Vice President of Scientific Affairs – March 2016
It has been an honor to represent the field of Counseling Psychology and our scientific interests as the SCP Vice President of Scientific Affairs. Since my last report, the advisory board members (Erin Hardin, G.E. Kawika Allen, Frank Dillon, Brandy Piña-Watson, and Sherry Wang) and I worked diligently on the selection of the counseling psychologist to give the Best in Science Address at the APA Convention this summer in Denver. This year we will be honoring an early career psychologist who has made a significant contribution to the science of Counseling Psychology. Thus, we are pleased to announce that Dr. Mindi Thompson from the University of Wisconsin-Madison will be giving this year’s address titled “Social Class: Interrogating its Meaning and Considering Future Directions.” Her scholarship within vocational psychology on issues of social class and classism using both qualitative and quantitative methodologies is cutting edge and encompasses the core values and foundations of Counseling Psychology. Watch for future announcements regarding the day and time of this address. Please come out and support Dr. Thompson during the convention. The remainder of this year will be focused on implementing priorities related to research and scholarship developed during the SCP mid-winter meeting at the end of January. I engaged in a very helpful and productive process with board members along with Leadership Academy faculty and participants. From this process, two major priorities emerged. First, there is a paucity of information on the quality of our Masters training within Counseling Psychology. Research focused on the Counseling Psychology training competencies (particularly related to our unique strengths in prevention, diversity, and social justice along with our goal of instilling a scientist-practitioner mindset) and the provision of services from our Masters trainees to underserved communities is greatly needed. It is our hope to bring a group of talented researchers together to begin addressing this issue. A secondary priority stressed the importance of securing grants to fund Counseling Psychology scholarship. Specifically, suggestions for developing grant writing and management workshops and webinars were made. Additionally, a suggestion was made to gather a panel of counseling psychologists who have been grant reviewers for private foundations and/or federal agencies to talk about what they have learned about submitting successful grants at the next APA convention. Finally, as it pertains to grants, it was suggested that SCP house a list of all Counseling Psychologist who have grants paying attention to diversity of granting agencies, topics, population, and methodology. Together, the advisory board and I will begin to tackle this two main SCP research and scholarship priorities. As we move forward, please look for emails asking for your help with conducting research, providing guidance on grant writing and management in workshops, webinars, and/or panel discussion, and soliciting information about any grants that you may have had or currently have to support your Counseling Psychology-related research. Also, if you would like to contribution to the aforementioned priorities, please do not hesitant to contact me. Your suggestions and ideas are more than welcome. Thank you for letting me serve the division and its members in this role. Rachel L. Navarro, Ph.D. Tags: Grants and Funding, Master's Training, Research |
