Early Career Psychologist Committee
The ECP Committee consists of the current Chair, the Past Chair, and a Chair Elect, serving staggered 3 year terms. Applicants for the Chair position must be ECPs as of January 1st of the year they plan to apply, members of the Society for Military Psychology, and be willing to serve a full three-year term.
In addition to the 3 chair positions, beginning in 2018, the ECP committee has established several liaisons to represent the needs and interests of various constituencies within the Society. Chairs are selected to complement and ensure representation from this constituencies. Currently, this includes a representative from the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, academic psychology, Veterans Affairs, and Guard/Reserves. We also have a ECP-Student transition liaison who is selected during their final year as a student to advise on how to bridge connection between members transitioning from student status to ECPs within the Society.
We are actively interested in identifying a liaison to represent the U.S. Army, applied/organizational psychology, and international members. If you are interested in any of these positions, or feel there is a community within the Society that is not represented, please fill out the contact form on the ECP Home Page or contact us at ecp_committee@militarypsych.
In addition, we hope to develop “project officers” to lead specific projects that support the Society and ECPs – so contact us with your ideas!
Kathleen (Katie) Fry
Ph.D., Chair
Dr. Katie Fry is a graduate of Fielding Graduate University, where she earned her doctorate in clinical psychology, with an emphasis in neuropsychology. She completed her internship at the Chillicothe VAMC in Ohio, where she trained in PCMHI, substance abuse and trauma. She went on to complete a trauma focused post-doctoral fellowship at the George E. Wahlen Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, and has remained on as staff. Her research interests include understanding unit cohesion and veteran reintegration. Katie previously served as the Eastern Regional Rep for Division 19’s Student committee, and currently is the Chair of the Early Career Psychology association.
Arpita Ghosh
Ph.D., Chair Select
Arpita Ghosh is an Assistant Professor of Counseling Psychology in the Department of Educational Psychology. She earned degrees from Loyola University Chicago (B.S., 2007; M.A., 2009) and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (Ph.D., 2014). She completed her pre-doctoral internship at the University of Akron Counseling and Testing Center. Prior to KU, Dr. Ghosh completed a clinical fellowship at Marquette University Counseling Center (2014-2015) and a research fellowship at the Madison VA Hospital and University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Women’s Health Research (2015-2018).
She teaches graduate courses in vocational psychology, career development, and diagnosis. Dr. Ghosh’s Career Development in Context Lab focuses on how context (e.g., race/ethnicity, gender) shapes the career decisions of underrepresented groups, specifically U.S. military veterans. She is interested in the individual and contextual factors that inform veterans’ academic and career development in higher education and the civilian workforce. She is currently pursuing licensure as a psychologist in Kansas.
Jessica ford
Ph.D., Past Chair
Dr. Jessica Ford is a Clinical Health Psychologist with a history of working in government and academic settings. She received my Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) focused in Clinical Health Psychology from East Carolina University in 2014. She practices clinically, conducts applied research and program evaluations, and serves through appointments within Division 19 (military psychology) of the APA and through the training of clinical psychology doctoral students and interns. She is a previous awardee of a ECP Professional Development Research Grant. She lives in North Carolina with her husband, two children, and their cat, Alistair.