Posted 3/21/2023
Congratulations to the Pennsylvania Psychological Association (PPA) and to President Elect Tim Barksdale for winning the APA Division 31 SPTA (State, Provincial and Territorial Affairs) Diversity Award for 2023!
Presented during the American Psychological Association's recent Practice Leadership Conference, held March 3-5 in Washington, D.C., the Diversity Award "recognizes innovation, creative and significant contributions by a State and Provincial Psychological Association to advance diversity for its members, in its leadership, and for the public, and ongoing activities related to diversity in membership, governance and leadership, and programming."
Advancing diversity within the organization has been a years-long endeavor. A major step was rewriting the bylaws to include a Diversity and Inclusion Officer who serves on our Executive Committee and Board of Directors. This was initiated due to the research and presentation by Dr. Tim Barksdale (current President Elect and Senior Executive Director of Clinical Services at Merakey) that showed how other states associations were set up and urging PPA to create this critical position.