The title is borrowed, with apologies, from Calvin and Hobbes, but aptly describes my experience as Division President. In my last column as President, I want to offer a summing up of some of the issues confronting Division 20, and psychology in general. The threat is serious and real. The current climate in Congress holds a serious threat to all of us. Cuts in Medicare, in research funding, and in the already paltry amounts spent to support education and training all loom on the horizon. A reflexive mentality about taxes has become dominant in this country. As a result, whoever promises the biggest cuts, no matter how preposterous the claim, now has the edge in an election. Unfortunately, Congress contains far too many people who want to mindlessly slash the federal budget and who could care less about research, mental health, higher education, or older people.
We need to support the efforts of APA to resist these cuts, but also, to work on a broad level to re-educate the American people that there are things worth spending tax money on. My European friends are continually amazed at our public debate over taxes, since theirs are so much higher. While they grumble about how much they pay, they also recognize the value they get for such things as free higher education and universal health care, to name just two. We need to participate in helping to build a consensus in this country that there is a positive role for the
federal government and things that are worth paying taxes for.
APA can be very helpful.
One of the most pleasant surprises of the year was how helpful everyone I dealt with at APA was. Unlike many of our presidents, I had very little involvement in APA activities beyond the Division before taking office, and so I approached the task of dealing with the various directorates and offices with some trepidation. While I am sure that there are times when the central office acts in short-sighted or bureaucratic ways, I found APA staff to be cooperative and well-informed. Moreover, they are carrying the fight for us in Washington. Their effort on behalf of mental health coverage was quite visible during the health care debate of last year, but they have been working hard on behalf of research and education as well. That was certainly the case at the Mini White House Conference on Mental Health and Aging in February, where Janet OKeeffe from the Policy Directorate and other staffers worked very hard to assure that recommendations were developed that best represent our goals, not to mention the long term interests of older people in this country.
APA will need our support in the upcoming year to minimize the potential losses that could occur in the federal budget. We also need to continue to remind them about the expertise within this Division, properly taking our role as the lead group within APA on aging issues.
We can all hang together.
Division 20 remains unique, and interesting, for bringing together the full spectrum of psychology--researchers, educators, clinicians. We can act like jealous siblings toward one another, squabbling over whether our slice of pie is big enough, or we can listen to each other, learn from one another, and support our mutual interests. In the current era, a divided psychology with a guild mentality will weaken all of us, and make it more difficult to present to Congress or to the general public an effective case for the things we want. We manage to get along fairly well in this Division, and I hope that is something that continues. We will all gain from the opportunity to learn from one another.
We have many strengths.
The most pleasant aspect of my year as President has been the opportunity to work with the current Executive Board. They have brought energy and creativity to the tasks they have performed. I feel very positive about the direction the Division will take in the next few years, given the quality of people who are involved in Division activities. Special thanks to Cameron Camp, who is giving up the e-mail network he maintained for the Division for several years.
One of my goals has been to make everyone feel a part of the Division, and to make sure no individual or perspective is left out. Toward that end, I want personally to invite all of you who want to become more involved to do so. A good way to become more involved is to attend the APA Convention in New York and come to our Social Hour and the Division Business Meeting. Students and postdocs are invited to the Division 20 Student Discussion and Coffee Hour. I hope all of you will attend the excellent program that was put together by this year program chair, Mary Ann Parris Stephens. There are many exciting symposia, the Division's Distinguished Research Award Address to be given by John Nesselroade, as well as a wide range of posters. On Mary Ann' behalf, I want to thank all of you who helped contribute to this program by serving as reviewers.
A golden anniversary.
Finally, next year will be the 50th anniversary of Division 20.
President-elect Susan Krauss Whitbourne is planning special events to mark the occasion at the APA Convention in 1996. She has a lot of other good ideas for directions the Division can take. I encourage you to give her the kind of support I had this year.
To direct comments about the information contained in these pages, please write to marsiske@ufl.edu