Section for the Advancement of Women – September 2016

Greetings from the new Section’s president, Laurel Watson, Ph.D.:

I’m honored to serve as the new Chair for the Section for the Advancement of Women (SAW). I’d like to personally thank Debra Mollen for her service as the Past-Chair of SAW. Debra has been passionately committed to SAW, and I’m excited to continue building upon her positive and enthusiastic energy.

As the new Chair, I’m very committed to increasing student and early career professional (ECP) involvement in SAW by increasing our social media presence, providing mentorship opportunities, and drawing upon the strengths and interest areas of our members to create unique programming and advocacy opportunities. As an ECP, I consider SAW one of my professional homes, and I’ve had the opportunity to meet so many wonderful people through this division section. Thus, I am eager to engage and involve those who are early in their careers that share SAW’s mission. So, if you or someone you know might like to be more involved, feel free to check out our website (https://scp.wpengine.com/advancement-of-women) or send me an email ([email protected]).

Like many of you, SAW had a very busy year at the annual APA convention. Of note, Drs. Mollen and Nadia Hasan co-facilitated an intimate, yet lively conversation on “Putting our Feminist Values Into Practice.” In addition, Debra Mollen and I co-facilitated a symposium, entitled, “Women in the Academy: Diverse Faculty Members Share Their Unique Paths of Success.” Symposium presenters included an esteemed group of women: Drs. NiCole Buchanan, Jean Lau Chin, Cirleen DeBlaere, Tania Israel, Arpana Inman, Debra Kawahara, Isis Settles, and Wendi Williams. Both presentations were extremely engaging, informative, and inspiring.

In addition, we were able to highlight fantastic student research during the SCP social hour. These posters included:

• Body Image and Embodiment Among Midlife Women: A Review of the Current Literature (Hilary McBride, University of British Columbia)

• Instrumentality and Self-Objectification: Female Athletes’ Perceptions of Male Coaching Behaviors (Stephanie Harrison and Mary Jo Loughran, Chatham University)

• Design and Implementation of the Post-nuptial Depression Scale (Elizabeth Harris, Deepta DasGupta, Kristin Hultgren, and Krista Klabo, University of Denver)

Of course, it wouldn’t be APA without our annual champagne breakfast! The breakfast always provides a wonderful opportunity to catch up with colleagues and friends. I was also very excited to see some new faces! We were joined by a number of students and ECPs, all of whom were interested in getting more involved in SAW. Immediately following the business meeting, Dr. Meghan Davidson delivered a beautiful and brilliant talk (The Love Campaign: How Divorce, Friendship, and Yoga Changed My Life) for her 2015 Woman of the Year talk. For those of you who missed it, I highly encourage you to listen to Meghan’s talk. Luckily, it was video-recorded and may be accessed through this link: https://soundcloud.com/user-877232155/love-campaign-saw-apa-2016

The breakfast also provides us an opportunity to honor the successes and contributions of our members through several awards: Dr. Morgan Grotewiel, Student of the Year; Dr. Julia C. Phillips, Woman of the Year; and Dr. Ruth Fassinger, Foremother of Year. In addition, Natalie Raymond, a Counseling Psychology doctoral student at the University of North Dakota, was the 2016 winner of the SAW Student Research Award for her study entitled, “A Positive Sexuality Class to Reduce Sexual Violence: Initial Findings and Longitudinal Impact.” Please join me in congratulating them for their notable contributions!