Candidate statement
We have a tendency when it comes to the APA presidential election to vote for a candidate who fits comfortably within our own division, caucus or interest group. I would urge voters to buck that trend. I am not a niche candidate.
There are several fundamental and difficult realities APA must face: 1.) The rapidly changing nature of professional practice; 2.) restrictions in funding for research and professional training; 3.) increasing diversity of those we serve and study; 4.) the need to create new venues for employment and nontraditional interprofessional connections; and 5.) budgetary and membership pressures within APA. It will take a president with broad experience to address these realities by developing, in concert with all constituencies, practical solutions to promote the interests of all our members — scientists, professionals and educators. In that regard, I have filled almost all the roles a psychologist can — military clinician during the Vietnam War, independent practitioner, school psychologist, director of a college counseling center and currently, academic — director of an interdisciplinary program in law and psychology. I have a proven record of advocacy for women, racial and ethnic minorities, and the LGBT community. Given that APA is mired in complex litigation, it might not be a bad idea to elect a president who is a lawyer and a psychologist.
Should I be elected, my presidential initiative will be to commit our scientific, educational, public interest and professional resources to better serve the mental health needs of military personnel, veterans and their families and ameliorate the trauma suffered by female military as a result of sexual assaults. Let us move from condoning psychologists’ involvement in coerced interrogations to intervening positively in the lives of those who put their bodies and their minds on the line for us every day.
Video statement
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Video transcript
I will make four points in support of my candidacy for president of APA:
1. The major role of the president is as the face of psychology;
2. The president should have governance experience;
3. The president should represent all of psychology; and
4. The president should have an agenda that will serve the public as well as have an impact on the future of psychology.
I believe I fulfill all these criteria.
As for governance experience, I served as APA's first in-house lawyer. I have served three terms on Council and on the Board of Directors
As for representation, I have worked in and identified with each of psychology's tripartite roles -- therapist, assessor and researcher. I have had a private practice, published in APA's major journals and taught at several universities.
As for role, when you cast your vote for president you are choosing the person you believe to be the most qualified to serve as the face of psychology to the world. On behalf of APA, I have testified before Senate and House committees, argued before state and federal courts, and have been invited to speak at international conferences.
With broad experience in every area of psychology combined with legal training, I can not only advocate for APA but to do so persuasively.
As for the future, I have three presidential initiatives:
1. Have psychologists take the lead in serving the mental health needs of military personnel, veterans and their families;
2. Ensure that we train clinicians to work with increasingly diverse clientele; and
3. Do whatever is necessary to attract and retain academicians and scientists.
If you support these goals and believe I am the most qualified candidate to carry them out, I would appreciate your first place vote.
Thank you.
Candidate statement
We have a tendency when it comes to the APA presidential election to vote for a candidate who fits comfortably within our own division, caucus or interest group. I would urge voters to buck that trend. I am not a niche candidate.
There are several fundamental and difficult realities APA must face: 1.) The rapidly changing nature of professional practice; 2.) restrictions in funding for research and professional training; 3.) increasing diversity of those we serve and study; 4.) the need to create new venues for employment and nontraditional interprofessional connections; and 5.) budgetary and membership pressures within APA. It will take a president with broad experience to address these realities by developing, in concert with all constituencies, practical solutions to promote the interests of all our members — scientists, professionals and educators. In that regard, I have filled almost all the roles a psychologist can — military clinician during the Vietnam War, independent practitioner, school psychologist, director of a college counseling center and currently, academic — director of an interdisciplinary program in law and psychology. I have a proven record of advocacy for women, racial and ethnic minorities, and the LGBT community. Given that APA is mired in complex litigation, it might not be a bad idea to elect a president who is a lawyer and a psychologist.
Should I be elected, my presidential initiative will be to commit our scientific, educational, public interest and professional resources to better serve the mental health needs of military personnel, veterans and their families and ameliorate the trauma suffered by female military as a result of sexual assaults. Let us move from condoning psychologists’ involvement in coerced interrogations to intervening positively in the lives of those who put their bodies and their minds on the line for us every day.
Video transcript
I will make four points in support of my candidacy for president of APA:
1. The major role of the president is as the face of psychology;
2. The president should have governance experience;
3. The president should represent all of psychology; and
4. The president should have an agenda that will serve the public as well as have an impact on the future of psychology.
I believe I fulfill all these criteria.
As for governance experience, I served as APA's first in-house lawyer. I have served three terms on Council and on the Board of Directors
As for representation, I have worked in and identified with each of psychology's tripartite roles -- therapist, assessor and researcher. I have had a private practice, published in APA's major journals and taught at several universities.
As for role, when you cast your vote for president you are choosing the person you believe to be the most qualified to serve as the face of psychology to the world. On behalf of APA, I have testified before Senate and House committees, argued before state and federal courts, and have been invited to speak at international conferences.
With broad experience in every area of psychology combined with legal training, I can not only advocate for APA but to do so persuasively.
As for the future, I have three presidential initiatives:
1. Have psychologists take the lead in serving the mental health needs of military personnel, veterans and their families;
2. Ensure that we train clinicians to work with increasingly diverse clientele; and
3. Do whatever is necessary to attract and retain academicians and scientists.
If you support these goals and believe I am the most qualified candidate to carry them out, I would appreciate your first place vote.
Thank you.
