A Special Message from Dr. Stephen Bowles, the Division 19 President: ​

Dear Colleagues:
We are off to another great year with the Society. I would like to begin by thanking Dr. Mark Staal for his steadfast leadership this past year, in taking on new initiatives and continuing to address the Hoffman report issues. He continues to lead the Operational Psychology Practice Guidelines Task Force as well as serve as the awards chair. In addition I would like to thank Dr. Sally Harvey for her double duty service this past year as the past president, for serving on the APA Council of Representatives (CoR), and for her continuous work for the past several years in repeatedly identifying the concerns in the Hoffman report.  A welcome to Dr. Eric Surface, our new president-elect and election chair, who has extensive experience serving as our past secretary of the Society. Support our Society this year by nominating candidate for our elected offices and sending nominees names to Dr. Eric Surface and nominating deserving members for our awards to our Awards Committee Chair Dr. Mark Stall. Thank you to our great members once again earning an early victory in the year, as we maintain our second seat on the CoR through the power of your vote.
​It is a great honor to serve our many Society members around the world. It has been a great experience this year in the short period of time that I have been working with our members on a number of initiatives. My presidential initiatives are building on the past presidents strong foundation from which they have propelled our Society.  This year, we want to keep building our Society to another level that is addressed in these four initiatives. 
  1. Develop Leaders in the Society. The students in our organization have done a tremendous job of establishing leadership opportunities for students nationally through the student chapters. Next, we need to expand student chapters to outside the United States and sustain those current chapters. In order to help sustain these chapters, we need Early Career Psychologists (ECPs), as well as members and Fellows, to lend their mentorship. Throughout the Society, senior leaders need to mentor students and ECPs to the next level of leadership. For students and ECPs, the Society has developed a model leadership program to establish a pipeline of young leaders to expand our presence as the international leader in military psychology. To learn about or to start a student chapter please contact Jourdin Navarro, to become engaged as ECP mentor contact Neil Shortland and for more information on the Society Leadership Program contact Maurice Sipos.
  2. Build Strategic Partnership. Building strong alliances with other enterprises and entities is important in order to mobilize and move forward on important issues regarding military psychology and psychology, as well as to further all those in the Society supporting veterans, families, and the military community. Members will be appointed as liaisons to organizations, and serve as ambassadors moving forward our strategic plan. Through partnerships, we can support and advance military psychology’s cutting-edge information provided to the public and other enterprises through symposia, conferences, media events, and other public forums. To become a liaison or ambassador contact Natasha Jordan.
  3. Promote Military Psychology. In order to further promote military psychology, mini think tank pods will be established to identify education and/or policy areas to advocate on behalf of military psychology. These small groups are being identified in the Society to be proactive in education, policy, and/or advocacy to educate the public. To start or become a member of a mini think tank pods, contact Natasha Jordan.
  4. Grow the Wealth of the Society. The wealth of the organization is our members. Within our Society, we need to continue to further build a climate of engagement, diversity, intellectual stimulation, music, well-being (for you and for those important in your life), and fun. Let’s look at forming a music ensemble for the APA in Chicago, if you play an instrument or sing contact Natasha Jordan (see forthcoming information convention webpage)
​Our Society relies on the leadership and volunteer service of officers, chairs, members, and student members. This effort by members was recently demonstrated by the strategic planning work group that has developed eight strategic objectives below to move the Society forward for the next five years.
  1. Increase Society membership and promote inclusivity and diversity
  2. Improve member engagement
  3. Develop the leadership potential of our members
  4. Ensure financial sustainability
  5. Increase public awareness and visibility of the Society
  6. Build and maintain strategic partnerships
  7. Develop and advocate for policies, practices, and ethical guidelines that support the role of military psychologists
  8. Support the education, training, research, and professional development of our members
​Another example of members working together and creating an innovative process is the new mid-year Regional Symposia Series.  These will be held in Raleigh, Washington D.C. area, and Chicago in the spring. These symposia will offer a variety of military psychology speakers for members and students to learn about current issues in military psychology. Contact the following people for information on the Regional Symposia Series in Raleigh (JessicaMorgan), Washington D.C. area (Heather Kennedy), and Chicago (Joseph Troiani) and for general information contact Katy Barrs.
With the initiatives in mind, the theme for this year is “Leading the Way: Military Psychology”. This year, with you, we want to promote the leaders of military psychology. Please identify yourself or other nationally/internationally recognized leaders in military psychology by providing this information to Natasha Jordan. We need you to continue to come forward with your strategic, creative, and innovative ideas as our Society “leads the way” in the practice and science for military, civilian, and national security settings internationally. Again, it is my distinct honor to serve you, and I hope to see you in Chicago at the APA convention as well as other events this year!
​Sincerely,
Stephen
Stephen Bowles, PhD, ABPP
President, Society for Military Psychology

Call for Division 19 Award nominations

I want to encourage you all to consider nominating colleagues (or yourself) for one of Division 19's Annual Awards. The process is straightforward and requires:
  1. A letter of justification describing the qualifications of the nominee (please limit to a single page)
  2. A current resume or CV

All materials should be sent to me (ethicalpsych@gmail.com). Descriptions of our awards are posted at: https://www.militarypsych.org/awards.html

Please submit nominations in PDF format and list the name of the nominee and the award on the subject line of your email (e.g., John Doe, Julius E. Uhlaner Award). Winners will be notified prior to 30 June 2018 and awards will be presented during the Society for Military Psychology Business Meeting at the upcoming APA convention in Chicago.

Nominee submissions must be received by 1 May, 2019 to be considered by the Awards Committee.

Mark A. Staal, PhD, ABPP
Past-President, DIV19

APA APPORTIONMENT BALLOTS 

We're happy to announce that we were successful in keeping our second seat on the APA Council of Representatives! We also garnered 159 more votes than last year which is excellent! If you are not a full member, consider joining. Having a vote means a lot for the profession and consequently our service members. If we could increase this by about another 600 votes, we could achieve a third seat on the Council.
A Letter from Sally Harvey, Division 19 Member of the APA Council of Representatives: Please see the attached letter written by COL(R) Sally Harvey, our Council Representative and former Division 19 President. She’s writing in reference to a second attached letter by Dr. Robert Resnick, a Division 42 Council Representative and former APA President. They both express dissatisfaction with APA staff’s alignment with Sidley & Austin and emphasize the need for APA to be truly member-led.
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The Society for Military Psychology
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