1947-200760 Year Anniversary

psychologistpsychologistT E X A SpsychologistT E X A S

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Volume 58Issue 2

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FEATURES

Thoughts about the Role of TPA, Present and Future . . . . . . 5Volume 1, No. 1, Philip Himelstein, Editor, March, 1957

TPA Recognizes Past Presidents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

A Society of Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7By Thomas Wells Lowry, PhD

The Sun Rises Again for Texas Psychology: A Brief History from 1997-2006 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Robert H. McPherson, PhD

Bowling for Psychology’s Future. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Drs. Ron Cohorn and Robert McPherson

Heads to Roll All Over the State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20Ollie J. Seay, PhD and Marla C. Craig, PhD

Karl F. Heiser APA Presidential Award for Advocacy . . . . . 22

DEPARTMENTS

WELCOME NEW MEMBERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

FROM THE GUEST EDITOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Bob McPherson PhD

FROM THE PRESIDENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17M. David Rudd, PhD, ABPP

Texas Psychological Foundation Contributors . . . . . . . . 21

Association for the Advancement of Psychology in Texas Contributors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Brian Stagner, PhDEditor

David White, CAEExecutive Director

Sherr y ReismanAssistant Executive Director

Rober t H. McPherson, PhDDirector of Professional Af fairs

TPA Board of Trustees

M. David Rudd, PhDPresident

Ron Cohorn, PhDPresident-Elect

Ollie J. Seay, PhDPresident-Elect Designate

Melba J.T. Vasquez, PhDPast President

Board MembersAlan Fisher, PhD

Bonnie Gardner, PhDStephen Loughhead, PhD

Randy Noblitt, PhDLane Ogden, PhD

Selia Ser vin-Lopez, PsyD Verlis Setne, PhD

Brian Stagner, PhDThomas Van Hoose, PhD

Alison Wilson, PhD

Ex-Officio Board MembersRob Mehl, PhD

Association for the Advancement of Psychology in Texas President

Sheila Jenkins, PhDTexas Psychological

Foundation President

Amanda HookStudent Division Director

Ollie J. Seay, PhDSherr y Reisman

Federal Advocacy Coordinators

The Texas Psychological AssociationIs located at 1005 Congress Avenue,

Suite 825, Austin, Texas 78701.

Texas Psychologist (ISSN 0749-3185)is the of ficial publication of TPA

and is published quar terly.

www.texaspsyc.org

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This issue of the Texas Psychologist serves to celebrate the Texas Psy-chological Association’s 60th anni-

versary. Founded in 1947, TPA has grown expansively in membership numbers and influence, becoming the largest professional association in the State representing and re-sponding to the interests and needs of Texas psychologists and those they serve. In the fol-lowing pages, we make effort to share with you the 60 year story of TPA, as well as a glimpse of its future.

The first two articles are reprints from earlier editions of the Texas Psychologist. Ar-ticle one comes by the hand of the first editor of the Texas Psychologist, which in 1957 took the form of a five page, double-sided mim-eographed newsletter. In his article in the inaugural issue of the Texas Psychologist, Dr. Philip Himelstein (deceased), then a clinical psychologist at the Personnel Research Labo-ratory at Lackland Air Force Base in San An-

tonio, laments that psychology has become “over-organized”. He also notes that much of the Association’s activities have focused on issues of ethics and legislative advocacy, but he expresses hope that TPA will also turn its energies towards serving the scientific and scholarly needs of psychologists.

Next, we offer reprint of a 1997 article penned by Dr. Tom Lowry, a clinical psy-chologist practicing in Austin. Dr. Lowry provides a wonderful retrospective of TPA’s first fifty years as gleamed from his interviews of many of the Association’s former presi-dents. The 36th president of TPA, Dr. Lowry writes with both wit and wisdom. His effort is then followed by my attempt to chronicle TPA’s more recent ten year history. Borrow-ing from Dr. Lowry’s idea, I contacted the TPA presidents from 1997 to present, with invitation to share with me highlights from their year of leadership service and any anec-dotes or stories they recall with fondness.

We then turn your attention to the TPA present and future with reports from sev-eral corners of our current leadership. TPA president Dr. M. David Rudd, Professor and Chair of the Psychology Department at Texas Tech University, summarizes the Association’s accomplishments during the 2007 legislative session and extends his sincere appreciation to those who helped to make the year a suc-cessful and rewarding one for Texas psychol-ogy. Looking ahead to 2008, President-elect Dr. Ron Cohorn who practices in Big Springs takes us “bowling for psychology” as he makes a passionate plea for increased volunteerism among our membership. Lastly, TPA presi-dent elect designate, Dr. Ollie Seay, who is Associate Clinical Professor and Director of the Masters in Health Psychology Program at Texas State University, reports on the exciting progress of the Texas State of Mind project, the largest and most ambitious public service project ever undertaken by the TPA.

FROM THE GUEST EDITOR Bob McPherson PhD

Bob McPherson, PhDDirector of Professional Affairs

MemberMichael BridgewaterSamuel BrinkmanKaren Fitting-PaulAlan CooperLinda GalindoJeffery KeeTheresa KellamRichard LenoxJo Ann MitchellDawn O’DonnellJon Shepard

Recent Graduate MemberAnnette BrissettSusan OdomAlexander Quiros

AssociateMariaelena Flores

StudentJeffrey AdamsAshley Adler

Sayyeda AliLatasha AllenTamika BackstromLuana BessaMorgan BurtonTerri CrossKanesha DavisAbby DiehlKeidy DingHeather EdwardsEmily EdwardsAmanda Flores

Kara FowlerMary Ann GansleCharley HaardtFloyd HendersonEric JannazzoJill KoenigAngelina MaynardLaura McCabeMaria MedinaStacey MeierCecilia MontanoMarta OteroMargaret Perish

Elizabeth RamonDenise ReynoldsJohn SaucedaGina ShawWunda ShugaMelinda SilvaLani SteffensLani SteffensShantha StokesMark VanHudsonElizabeth WalkerMichelle WharryMichelle Wiggins

WELCOME NEW MEMBERSJuly 1, 2007 to October 31, 2007

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Texas Psychologist

Volume 1, No. 1 Philip Himelstein, Editor March, 1957

THOUGHTS ABOUT THE ROLE OF TPA: PRESENT AND FUTURE

Many of us have begun to think that Psychology has become over-organized, with APA, re-

gional, state, and even county and city orga-nizations, which hold meetings, collect clues, and affect the affairs of psychologists in many ways. Since the organization of SWPA, which most Texas psychologists have joined, it has become necessary to take a realistic look at our own state association. On taking office as President of TPA this year, I have attempted to find answers to the following questions: (1) What functions does TPA have which are not duplicated by other psychological associa-tions? and (2) Considering the population of psychologists as having two major subgroups whose interests are predominately scholarly or professional (with many belonging to both groups), whose interests does TPA serve?

These questions were investigated by corre-spondence with Roger Russell and Bob Hoch at APA central office Fred McKinney, Chair-man of the Conference of State Psychological Associations, and a number of prominent psy-chologists of varying persuasions and interests. The files and the distribution of participation in TPA were studied, as well as recent develop-ments in APA and CSPA. Finally, the issues were discussed at the joint meeting of the TPA Executive Committee and Committee Chair-men, in Austin, on 16 February 1957.

As might be expected only one defini-tive answer can be stated at this time. That is that the profession of psychology is growing rapidly and experiencing a number of adoles-cent conflicts as symptoms of its accelerated growth. These are numerous and some are well known. They include problems of the government of APA itself, through the present Council and. Division structure, the form, lo-cation and program of annual meetings, some growing incompatibility between scholarly and professional interests and activities, and pressures to reorganize and decentralize.

One current development was reflected in

the report of the Policy and Planning Com-mittee of CSPA, of 12—13 May, 1956. This group has had informal and. unofficial meet-ings and correspondence with the APA P&P. The report stated that the APA committee seems committed to (1) decentralization of APA, (2) change of structure of APA especially with reference to CSPA and the APA divisions. The CSPA committee has recommended that certain administrative functions be handed over by APA to CSPA and that CSPA have greater representation on APA council.

In my opinion, any changes will develop slowly and there is not an immediate pros-pect of a major reorganization. On the other hand, some changes are inevitable and the thinking represented by the P& P commit-tees may indicate the direction in which they will occur. TPA has two delegates to CSPA, whose responsibility it is to represent the views of the entire state membership, with the advice of the Executive Committee. It seems apparent that all psychologists have a stake in the affairs of TPA and that TPA can best represent them if they participate.

Although the principal activities of TPA for the past few years have ‘been concerned with legislation and ethics, the Executive Commit-tee this year voted to explore ways n which the Association might better serve the scientific and scholarly interests of Texas psychologists as well as professional needs. Accordingly, the program for the 1957 program meeting, which will be held in San Antonio on 6 and. 7 December, is being planned as an action ori-ented rather than paper reading conference.

The Program Committee, under the chairmanship of Dave Trites, will attempt to arrange a number of concurrent work-shops’ and technical conferences related to significant problems in a number of areas, with sponsorship by state or private agencies where possible and appropriate. For example, some of the ideas suggested, which will be followed up, include:

1. A workshop, to which representatives of all teaching departments in the state will be invited, on Preparing the Undergraduate Student for Graduate Work in Psychology. Oscar A. Ullrich of Southwestern University has volunteered to organize this one—day conference.

2. A workshop, to which representatives of research laboratories will be invited, on problems and developments in the use of high speed computers. Frank Farese of IBM has agreed to cooperate. Dave Trites has agreed to organize this conference.

3. Other topics proposed, which the Pro-gram Chairman will explore and attempt to find sponsors and participants to carry through, include Standards and Needs in Counseling and Rehabilitation in Texas, which might be sponsored by the State Health Department; Meeting Industry’s Needs for Psychologists, which may receive support from one or more industrial organi-zations in the State; etc.

The possibilities of such a meeting are exciting and, if successfully carried out this year, might well set a pattern for further ex-ploration and development.

We have a very competent and hardwork-ing group looking out for the affairs of the Association. There are strong reasons why Texas psychologists should participate. It is my hope that, particularly during the next several years of transitional existence, your interest in TPA will be sustained and that you will make effective use of your member-ship by participation.

It might be well to point out that a panel discussion of the issues discussed above, to be entitled “What’s Happening to the State Psychological Association?” will be held at SWPA this year. Watch for the program and attend if possible.

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TPA RECOGNIZES PAST PRESIDENTS

Sept. 1947- Feb. 1948 Paul Young, PhD

1948 Aaron Q. Sartain, PhD

1949C.W. LaGrone, PhD

1950 M.E. Bonney, PhD

1951Gordon V. Anderson, PhD

1952B.B. Hudson, PhD

1953L.T. Callicut, PhD

1954Hugh Blodgett, PhD

1955Alvin J. North, PhD

1956Wayne Holtzman, PhD

1957S.B. Selis, PhD

1958Sylvan Kaplan, PhD

1959Carl Hereford, PhD

1960Ruth Hubbard, PhD

1961& 1962Charles Cleland, PhD

1963Carson McGuire, PhD

1964 Ira Iscoe, PhD

1965 Oliver Brown, PhD

1966 Harold Goolishian, PhD

1967 Jack Strange, PhD

1968 Maurice Korman, PhD

1969 James L. McCary, PhD

1970 Beeman Phillips, Ed.D.

1971 Larry Smith, PhD

1972 John I Wheeler, Jr., PhD

1973 A. Jack Jernigan, PhD

1974 George H. Kramer, Jr., PhD

1975 Alvin G. Burstein, PhD

1976 James K. Weatherly, PhD

1977 Joan S. Anderson, PhD

1978 Robert P. Anderson, PhD

1979 Joseph C. Kobos, PhD

1980 June M. Gallessich, PhD

1981 Robert Gordon, J.D., PhD

1982 Laurence Abrams, PhD

1983 Thomas W Lowry, PhD

1984

Elizabeth McDaniel, PhD

1985 Randall M. Parker, PhD

1986 Cliff Jones, PhD

1987 Karen S. Kamerschen, PhD

1988Michael C. Gottlieb, PhD

1989 Charles T. McDonald, PhD

1990 Emily G. Sutter, PhD

1991 John K. Reid, PhD

1992 Roy Scrivner, PhD

1993 Thomas H. Cook, PhD

1994 Lynn Rehm, PhD

1995 Michael Duffy, PhD

1996 Kimberly McClanahan, PhD

1997 Robert H. McPherson, PhD

1998Robbie Sharp, PhD

1999Jerry Grammer, PhD

2000Rick McGraw, PhD

2001Sam Buser, PhD

2002Walter Cubberly, PhD

2003Deanna Yates, PhD

2004Alan Hopewell, PhD

2005J. Paul Burney, PhD

2006Melba Vasquez, PhD

2007M. David Rudd, PhD

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While there, they had talked with colleagues from other states who were founding state and region-

al associations. Not to be outdone by smaller states, these founders, including Paul Young, Aaron Sartain, Karl Dallenbach, Cyrus La-Grone, Buz Hudson, Bob Lake and Lori Cal-licut, held the first meeting of TPA in 1947 and then went on to found the Southwestern Psychological Association in 1948. Accord-ing to Aaron Sartain, second TPA President, “There were approximately 35 members at first, mostly from the faculties of the Univer-sity of Texas, Southern Methodist University, and Texas Christian University.” The first dues were set at one dollar a year, and the officers were a president, vice-president (par-liamentarian), and secretary/treasurer.

Paul Young, a professor with a national reputation in hypnosis research (on sabbatical from Louisiana State University) was chosen by the founding group as the first president “because he had great ambitions and ideas for the state organization.” (Sartain) Early meetings were quite informal: Carl Hereford remembers that “friends gathered around, talked about activities and news, read papers and drank coffee.” Wayne Holtzman describes TPA in the 50s: “It was very informal and everything was run out of your vest pocket. Probably we had a couple hundred dollars in the treasury. It was very casual — no paid em-ployees, of course. And there were quite a few members who were academics with limited incomes.”

Gradually, psychologists from the military bases around San Antonio and from the Vet-erans Administration hospitals joined, so that over 60 persons attended the 1950 convention at the University of Texas in Austin. Early con-ventions were two-day affairs meeting in uni-versity lounges and classrooms and consisting

of paper readings, informal conversations, and nascent organizational planning. Commu-nications were usually between the President and a few members, and the role of President quickly became too much for one person to handle on a volunteer basis. Support for the administrative offices was minimal, such that even stationery, pencils and paper clips had to be ‘borrowed’ from various members and friends. “If the President happened to have a secretary, he did not have to type all his TPA correspondence himself.” (Holtzman)

Betty Cleland was enlisted as the first Administrative Secretary in 1951, providing much needed continuity for the organization and welcome clerical and administrative relief for the President. In this position Betty held the first ‘collective memory’ for the organiza-tion, and officers regularly consulted with her about TPA protocol and history. Betty went on to assume parallel roles with Southwestern Psychological Association and, finally, with the State Boar of Examiners of Psychologists.

Merle Bonney (1950 President) recalls that, “As the organization grew in the fifties to over 150 members, the bulk of the new members were persons with a master’s degree. Most of the leadership positions were professors with PhDs. The programs at the annual convention were; usually research reports, with a few pre-sentations on measurement and evaluation.” Gordon Anderson (1951) knew how to he a gentleman and also knew Roberts Rules of Or-der. Both of these skills were important in the formation of a well-organized and professional society. TPA began to reach beyond its borders for featured speakers. Alvin North invited the well-known group process researcher Mutzi-fer Sharrif down from Oklahoma University for the 1955 convention. The association be-tween Texas psychology and Sharrif continued with North doing research on gangs in Dal-

las in the 50s and 60s. In the 50s most TPA members were male, with a few master’s level women and even fewer women with doctor-ates. Notable among the latter were Drs. Ruth Hubbard and Gladys Guy Brown.

The Beginnings of Legislative Action

The practice of psychology in institutions (guidance clinics and schools) was mainly car-ried on by masters level professionals. As there were few clinically trained doctoral psycholo-gists, these applied psychologists were usually supervised by marriage and family therapists, social workers or psychiatrists.

Since there were no restrictions on who could call himself a psychologist, many per-sons with questionable or no qualifications were using the title. Teachers in academic and training positions were concerned both about the quality of service being given to the pub-lic and the reputation of psychology as a field. The leadership of TPA made a first approach to establishing standards for service to the public in 1951. A landmark event occurred at a TPA meeting that year. President Cyrus LaGrone gave a presentation to the member-ship in which he made a very clear distinction between licensure and certification. At that time licensing was conceived of as requiring definition of all the functions of a psycholo-gist. It became clear that this was an almost impossible thing to do. Certification meant that only an individual who had certain train-ing and experience qualifications could use the official title of ‘psychologist.’ TPA leaders decided that the organization would work to obtain a state law certifying who could call him- or herself a psychologist.

Wayne Holtzman was the TPA legislative liaison in the attempt to pass a psychologist certification bill in 1955. At this time only

A Society of FriendsTexas Psychological Association began as an informal meeting of a few young academic psychologists who had been to APA.

By Thomas Wells Lowry, PhD

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Tennessee had a law certifying psychologists (as a result of a tradeoff with the trucking industry). In retrospect, the psychologists in-volved in this legislation were amazed at how close to passage they came before the bill was defeated in the Senate by pressure from TMA. In this effort TPA made many friends in the legislature who would later be influential in the passage of a licensing law.

The Growth of Applied Psychology

Psychology and TPA grew quickly in the late fifties, with psychology becoming the most popular undergraduate major in most universities. With plentiful government grants and a belief (by some) that any social prob-lem could be solved by spending money on intervention, the field of applied psychology grew. There were pressures to break clinical and counseling psychology away from univer-sities, but the center held, and collaboration between the academic institutions and fund-ing agencies such as the U.S. Public Health Service, National Institutes of Health and the Veterans Administration was maintained. A rich and varied training experience was avail-able in the state schools and hospitals, and the universities hooked up with these institutions to provide practica and internships for the growing number of applied graduates. The major Texas universities revamped their aca-demic departments to provide clinical educa-tion and training for the new “scientist-prac-titioner” model. School Psychology programs, and the training money they could bring with them, increased the visibility of psychology in the public schools. A number of good research articles began to come out of the state schools and public schools.

The Push for Licensure But all was not well. Ira Iscoe remem-

bers that, “In the 50s and 60s psychologists could not do psychotherapy unless under the supervision of a physician — not a psychia-trist — a physician — any physician. Even a dermatologist!” The pressure was building to pass a licensing and certification law to en-sure that the title of ‘psychologist’ was held by

those with excellence in training and skill, and that the practice of psychology be defined. However, the political realities were harsh, TPA was a fairly small organization, with still fewer members committed to political action, planning to go up before the state legislature against the large and well-funded forces of or-ganized medicine. Carson McGuire led TPA in an attempt to pass a licensing bill in 1963, but TPA did not have the political clout to move it out of the Calendars Committee, a common legislative graveyard for bills with clear merit and large financial opposition. Ira Iscoe remembers that time well:

“Here we were, a small group, and our rep-resentative would ask us how many members do you have and how much money can you raise? The answer was few members and less money. The dues then were about $3.00 per year with $5.00 for two years. Betty Cleland came in with Charlie (Cleland) in 1962 and helped organize things for TPA. We made a deal so she could get a percentage of the adver-tising in exchange for her work. At that time you could get publishers such as Prentiss Hall and Random House to rent a booth at the convention for, say, $250.”

As a result of Betty’s work, TPA became more cohesive and better managed. Rapid communication and focused political action became possible. And a new strategy devel-oped: build a constituency of people whose families had been well treated by psycholo-gists, band together with other mental health and patients’ family groups, and convince a politically conservative legislator to carry our case in the legislature. Gone were the days of going head to head with the TMA and trying to get legislation passed because we were hon-est and good-hearted folk. Political reality had arrived. With the sudden death of our first lobbyist, William Bell, a decision was made to hire a full-time lobbyist, Don Cavness. Don was a former representative, a man well known and respected by many legislators, and a man of honesty and sincerity in his dealings. He also became a close and trusted friend of psychology’s leaders. Tom Lowry, President in 1983, said, “Don is the one lobbyist I know who does not fit the stereotype of a lobbyist.”

Ira continues: “Then came the question of what is the

real utility and strength of psychology: help-ing people regardless of their financial situa-tion. To get this message across, psychology is indebted to then-Senator (Charles) Herring and then-Lt. Governor Ben Barnes, who were very helpful. We found out quickly that ‘in sausage and politics, don’t look too closely at the ingredients, because when you get purists on this, you get nowhere.’ There were a lot of tradeoffs, some of which we face even now.”

In addition to a new political approach, TPA set up a Voluntary Certification Board in order to show how certification could work and to give the concept some legitima-cy. Board members were elected by the TPA membership, and criteria were established for this credential. Drs. Glen Ramsey, Austin Foster, Harold Golishian, and Ira Iscoe were chosen as spokesmen to the legislature to try to show to the state how TPA wanted to regu-late psychology. Betty Cleland was in charge of running the Voluntary Certification Board. Again, in the spirit of political compromise, Iscoe states: “We had to take in some marginal cases, because if we didn’t they would start screaming and defeat the plan. A necessary tradeoff.”

Iscoe again: “There was testimony before a senate hear-

ing by the mental health area of the Texas Medical Association, and this physician, a psychiatrist, got up and said ‘Psychotherapy is the practice of medicine,’ and therefore, psychologists cannot do this because they are not doctors. A senator from West Texas got up and started to really quiz this guy. He said, ‘Now if I talk to one of my constituents and she tells me about her child, who is very ill, am I acting illegally?’

“The chief lobbyist for the TMA actually said, ‘No, this can’t take place.’ The senator, after the hearing, said to the chief TMA repre-sentative, ‘Look, I told you to get a bill for the psychologists; now you get one by Monday or I’ll ram one down your (deleted) bloody throat.’

Legislative Chair Larry Smith recalls the time this way:

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Texas Psychologist

“As usual, we were opposed by the medical establishment. Medics did not want psychol-ogy to be licensed. It was ‘practicing medicine’ and that was solely their realm. At the Friday hearing the medics testified and then I got up and testified. And one of the people who testi-fied against us was Wade Lewis, a psychiatrist who officed just down the hall from me. One senator said, ‘All right, we go through this ev-ery two years. I am sick and tired of you guys fighting. I want you guys to sit down as a com-mittee of two and work out a licensing law for psychologists.’ So Wade Lewis and I sat down and worked out a licensing law for psycholo-gists. And on Monday, we took it back to them. By the next week it became pretty clear that, on the whole, the medics were still against us. We knew that historically the lobbyists for the medics were the ones who really swayed the legislature. This time we were about a month away [from the end of the session], and it re-ally did not look like we were going to pass this thing. Wade and I had worked out a com-promise, but it looked like it was going to get hung up in Calendars Committee. So, I had to make a quick decision, And psychologists are not known for quick decisions. But I went out and hired another lobbyist, the medics’ lobbyist from the session before, who had de-feated us. TPA as an organization never would have gone with that because he had opposed us. His loyalty was supposedly to the medics. But I knew his loyalty was to money. I hired him.”

In the bill that came out, psychologists employed ‘psychological treatment methods’, not ‘psychotherapy’, a compromise that Drs. Lewis and Smith worked out. The bill came quickly out of committee on Monday, passed the House, passed the Senate as a suddenly uncontested bill, and it was done.

Iscoe concludes: “We were all joyous. It was amazing. Psy-

chiatry did not realize the force of psychology in Texas and nationally. They did not realize the need for psychological services was rising. They did not know that a lot of poor people were getting services from psychologists. Their arrogance and ignorance made it all possible.”

Once the licensing law was passed, TPA

leadership thought that they could breathe easily. But that was not to be. At the TPA convention in Dallas in 1969, word came that Governor Preston Smith had appointed a number of non-psychologists to the first State Board of Examiners of Psychologists. It seems that some men who had been holding themselves out to be ‘psychologists’ and were not likely to be licensed under the provisions of the new law had, through astute political campaign contributions, managed to get the Governor’s blessing and appointment. The only qualified psychologists appointed were Al North and George Kramer. The leadership of TPA was incensed. Immediately, a delega-tion including Jack Wheeler, George Kramer, Larry Smith and Carson McGuire was dis-patched to Austin to meet with the Governor. Enroute they drafted a scathing press release which was to be used should the Governor not see the error of his ways. After a very tense meeting in which the press release was dis-cussed, Governor Smith agreed to withdraw his original slate and appoint members from the Voluntary Certification Board as the new State Board. Spirits soared in Dallas as the news arrived.

The new Board was organized quickly, and License Number One was granted to Dr. Larry Smith, and Dr. Jack Wheeler received Number Two, with the other members of the Board receiving Numbers Three through Sev-en. Betty Cleland served as the first Adminis-trative Secretary for the TSBEP.

Growth and Reorganization Naomi Meadows was employed as TPA

Administrative Secretary in 1972, and be-came the person longest employed by TPA. Many of TPA’s presidents gave Naomi credit for their success in office. The organization was undergoing a slow but significant shift in membership from a mixture of academics and applied psychologists to one largely comprised of clinical, consulting, counseling, and school psychologists. The issues debated were often about the regulation of clinical practice and of gaining political clout, both in Texas and na-tionwide. “Ten for Texas” became the success-ful rallying cry to gain a second seat on APA

Council. Jack Jernigan recalls that one issue of importance was that of removing the designa-tion of mental illness from the Texas drivers license. He emphasized the collegiality of TPA leadership during the mid-sixties:

“It was a great pleasure to see all your friends every once in a while and sit down and talk over problems with them.

Jack Jernigan There was a kind of subtle but meaningful social interaction at the ex-ecutive meetings that really served to unify the whole state of psychology when these people would go back and talk to their local people. In other words, they would bring the wealth of information and diversity to TPA, and then it would get kind of blended together and would get dispersed back to the local areas, So TPA was a unifying force in that respect.”

Since the late fifties, the increasing work-load of the organization had been assigned to a number of ad hoc committees, produc-ing discontinuity and chaos with each change in elected leadership. In addition, committee chairs often wrote their own job descriptions to fit conscious or unconscious ego needs. As a result, some tasks were left undone and some were duplicated by other people. In 1975 Pres-ident Al Burstein proposed a system of elected liaison officers for work areas, each to coordi-nate the work of committees under them. Af-ter some vigorous discussion, the new system was approved by the membership. With minor modifications, TPA has functioned with this structure ever since. With this new structure, Burstein wanted to leave TPA “a living orga-nization that transcended any individual.” His view was that “the president had been a hired hand, that the president furthered the goals of the organization, rather than the other way around. And for that to work there had to be shared leadership and shared responsibility. I did work hard to get the executive commit-tee to commit to being responsible for various aspects of the organization. Dues were raised without much howling so the budget could begin to support the activities of the organi-zation.” The Century Club was set up at this time under the leadership of John Worsham to support political candidates.

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Organizational Struggles The issue as to the place of masters

level professionals in psychology heated up again in the seventies, Al Burstein rep-resented one position when he said:

“There were those of us who felt that we should have a confrontation and rec-ognize that they (PAs) were not part of our culture. I believe the critical mistake was making them anything but associate members, or even making them associ-ate members. We were too hungry for members. I think that for good or for ill, master’s level individuals and doctoral psychologists come from different pro-grams, perform different functions and are not part of the same profession. But that is the minority view, and I never felt I had enough support to press that. Some agreed with me, but the majority wanted to keep PAs within psychology.”

Needless to say, TPA EC meetings were exciting affairs, By the end of the decade PAs had gained a vote on the Executive Committee of TPA.

During the seventies special interest groups proliferated: Under the leadership of President Beeman Phillips, Charles

Clark and Phillips founded the School Division and George Kramer the Applied Division. Soon after, Betty Turner put the

PA Division together. Local Area So-cieties were becoming more active, often sending representatives to EC meetings.

There was another hot issue in the 1970s: whether there should be any kind of advertising for candidates running for TPA office. According to Ken Weatherly:

“If you were running for office in TPA, to mail out cards saying ‘Vote for Me’ drew a lot of attention and a lot of controversy. There was a kind of old guard that had controlled TPA, the old guard being those who were very conser-vative and leaning toward the academi-cian point of view. And then there was the new front, the new progressive indi-viduals were moving in, creating a real struggle for power.”

More Legislative Challenges In 1977 TPA geared up again for an active

legislative agenda. The big issue was parity of access for patients with psychiatry. Joan An-derson, the first female TPA president in sev-enteen years, recalls this time:

“For the Freedom of Choice Bill we testi-fied until 2 in the morning. The big thrust for the year was to gain parity with the psychia-trists on the insurance issue.

There was a whole bunch of people work-ing on this bill. Joe Kobos, Al Burstein, and some of the other old guard had done a mon-umental job of gathering data for the facts that we presented to the legislature. They went to other states that had freedom of choice and gathered the data that demonstrating it saved the insurance companies money, rather than costing them. So our group was well prepared and both Al and Joe testified. But they wanted to hear the President of TPA, so I obliged. They were favorably impressed with all the research that had gone into our presentation and quickly passed the bill out of committee.

Through all this (lobbyist) Don Cavness was a brick. David Guinn was also very in-strumental because he was the lawyer that was hired to do extra work for psychology. David had some big political connections, and he was most helpful. But Don was just unrelent-ing. He talked with key legislators from night to day. He kept after it and told us whom to support with contributions and whom not to support. The moneys given to campaigns had been set up for over two years before. It was a group effort by many members of TPA.”

The legislature voted that if you had any kind of a group health insurance in the state of Texas, you had to have the freedom of choice of doctor between psychiatry and psychology. The hard work by many people paid off.

Bob Anderson was surprised to be elected president in 1978, since he was from West Texas. He credits the work of Joe Rickard from Temple, Joan Anderson from Houston, and a number of his friends from across the state for his election. Because of his reputation for fair-mindedness and a balanced, moderate position on many issues, he won. Since he was a populist president, he tried to find a Dallas

hotel with lower room rates for the conven-tion. Bob continues: “People were complain-ing that they didn’t have the money for the convention. So, we got a hotel which gave us a pretty good [room] rate. It was not a bad hotel, except people were very unhappy when they ran out of rooms.”

Bob felt strongly about the legalistic style in which the State Board was treating appli-cants and licensees:

“People were being treated like sh— as far as I was concerned, and I wanted them to have their legal rights. I spoke out for these people as TPA president, and then the presidency put me in a position to get on the board, where I instituted some reforms. I disagreed with those in TPA who were opposed to the licensing of counselors. My position was ‘quality will out.’ In other words, If we do quality work, that will supersede everything else. It wasn’t worth a legislative fight to keep somebody else from getting in. It was like the physicians trying to keep the chiropractors or osteopaths from functioning. Psychologists are better enough than counselors that the public can see it and make good choices.”

Joe Kobos (1979) truly enjoyed the give and take in the Executive Committee:

“The executive committee members were really opinionated. Everybody who was on the executive committee was really bright, every-one really believed that they had the right ideas. And they really went after it. It had a quality that remind me of jousting. The ‘Young Turks’ (such as Mike Gottlieb and Ray Costello) ar-gued with the ‘Old Guard’ (like Joe Rickard and Bob Anderson). Sometimes I just sat back and watched it happening. The legislative dis-cussions that we had were wide ranging and significant. And that was exciting.”

The Sunset Era The annual budget of TPA was increasing

to keep up with the growth in membership benefits, educational programs and legisla-tive action. From a total budget in 1977 of $200,000, it grew to over $700,000 in 1980. Naomi Meadows continued as Executive Secretary and hired part-time clerical help to manage the increasing publications and com-

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munications. June Gallessich, 1980 President, remembers the

time this way: “TPA was experiencing tremendous growth

in size and complexity. The social and politi-cal climate had changed, and we were living in a conservative movement away from the social changes of the 1960s and 1970s. The bounty of the last twenty years was drying up, and competition for public and private dol-lars was increasing. At the same time, psycho-logical knowledge and technology was rapidly expanding. Specialization was increasing, new psychological services were now available, such as stress management, substance abuse treatment, pain control and so on. So the field was getting more and more competitive, and increasing numbers of PhDs were entering the field, and many psychologists were moving from other states to Texas. So, licensure and our licensing law were increasingly important, but at the same time, the Texas legislature had created the Sunset Commission and given it the task of reviewing licensing agencies. The laws governing the practice of psychology and operation of the TSBEP were to be reviewed in 1980. So, as we began the year, we didn’t know what to expect. But we worked very hard and very collaboratively to avoid being sunsetted.”

In planning for sunset review the Executive Committee held meetings which were spirited and often heated. June continues:

“With the opening up of licensure law, we were forced into a struggle for professional survival, and schisms within the organiza-tion deepened. Our different constituencies understandably fought to get their particular interests represented. Some of our Executive Committee meetings were extremely heated. I had to learn to work within Roberts Rules and within our bylaws—at times within a highly conflictual atmosphere. We had a lot of fights. The members of the Executive Com-mittee, just as members of TPA, were diverse. We were also a stubborn, determined group of individuals. We were dedicated to our over-all goal of survival, and we developed a great team spirit. We had an extremely creative and productive year.”

A compromise was worked out by EC member Tom Lowry between those who wanted only PhDs on the Board and those who wanted a Board split between Doctoral and sub-doctoral certificands. The resulting board had both a PA member and public members.

Along with Gallessich, former Board Chair Robert Gordon, TPA Public Affairs Liaison Officer Tom Lowry and others spent many hours testifying, preparing positions on issues related to the State Board, holding meetings to reconcile opposing forces, and rewriting sections of the bills to satisfy both senators and TPA constituents. Dr. Gordon remem-bers well one such meeting:

“A meeting with Congressman Bryant was particularly difficult, because he had among his constituency a number of psychologists who sought to be licensed under substantial equivalency, and their applications had been refused by the Board of Examiners. The meet-ing with him was stormy and vitriolic. I was in great anguish to know how best to satisfy his needs and yet maintain the policy mandate of the organization. That was a moment of great threat, because I believe that John Bryant had the power to keep our bill in committee and have a sunset. The Chinese use the word ‘cri-sis’ to represent both danger and opportunity. That was both a danger and an opportunity. But it came out all right. I was able to satisfy him, not by words, but by deeds. He want-ed some concessions, so I set about to effect those concessions and show good faith and demonstrate there could be honest differences of opinion between people of good will. Even though he and I looked at things differently, we would work together, and he ultimately proceeded in that spirit, and so did we.”

The wait for the action of the Sunset Com-mittee was filled with anxiety for TPA leader-ship. Finally the word came. June Gallessich remembers:

“We did keep the sun from setting on our licensing law. Sunset Committee Chairman Lloyd Doggett called me at the convention November 21, 1980 and said the sunset re-view was almost over, although it wasn’t of-ficial until the next year when it was approved

by the 1981 legislature. When it became clear that we would not be sunsetted, many happy letters and calls came, and those contacts gave me and others who were on the Executive Committee a wonderful feeling of community — a statewide community. That was great!”

President-elect Bob Gordon put it this way:

“The most significant, exciting moment was when our licensing bill successfully passed through the sunset process. And that was the culmination of a massive intellectual and so-cial and political effort, which had many exi-gencies along the way, and was heralded by all as the most significant achievement of that year.”

Organizational Stability After the rigors of two years focusing on

sunset review, the organization slowed down and recuperated. President Larry

Abrams (1982) remembers a major con-cern was whether the fancy new convention hotel in Dallas would be completed in

time for us. It was. Once through sunset, TPA turned its focus inward on organizational affairs, and outward on meeting the growing mental health needs of inner city residents, and on relationships with other health profes-sions.

President Tom Lowry (1983) focused on healing the breaches within the organization and on bringing academic psychologists back into connection with TPA. The I/O Division was founded by Bill Howell, and it attracted both applied and academic professionals. Various bills to weaken psychology’s position were introduced in the legislature and were defeated by a strong and determined group of TPA members. In 1984 President Elizabeth McDaniel promoted the involvement of the Trainers and School Divisions and presided over some raucous EC meetings.

By 1985 legislation was again at the fore-front of the TPA agenda. Although we did not succeed in obtaining hospital privileges, due to overwhelming opposition from TMA, President Randy Parker remembers that this was the year that Legislative Chair Tom Cook really began to shine. Parker had this to say

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about Cook: “He was really something to behold, I

think he spent more time in Austin than he did (at home) in Dallas. He was just extremely effective in the capitol building talking with legislators and their aides. I recall how Tom amazed us by making a major contact with the Attorney General’s office in regard to hospital privileges. I very much enjoyed working with him.”

As was true for many past presidents, Dr. Parker found working with the EC was the best part. He said, “I really have not had any better working relationships with a group of professional people in may life.”

Cliff Jones, 1986 President, echoed this sentiment:

“Just working alongside such a fine group of dedicated professionals was a real joy for me, I’m impressed with the way we bonded together. I enjoyed especially the bright young leaders like Mike Gottlieb, Larry Schoenfeld and Karen Karnerschen. Torn Cook in par-ticular could think ahead of everyone else, including our medical colleagues.”

Nineteen-eighty-six marked the introduc-tion of the official TPA logo and a full-color and full-sized convention program, which have set the standard for subsequent publica-tions. Line dancing at the President’s dinner was a convention highlight.

In 1987 there was great concern within the TPA leadership that the membership would not approve a sizable dues increase to strengthen the administrative staff. Cliff Jones recalled that, once the membership was fully informed, the vote to staff a central office and raise the dues was unanimous. Major changes took place during the presidency of Karen Kamerschen in 1987. TPA moved to hire an Executive Director and to find a place for a permanent Central Office. After debating job duties and interviewing candidates, Margaret Youngquist was employed as TPA’s first E.D. The decision as to the best location for an of-fice was made, and space was leased at our current location in Austin. For the first time, TPA had a place for clerical staff, a room for meetings, an office for the E.D., room for our lobbyist and staff, a place for out-of-town pro-

fessional guests to meet, a modern computer system, and room for our archives. TPA had finally reached maturity as an organization.

A Mature Organization Michael Gottlieb (1988) presided over

an unusually peaceful year within TPA. He especially appreciated having Margaret, our full-time Executive Director, on board to help with the day- to-day activities of the increas-ingly complex organization. In 1989 Charles McDonald presided over another busy legis-lative year with hospital privileges, insurance reimbursement, and the role of PAs on the agenda. Charles was known for his reconcil-ing style of leadership over a highly vocal and opinionated Executive Committee.

Emily Sutter (1990) instituted the Spring Mid-Year Conference as an opportunity to take TPA into the hinterlands. The focus of these meetings was on education and social-izing. In addition, Emily inaugurated the Lo-cal Area Leadership Conference to teach LAS leaders more about TPA and the legislative process. She also led TPA into a hearing with the State Board over supervision rules, and TPA was successful in paring these regulations down to a more simplified statement of phi-losophy. Under the leadership of John Reid (1991), TPA moved into long-range planning for the 1990s. Legislative efforts were largely ones of setting boundaries around the prac-tice of psychology. Beaten back were moves by LPC’s to use projectives and an effort by a trade group to regulate guidance testing. Once again the extensive lobbying of the medics prevented psychologists from regaining hospi-tal privileges.

Nineteen ninety-two was an innovative year for Texas psychology. President Royce Scrivner spearheaded the drive to raise over $10,000 to bring the national exhibit, “Psychology: Un-derstanding Ourselves, Understanding One Another” to the State Fairgrounds in Dallas in conjunction with the annual convention. This meeting marked a first for TPA by bringing us together with the Oklahoma and Louisiana Psychological Associations in a “Tn-State” Convention. Dr. Scrivner helped set up the Division for the Study of Ethnic Minority

Issues and was instrumental in creating the Lesbian and Gay Research Award. In the TPA Central Office David White was hired as our new Executive Director, and many efficient new office procedures were implemented.

Nineteen-ninety-three brought the chal-lenge of the second Sunset Review Process and with it the legislative wizardry of Presi-dent Thomas Cook. Substantial changes were made in the Licensing Law, including the first true practice act for psychology. In this pro-cess, small groups of various types came out of the woodwork, each claiming to practice psychology in some form or fashion. To avoid being lumped together under a ‘super-board,’ the mental health professionals of Texas band-ed together and stated, “We are united in our desire to stay separate.” The ‘super- board’ bill never made it out of sub-committee. The roast at the President’s Dinner was a highlight of the year. This included a hilarious slide show by Lynn Rehm and an irreverent quartet, “Tom Cook Land,” sung by Don and Nell Cavness and Tom and Alaire Lowry.

Our four most recent Presidents have been academics. In 1994 Professor Lynn Rehm’s goal was to welcome more active participation by academic psychologists in TPA. Rehm helped the I/O group obtain associate member status in TPA and hold their convention in conjunction with TPA’s. 1995 was another legislative year, and Presi-dent Michael Duffy schooled himself to an unprecedented degree in the legislative pro-cess and the use of political power. Dr. Kim-berly McClanahan (1996) spent countless hours working out a successful agreement between TPA and School Psychologists. The Presidency of Robert McPherson is not yet history, but he has already led TPA through a successful legislative battle in which sub-doctoral individuals were defeated in their attempts to be independently licensed to practice psychology.

It is easy to see that our presidents repre-sent a wide variety of personalities and talents. Each one has had a unique impact our Texas Psychological Association, molding it in his or her own special ways into the mature and vigorous organization it has become.

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The Sun Rises Again for Texas Psychology: A Brief History from 1997-2006

Robert H. McPherson, PhD

Director of Professional Affairs

This next portion of the Texas Psy-chological Association story is told from the eyes of our past presi-

dents from 1997 to 2006. For the purposes of this article, each of our former presidents was asked to share achievements, personal highlights, and favorite anecdotes for their year of service as leader of TPA. Our story picks up in 1997, my year as Association president.

Defining TPA as a doctoral organization and the practice of psychology as a doctoral profession dominated Board of Trustees’ discussions and actions for the Association’s 50th anniversary year. Indeed, preserv-ing the doctoral standard has remained a prominent advocacy theme for the Associa-tion in the ensuing ten years. In 1997 TPA by-laws were amended to limit the Associa-tion voting rights to doctoral members only and to eliminate the Psychological Associate position from the Board of Trustees. These actions followed efforts by a small but per-sistent group of psychological associates, in-cluding a TPA Board member, who sought independent practice parity with psycholo-gists during the 75th Texas legislative ses-sion. Fortunately, their bill died in the leg-islative Conference Committee after TPA lobbyist Lisa Ross reported to the legislative ethics office that the bill had been improp-erly submitted by a rogue legislative aide of State Representative Ciro D. Rodriguez of San Antonio. Shortly after the start of the 75th legislative session, Mr. Rodriguez was appointed to fill the term of US Congress-man Frank Tejeda who had died in office from complications of brain cancer. Follow-ing Congressman Rodriguez’s departure to Washington, his former aide independently, and unknowingly to the new Congressman, continued to conduct Texas legislative busi-

ness under the auspices of the Congress-man’s former Texas legislative office. The bill was squashed and the aide was quickly dismissed.

Under the direction of our legislative team comprised of Drs. Jerry Grammer and Tom Kozak, lobbyist Lisa Ross, Executive Director David White, and myself, TPA played an instrumental role in passing the nations’ first Patient Protection Act in 1997 ( a series of bills addressing detrimental managed care practices).

In addition to the address of the psycho-logical associate issue, several other signifi-cant changes were made to the composition of the TPA Board of Trustees. The Board was expanded to ten at-large positions; the presidents of the Student Division, the Tex-as Psychological Foundation, Psy-Pac, and the newly established Texas Psychological Corporation were added as ex-officio, non-voting members to the Board; and the Pres-ident-elect designate position was created. These changes were inspired by efforts to: (1) diversify geographic and psychological practice interests on the TPA Board; (2) fa-cilitate strategic planning between the TPA, TPF, PAC, and TPC; (3) and ensure conti-nuity of leadership for TPA across the every other year Texas legislature meeting cycle. On a related legislative front, TPA Execu-tive Director David White was formally as-signed by the Board to serve as our second lobbyist during the legislative session.

Among the personal highlights of the year for me was having the opportunity to host the 50th annual TPA convention in Austin and to meet, then introduce 28 former TPA presidents at our anniversary banquet. In addition, I was very pleased to formally introduce the singing talents of ten year old Carin McGraw, daughter of Drs.

Rick and Lee McGraw, at our annual con-vention. Subsequently, Carin has performed at several TPA and APA events.

As the 51st TPA president, Dr. Robbie Sharp of Houston ably led the newly re-constituted Board of Trustees during a year of considerable transition, and occasional internal turmoil. In contrast to previous board duty assignments in which Trustees were elected into a position of oversight for specific committees and duties, the1998 Board members focused their attention on the larger policy issues affecting the Associa-tion and the profession, and as well as mem-bership recruitment. In turn, the Executive Committee comprised of the President, Past president, President–elect, and President-elect designate, assumed responsibility for overseeing the Association’s committee op-erations and oversight of the Executive Di-rector and central office staff. Dr. Sharp also encouraged re-structuring of the TPA cen-tral office, adding additional part-time staff to support to the new organizational struc-ture. In addition, she initiated outside con-sultation to assist with the development of a comprehensive membership recruitment plan targeting licensed psychologists. There had been a noticeable decline in member-ship as a number of psychological associates (PA) chose not to renew their TPA dues fol-lowing the ‘97 legislative defeat of the PA independent practice bill and the elimina-tion of PA voting rights in the Association.

Dr. Sharp notes that much of the Board’s work in 1998 addressed internal feuding among different doctoral groups within the Association. Most importantly, “We were able to work with several somewhat antagonistic groups to forge a formal TPA endorsement of a psychopharmacology training program, and we worked to find

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common ground with the newly founded Texas Association of School Psychologists.” In 1998, TPA hosted a Spring Conference in South Padre Island, a Summer Family Get-Away to Vail, Colorado, and held a re-cord setting annual convention in Houston, where the infamous Texas Blues Brothers of TPA (Rick McGraw and Bob McPherson) made their surprise début performance at the President’s dinner. Among Dr. Sharp’s fondest memories was hosting all comers to the hotel presidential suite later that same evening, where Drs. Rick McGraw and Tom Van Hoose played guitars, “and we sung the night away, drinking a few great wines along the way.”

In 1999, Dr. Jerry Grammer served as TPA president. When asked to reflect on his most significant achievements for the year, he talked about his longstanding passion in the legislative arena on behalf of psycholo-gists and their patients. Following in the tradition of Dr. Tom Cook, who stood at the forefront of TPA legislative activities for more than a decade previously, Dr. Gram-mer was most certainly the key psychologist in TPA’s legislative activities from 1995 thru his year as president. He writes:

The passage of the first anti-managed care legislation in the nation is the single most important endeavor that I participated in the years preceding my years as president. In fact, had it not been for managed care and it’s destruc-tiveness to the community, I would have perhaps never become involved with TPA and had the opportunity to work on this very significant piece of legislation.

Early during the ’95 legislative session, with an initial straw vote of 20 against and 11 in favor of the Patients’ Protections Rights legislation endorsed by consumer and health provider groups, the Texas Senate aligned itself with the managed care/insur-ance industry opposing further governmen-tal regulation of the industry. Dr. Grammer reports he really got “caught up” in the po-litical process and subsequently devoted one full day a week from his practice to be at the Capitol to turn around the Senate vote.

Following nearly four months of intensive lobbying by Dr. Grammer and the collab-orative work of many other health care pro-viders and consumer coalitions, 18 Senators eventually changed their minds and the bill passed the Senate with a vote of 29 in favor, 2 opposed. Having passed in the House eas-ily, the bill was surprisingly vetoed by Gov-ernor George Bush. In 1997, however, the same legislation was again overwhelming supported in both the Senate and the House and was submitted to Governor Bush, who allowed that bill to become law without his signature.

During his year as TPA’s president, Dr. Grammer was one of six psychologists in the nation invited to participate in the first ever White House Conference on Mental Health, held in June of 1999. With approxi-mately 300 people in attendance, President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton devoted their entire morning to the meet-ing, with the President giving the keynote address. Vice President Al Gore and wife Tipper Gore, also a social worker, spent the entire day at the Conference and concluded the event by hosting all conferees for a din-ner at the Vice President’s home. Dr. Gram-mer admits that he was a bit overwhelmed to be in the presence of the President, the Vice President, their spouses, the entire cabinet, and many congressmen. Follow-ing an elegant and quite formal breakfast at the White House and a morning session at Howard University, the group broke for a picnic lunch. When Dr. Grammer turned to introduce himself to those at his table, he found himself seated between political figure Eunice Kennedy Shriver and famed CBS’s newsman Mike Wallace. “The entire conference was truly a career highlight for me”, says Dr. Grammer.

In the year 2000, Dr. Rick McGraw be-came the first psychologist of color (Latino) to assume presidency of the Texas Psycho-logical Association. Armed with a quick wit, considerable diplomacy skills, and above average musical talent Dr. McGraw cites among his proudest accomplishments as TPA president, the planning and hosting

of a joint Texas/Oklahoma convention held in Dallas. The theme of the highly success-ful conference was “Science and Business of Practice”. As a key architect of the 1997 restructuring of the Board of Trustees, de-signed with the now realized hopes to in-crease the geographic, ethnic, and specialty diversity on the Board, Dr. McGraw was also one of the leading proponents of the prescription privileges movement in Texas. During his presidential year, he was instru-mental in securing a large block grant from the American Psychological Associations to support RxP advocacy efforts in Texas. In addition, then APA president Pat Deleon, a longtime national spokesman on the pre-scriptive authority front, gave the keynote address at the annual TPA convention.

Well known among TPA circles as the only talented member of the Texas Blues Brothers, Dr. McGraw confesses that his summersault onto the stage during the musical portion of annual convention that year was quite unintentional. Poor lighting and dark sunglasses inspired the tumble on stage, which many assumed was just a part of the act. On the other hand, Dr. McGraw proudly recalls the day he won a bottle of tequila doing a “tumble dance” on the party boat during a TPA Family Getaway in Puer-to Vallarta, Mexico that same year.

Dr. Sam J. Buser characterizes his presi-dential year as 2001: A TPA Odyssey. Highlighting his year as president was the introduction of the first Texas bill permit-ting appropriately trained psychologists to prescribe medications. The bill did not pass, indeed, Dr. Buser and the TPA legislative team, including Executive Director David White and new lobbyists Rusty Kelly and Joey Bennett, strategically negotiated to withdraw the bill from a formal hearing in favor of an interim study to later be called by the legislature. This interim study even-tually served to endorse the idea of non-physicians prescribing and was followed by reintroduction of a new RxP bill in 2003.

On a more playful note, during Dr. Buser’s year as president, the TPA Family Getaway and continuing education event

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took place aboard the Carnival Cruise liner Celebration. Nationally noted school psychologist Dr. Scott Poland (then at Cy Fair ISD and now of Nova University) led a workshop about responding to school vio-lence. “A little later, we tried snorkeling and sightseeing in Cozumel, Mexico. Some of us even employed practical statistics at the ship’s casino,” muses Dr. Buser.

The theme for the 2001 convention was Psychology’s Response to Violence. Ironi-cally and sadly, the convention’s focus also corresponded to the tragic and deadly ter-rorist attacks on the United States on 9/11 of that year. “When the conference theme was chosen, we were thinking about vio-lence on the micro scale in families and with individuals. Before the conference was held, though, we all experienced violence on the macro scale as a result of global terrorism,” laments Dr. Buser.

In 2002, Dr. Walter Cubberly served as the 55th president of the Association. And in contrast to previous non-legislative years, when much of the Association’s attention was turned away from the sometimes ugly business of politics, Dr. Cubberly focused TPA efforts on preparation for the 2003 and 2005 legislative sessions. President-elect, Dr. Dee Yates, founder of the TPA endorsed psy-chopharmacology program housed at Texas A&M University, was charged with leading the successful TPA testimony efforts before the interim study group authorized by the Texas legislature in 2001. Efforts were also launched to make preparations for the in-troduction of another prescriptive authority bill for psychologists in 2003. Concurrent-ly, Dr. Cubberly appointed a task force to prepare a formal report for the Sunset Com-mission and develop legislative strategy for the 2005 and necessary re-authorization of the state licensing act for psychologists. As well, he established the highly successful “Sunrise” campaign which generated sev-eral tens of thousand of dollars to aid the association’s operating costs associated with the sunset preparation process.

Dr. Cubberly’s entrepreneurial skills and foresight were further demonstrated with

the hosting of a TPA continuing education event in Paris. While many Board members offered caution about such a risky business venture, Dr. Cubberly and Executive Direc-tor David White took some seventy venture-some psychologists to France and returned with a very satisfied group of psychologist learners and a handsome profit for the As-sociation.

But among his fondest memories of 2002, Dr. Cubberly spoke of his opportuni-ty to bring internationally renowned psychi-atrist Dr. Irvin Yalom to deliver the annual convention keynote address. Dr. Cubberly recalls, “Dr. Yalom told me he did not do these kinds of presentations at this late stage in his career because they would take away from his opportunity to see patients and write.” But Dr. Cubberly persisted with his invitation, sharing with the famed psychia-trist his own passion for conducting group therapy and existential psychotherapy. Dr. Yalom finally agreed, and Dr. Cubberly hosted an intimate dinner party and fund-raiser during the convention to honor the writer who had so inspired Dr. Cubberly as a young counseling psychology student at the University of Texas.

Dr. Deanna Yates assumed the presi-dency in 2003, and no other psychologist in Texas has done more to lead the prescriptive authority charge in the history of TPA. Fol-lowing the success of the 2002 interim study on health care needs in the state, Dr. Yates led efforts to secure a sponsor and re-intro-duce a psychopharmacology bill during the 2003 legislative session. Forewarned by pre-vious TPA efforts on this front, alarmed by the results of the interim study report, and threatened by the substantial influence of our lobbyist Rusty Kelly, the Texas Society of Psychiatric Physicians garnered additional support from the Texas Medical Association and launched a hostile negative campaign against prescription authority for psycholo-gists. Despite overwhelming odds, TPA was successful in obtaining support from both sides of the aisle in the House and forced a hearing of the bill. The bill languished in the Public Health Committee but provided

opportunity to demonstrate that TPA could effectively maneuver against anticipated op-position by the medical establishment.

Dr. Yates also continued the successful “Sunrise” campaign and “Sunset” prepara-tions initiated by Dr. Cubberly. As well, she established two new TPA committees: one to interact with third party payers and one to focus on public policy issues. Both com-mittees continue today. She also instructed the TPA by-laws committee to undertake a review and update of the Association’s poli-cies and procedures.

A significant highlight for Dr. Yates’ year as president was actually concluding as she took the gavel for TPA. In 2002, she was the only psychologist in independent prac-tice selected to serve on the President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health.

Comprised of a national interdisciplin-ary panel of mental health providers and advocates, this working group met monthly for more than year overseeing the work of dozens of subcommittees. In his charge to the Commission, President George Bush di-rected members “to study the problems and gaps in the mental health system and make concrete recommendations for immediate improvements that the Federal government, State governments, local agencies, as well as public and private health care provid-ers, can implement.” The final report was comprehensive in scope and include such provisions as mandated mental health par-ity, which has recently been passed by the US Senate, and as of this writing, and shows positive signs for passage in the House.

Upon receipt of request for contribu-tion for this article, our 57th president, Dr. C. Alan Hopewell sent a brief e-mail lead-ing with the following words: “Tomorrow I leave for Baghdad”. Today, Dr. Hopewell is also a Major in the U.S. Army and the first civilian trained prescribing psycholo-gist in the Armed Forces. He and his son are presently serving in Iraq. Foreshadowed by the running commentary in his Texas Psy-chologist presidential columns reminding psychologists of the escalating need to pro-vide mental health services to the families

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and soldiers affected by the global War on Terrorism, it is of little surprise that at mid-life, Major C. Alan Hopewell, PhD would find way to become re-commissioned in the Army and serve his country in a time of war.

As a major achievement of the year as TPA president, Dr. Hopewell lauded the continuing work of the Sunset Task Force, with special acknowledgement of our leg-islative consultant Chris Shields and psy-chologist co-chairs Drs. Melba Vasquez and David Rudd. In the same e-mail, and on a much lighter note, Dr. Hopewell also re-called how the TPA convention hotel had double booked their meeting room space with a conference for computer program-mers. Consequently, some of the TPA ses-sions had to be moved to the San Antonio conference center some distance away from the hotel. There was also another group holding a meeting at the convention center. Apparently from the clothing and apparatus on display from the other conference, the other group was devoting much of its at-tention to the art of S&M sexual practices. Notes, Dr. Hopewell,

“We managed to successfully squeeze the TPA convention among and be-tween the computer techs who were wandering the hotel halls with laptops literally toed to their necks, and the other people at the conference center who were wearing more revealing at-tire.”

Dr. J. Paul Burney highlights his year as TPA president in 2005 with the eventual passage of psychology’s Sunset Bill. Cul-minating three years of intensive work, Dr. Burney beams with pride over

“the many psychologists who gave so generously of their time, money, and expertise for several years and then came to Austin for all those meetings, committee hearings, and late night planning sessions.”

He also lauds TPA Executive Director David White for his increased sophistica-tion and contributions on our legislative front and underscores the outstanding ef-

forts of Assistant Director Sherry Reisman for her efforts in preparation for the annual convention, recruiting new members, and “the thousands of other details she attends with ease, humor, and efficiency.”

To celebrate TPA’s Sunset Legislation success, David White produced a video for showing at the annual convention. Filming of the video occurred at the office of lob-byist Chris Shields. Dr. Burney shares as one of his fondest memories the following story:

I never laughed so hard at all of us, and especially at myself, when they were trying to keep me looking up to keep the glare off my glasses. I looked like some mortuary stiff staring into the Never World. The APA Practice Direc-torate’s Randy Phelps still holds a copy as ransom in case the boys and girls from Texas ever get out of line.Dr. Burney concludes with, “The one

thing about being involved in TPA is that the friendships are wonderful, the scotch and gin are super, and psychology is worth the endeavor.”

As has often been the case throughout her accomplished career as a psychologist, TPA’s 59th president, Dr. Melba Vasquez, was the first woman of color to lead our Association. And like many of our former president’s, she describes among her most rewarding accomplishments, the work she assumed on behalf of the Association (co-chair of the Sunset Task Force) prior to as-suming her presidential duties. As TPA pres-ident, Dr. Vasquez devoted a considerable amount of her time appearing before the Texas State Board of Examiners of Psychol-ogists, successfully countering a proposal by psychological associates to lower the educa-tional and training standards for the inde-pendent practice of psychology. Following one especially contentious TSBEP meeting, the psychological associate group posted the following on their website:

What did confront us at the meeting were…a line of middle-aged white guys in dark suits, most office hold-ers in TPA, many past presidents, sit-ting shoulder to shoulder to defend the

status quo. We would like to think … Dr. Melba Vasquez, represents the face of Texas Psychology Future, yet there she was in her dark suit, sitting in their midst, straying not at all from the party line.

The “party line” of course, was uphold-ing the rigorous demands and uniformed training standards for becoming a psycholo-gist and for practicing psychology indepen-dently.

While her commitment to gender and racial equity were being challenged on the psychological associate front, in keeping with her life long efforts to address the needs of the unrepresented and underserved groups of psychologists and clients, respec-tively, as TPA president Dr. Vasquez ap-pointed a Social Justice Task Force, now a Special Interest Group, which produces in-formative articles for the Texas Psychologist. Also, with her support, the Woman’s SIG became a Division within TPA, and she fa-cilitated the establishment of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and the Early Career Psychologist SIGs in the Association.

Among her favorite TPA anecdotes is making more widely known the fact that Executive Director David White was her sixth grade student when she taught school in New Braunfels in the early 1970’s. “The funny part is that we didn’t recognize each other as such until David’s 40th surprise birthday party, when some of his friends - also former students - recognized me and my husband Jim, who also taught in that school.”

David White later wrote of the “reunion” in a Texas Psychologist column, “Just as she did 35 years ago, Dr. Vasquez continues to teach me integrity, honesty, professional-ism, leadership and one of the best qualities anyone could ever have, a caring and loving heart.”

And I can think of no better quote to close this chapter covering the past ten years of TPA history. I have learned much from Dr. Melba Vasquez and all of our former presidents. Each has held great passion for the profession and each has left an indelible mark on the history of Texas psychology.

FALL 2007 17

Sixty years can go quickly. In recogni-tion of how quickly time can pass, the TPA executive committee recently

held a daylong retreat to address the future of our association. Although new for TPA, it’s hoped that strategic planning retreats will oc-cur on a regular basis, at least every couple of years. The agenda for the retreat was simple and straightforward; identify an organiza-tional structure for TPA that would leverage our strengths for success over the next several decades. I’ve written previously about two is-sues critical to the future of our organization. First, we have to assume active responsibil-ity for our legislative efforts and, second, we need to find a way to purchase real estate in order to stabilize our financial future. The new TPA structure will address both of these issues, as well as capitalizing on our most significant inherent strength, our members. What you’ll see emerge over the next year is a more nimble and responsive TPA, one con-nected in intimate fashion to the needs of our members. You’ll see an association committed improving patient access to affordable, high quality healthcare in the state of Texas. You’ll see an association intimately involved in the Texas Legislative and one in constant contact with the Texas State Board of Examiners of Psychologists. You’ll see an association with a vibrant and effective grassroots organiza-tion, one that stretches across every area cor-ner of Texas. The net outcome of our recent retreat is a recognition and commitment to planning that stretches across decades rather than years, planning that builds across mul-tiple presidents and boards, not artificially imposed service limits.

I think you’ll be excited about what our association accomplished this past year and what is planned for the future. From a Legis-lative perspective, we learned a tremendous amount, lessons that have resulted in direct and meaningful changes in the TPA struc-ture. The Board has reconfigured the job of our Executive Director, allowing more time for contact with our local areas societies and considerably more time for lobbying our cause in the Texas Legislature. We also recognize the importance of a grassroots lobbying. Rob Mehl, president of the Asso-ciation for the Advancement of Psychology in Texas (AAPT) is actively developing our grassroots network for the 2009 session. There will be a TPA member (or several) re-sponsible for every single legislator in Tex-as. The importance of local commitment cannot be overstated. The TPA Legislative Committee is already meeting to firm up an agenda for the 2009 session, along with an action plan about fundraising efforts for targeted legislators. TPA has fully embraced the idea that we have to own our legislative agenda. Similarly, our president-elect, Ron Cohorn, is poised to take on broad array of insurance and reimbursement issues, all geared toward improving the patient access to affordable, hiågh-quality healthcare in the state.

The recent TPA restructuring will em-phasize intimate contact with our member-ship, moving to a structure that demands a working board, that is, enhanced board member contact with the membership, something that will be supplemented by our executive director David White. Fi-

nally, the recent restructuring will allow TPA to move in responsible fashion toward purchasing property, something critical to building equity and financial stability for the association. Owning property will allow TPA to enjoy both real and profes-sional equity, something vital to our future. It will be difficult to prosper over the next sixty year without stable, predictable roots, something a building provides well beyond the bricks and mortar.

Let me thank all the current and past board members for their service to the pro-fession of psychology and the Texas Psycho-logical Association. It is service that often goes unrecognized, but is vital for both our profession and the public. A special thanks to Melba Vasquez for her fabulous leader-ship as president and past-president, along with board members completing their re-spective terms of service: Randy Noblitt, Lane Ogden, Alan Fisher and Alison Wil-son. All have made significant and endur-ing contributions to TPA. I also want to thank the following individuals for partici-pating in the retreat (at their own expense!) and assisting in the development of a new and nimble TPA structure for the next 60 years: Ollie Seay, Melba Vasquez, Ron Co-horn, Robbie Sharp, Dean Paret, Dee Yates, Bob McPherson, Selia Servin-Lopez, Bon-ny Gardner, Amanda Hook, Brian Stagner, Toba Rubin, Rob Mehl, David White and Sherry Reisman. Many Texans live more enjoyable and productive lives today be-cause of the work of TPA and our member-ship. I look forward to another vibrant and productive sixty years!

FROM THE PRESIDENT M. David Rudd, PhD, ABPP

The Next Sixty Years for TPA

18 FALL 2007

Texas Psychologist

Like many Americans today, most Tex-as psychologists prefer to bowl alone. Joining a bowling league is a hassle.

It means paying dues and tournament fees, buying a silly, look-alike bowling shirt with a goofy “Fast Eddy’s Quick Lube” logo on the back, arriving to the bowling alley on some-body else’s schedule, waiting longer for your next roll at the pins, and then suffering the added pressure of others anxiously watching you trying to “hit the pocket” consistently. And to add further insult, bowling with oth-ers means your success depends in large part on your teammates’ ability to roll spares and strikes. Why bother with joining a bowling league when you can pay-by-the-game, wear what you want, bowl anytime you please, and be the only one who knows your score?

Robert Putman, author of Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Commu-nity (2000) notes that more of us are bowl-ing today than in years previous, but that we are choosing to bowl alone. He suggests that going it alone comes at a rather hefty price for both the individual and society. Putnam argues that the seemingly insignificant act of bowling alone is both symbolic and symp-tomatic of a nearly thirty year long decline of Americans’ investment in the social capital necessary to sustain the civic involvement to make our democracy work effectively. Put-man also suggests the absence of this invest-ment means we do not know our neighbors as well, we socialize less with friends and family, we join fewer civic and professional organizations, we are less likely to participate in community oriented service, and we tend to avoid voting in political elections.

Parenthetically speaking, it would seem that American’s proclivity for social isola-tion might contribute handsomely to the livelihood of psychologists who specialize in the treatment of patients suffering from

situational depression and related mood dis-orders, unsatisfactory intimate and family relationships, agoraphobia, social phobias, and other interpersonal and intrapersonal dysfunctions or dissatisfactions. Seemingly, psychologists should be doing good and do-ing well because of the alienation and dis-connectedness resultant from more people bowling alone. Of course, this is not the case. Most of these patients are being seen by non-psychologists, and the psychologists who are seeing patients are being paid less for the services they provide. And not so surpris-ing, manage care company profits continue to reach new heights. Could these circum-stances be a result of too many psychologists bowling alone?

Putman tells a story with Texas roots. The Charity League of Dallas had met for fifty years to sew, knit, and visit, but on April 30, 1999, they held their last meeting: the average age of the group had risen to eighty, the last member had joined two years earlier, and President Pat Dibek said ruefully, “I feel like this is a sinking ship. (pp. 15-16)

Likewise, there has been a near decade long membership decline among state psy-chological associations. Until recently, the Texas Psychological Association seemed on course to suffer the same fate of the Dallas Charity League. If our ship was not sinking, we most certainly have had fewer members to manage the oars and trim the sails for TPA. Until recently, membership renewals have been in decline, with many early and mid-career psychologists leaving the Association to bowl alone. Our membership is also gray-ing and fewer new psychologists have been joining to replace those aging baby boomers who are retiring. Borrowing again from Put-

man, it has sometimes seemed that young psychologists would rather watch re-runs of the popular show “Friends” rather than mak-ing professional friends in TPA.

Fortunately, 2007 has marked a positive turn in our membership numbers. The rate of current member renewals is up and some former members are re-joining the Associa-tion. This has not been by accident. Through the collaborative and persuasive efforts of our hardworking staff and dedicated volunteer leaders, many Texas psychologists have redis-covered the value of being a member of the TPA bowling team. In Putman’s terms, these renewing psychologists, at least implicitly, understand that being a TPA member serves as a major social capital investment in their professional future.

A lone psychologist can not successfully challenge the fee reductions inflicted by a billion dollar managed care company. One psychologist can not fend off those without the requisite training who want to practice our professional trade and assume our title. A single psychologist can not convince the legislature that with appropriate training s/he can prescribe (or un-prescribe) safely and ef-fectively. Bowling alone may be fun, but in the long run, it has proven to be unprofitable on many fronts for most psychologists.

TPA is the voice of licensed psychologists in Austin, and our voice grows stronger with the addition of each new member. Joining the TPA bowling team helps psychologists build their professional networks and strengthen their collective political muscle and influence in the Texas legislature. In an association of trusting and like-minded professionals who share a sense of reciprocal benefit for their efforts, much can be accomplished for indi-vidual members, the profession, and those we serve. Helping to lead the charge to increase our ranks and engage more psychologists in

Bowling for Psychology’s FutureBy Drs. Ron Cohorn, President-Elect and Robert McPherson, Director of Professional Affairs

FALL 2007 19

Texas Psychologist

the good fight to ensure access to quality and affordable psychological services to Tex-ans has been TPA Executive Director David White. David has been and will continue to travel extensively to local area society gather-ings this fall and spring to meet with mem-bers and to recruit future TPA members. As we look toward the 2009 legislative year, now is the critical time to build our membership pranks and strengthen our relationships with our state senators and representatives.

David White can’t do it alone. We are ask-ing you to assist in this endeavor. Our aspi-rational goal is to have personal contact and invite every licensed psychologist in Texas to become a member to the TPA bowling team. Paying your dues is just the start of your so-cial capital investment as a psychologist. Your assistance in membership recruitment is the next step in enhancing your social capital in-vestment. After reading this article, identify one psychologist in your community that you know is not a TPA member. Invite them to attend your next local area society meet-ing. If David is in attendance, he will most certainly help make the membership pitch to your colleague. But from experience, we know that it’s your encouragement and prod-ding that will inspire your friend to join the team.

Here are some things your can share about TPA activities for 2008.

Under the direction of Dr. Rob Mehl and the Association for the Advancement of Tex-as Psychology (AATP), we will be launching an extended and targeted grassroots effort to inform and educate the Texas legislature of the key issues, affecting psychologists and their practices. These include the expansion of mental health parity and the address of the continuing abuse of the health care sys-tem by certain third party payer interests. We also know that there will be renewed efforts to undermine the doctoral standard for the independent practice of psychology.

On the psychopharmacology front, Dr. Dee Yates has been selected by the TPA di-vision for prescribing psychologists to lead the execution of the Texas portion of the

APA national strategy to advance our Rxp initiative. We will be building on consider-able national momentum on this front. The shortage of American trained psychiatrists, the understandable reluctance by some non-psychiatric physicians to prescribe psycho-tropic medication, and the over-prescribing by other physicians with limited training in the area, serve to strengthen the argument for prescriptive authority for appropriately trained psychologists. Equally important, the staggering numbers of underserved mental health patients who require medication and the growing number of returning veterans requiring mental health services underscore psychology’s argument for increasing patient access to the high quality care psychologists can provide.

Next, TPA will also make special effort to identify and respond to the interests and needs of psychology graduate students, early career psychologists, as well as academic, re-search, school, consulting, I/O, and psychol-ogists engaged in non-health related services. We are aware that many new psychologists, and some of our “seasoned” veterans, are successfully blazing new trails in alternative service arenas (e.g. forensics, jury selection, coaching, mediation, software development, telehealth, web-based services and products, etc). But along the way, these innovators have encountered new challenges and unexpected hurdles that require legislative and/or TSBEP rule adaptations.

They need not bowl alone. TPA will be expanding its advocacy efforts in order to facilitate the ongoing diversification of psy-chological service activities among a growing number of our new and prospective mem-bers. Correspondingly, we will also seek to identify and promote cost effective ways to ethically and effectively scale the delivery of both traditional and non-traditional services via the: (1) use of technology, (2) employ of qualified extenders, and (3) use of appropri-ate outsourcing services.

TPA will also increase opportunities for high quality continuing education programs by utilizing video streaming on the TPA web-

site and partnering with your local area soci-ety. You can also expect another European CEU excursion in 2008. Bowling together can be both educational and fun.

Lastly, we want you to know that we will be moving the TPA central office from our current downtown Austin location to a temporary, less expensive location west of the capitol. Our plan is to reduce operating expenses while we build up cash reserves suf-ficient to buy a permanent office building for the Association. Our goal is purchase a facil-ity by early 2009. Following the lead of our national association’s successful investment in bricks and mortar, the TPA leadership believes this is a crucial step in controlling ever-escalating overhead expenses related to office rental and for building equity for the Association. We will also continue to care-fully monitor our mutual fund investments to ensure the long term financial vitality of the Association. These actions should also al-low us to the moderate the need for future dues increases. We are striving to keep mem-bership in TPA affordable and buying a TPA bowling t-shirt will always be optional.

In closing, past TPA president and cur-rent chairman of the Association’s financial committee, Dr. Paul Burney is fond of saying “We are they”. He reminds us that as TPA leaders and members, we all ultimately share the same fate. Another former TPA presi-dent Lynn Rehm once said, “TPA is who-ever shows up”, suggesting that the direction and purpose of the TPA is defined by those who come to bowl together. Let’s continue to build the social capital of our professional lives by recruiting new members to the team. There will be reciprocal benefit to all, and at the very least, the odds are that TPA will have a pretty good bowling team. Though not a bowler “nor an economist…Yogi Berra …offered the most succinct definition of reciprocity: If you don’t go to somebody’s fu-neral, they won’t come to yours.” (pp. 20).

ReferencePutnam, R.D. (2000). Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community. New York: Simon & Schuster.

20 FALL 2007

Texas Psychologist

Heads to Roll All Over the StateOllie J. Seay, PhD & Marla C. Craig, PhD

There’s no better way to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Texas Psychological Association than to

launch the biggest public education cam-paign in the history of psychology in Texas, and “Texas State of Mind” is just the vehicle to do it! Imagine this:

You are walking through a park or near a museum in your hometown, and what do you see sitting there but dozens of gigantic

heads brightly painted and decorated by Texas artists! Ok, you’ve seen painted cows before, or maybe painted guitars in Austin. Big deal! But, as you get closer, you find that the themes of these painted heads beckon your curiosity. These heads are about the mind-body connection! You see people from all walks of life drawn to the huge heads. Not only are these heads esthetically ap-pealing, but the pedestals on which they are sitting have all sorts of helpful information about healthy living, in English and Spanish! The people are not just enjoying this art but learning about better ways to be mentally healthy and where to find resources. Finally, psychology in Texas has come to the masses!

Well, we sure hope so! “Texas State of

Mind – Psychology Promotes Healthy Liv-ing” is set to roll into a location near you starting next summer. We will be seeking sponsors throughout the project. The Call to Artists in early fall should bring in a number of submissions that will be judged by a com-mittee of individuals representing various areas of the art world. Artists will then be given about two months to complete their heads. An Opening Night Gala in Austin

will be planned for next summer (2008) when the heads are unveiled in Austin. The heads will visit major cities and surrounding areas, such as Austin and San Marcos, San Antonio, Dallas, Fort Worth, and Houston, but they can also come to other locations if we get sponsorships to assist with their trav-el. They will travel throughout rest of 2008 and into the spring of 2009 when another gala will be planned to auction off all heads that have not already been bought through sponsorships.

The proceeds from this Texas-sized cam-paign will be used by the Texas Psychologi-cal Foundation to Proceeds to continue and expand its mission to stimulate interest and knowledge of psychology to the public. Pro-

ceeds also will be used to recognize excel-lence and achievement in graduate training by granting awards, scholarships, and fel-lowships; as well as encourage the design and development of programs and techniques for providing psychological services to schools, institutions, industries, and the community-at-large. However, “Texas State of Mind” can only roll if we have the support of our members and help from sponsors. Every one

of you, either on your own or with some col-leagues, can help by sponsoring a head, sub-mitting your design to decorate one of the heads, or volunteering to be a part of one or all of the various committees listed below:

Sponsorship Committee – Chair, Dr. Ed Davidson

Volunteer Committee – Chair, Dr. Pat Ellis

Artists Detail Committee – Chair, Dr. Suzanne Mouton-Odum

Let us hear from you today at texasstateofmind@austin.rr.com

FALL 2007 21

Texas Psychologist

Disaster Corner

Preparedness for Disaster Mental Health ProfessionalsDO…Have a disaster plan for your family and job that includes you being away if you believe you would respond.…Keep a small bag

handy for quick repsonse that might include personal items as well as teddy bears, crayons, paper, crossword puzzles, etc. that may help with a distressed group…Be flexible – this is not your typical private office setting and you may be asked to do things that are not your typical role …Make sure the DRN and the agency you trained with have your current contact information.

In a disaster, DO NOT... Sit at home…Wait for someone to call and ask for help…Wait until after the disaster to get trained…Show

up on the scene and go to work without checking in…Show up in dress shoes and a suit (look professional, but be comfortable; open-toed shoes are a no-no).

Update From the TPA Disaster Response Network (DRN)• Rebecca Hamlin, PhD (one of our own), is now teaching the Red Cross disaster mental health course.• Our efforts to become a TPA Special Interest Group are moving forward due to a positive response from TPA membership.• Red Cross national is now coordinating with APA to notify all DRN state chairs in event of a disaster.• Minnesota DRN members were part of a group of Red Cross volunteers and who offered assistance in the aftermath of the I-35W bridge

collapse in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area in August 2007.• There is a new chair for the Houston Red Cross disaster mental health committee. His name is Dub Wright, and he is updating the list

of interested volunteers.

$1500 or GreaterElizabeth Richeson

$750-999Manuel Ramirez

$250-749Edward DavidsonMichael PelfreyRobert McLaughlin Cheryl Hall Nicolas Carrasco

$100-249 Mimi WrightSam BuserJerry GrammerJerry HuttonTim Branaman

Catherine MatthewsMelba VasquezSheila JenkinsB. Thomas GrayOllie Seay Lynn FerrellBarbara Abrams Joan Anderson Keith Barton Michael Blain Ron Boney Stacy Broun Ray Brown Trenton Everett Alan Fisher Larry Fisher Michael Hand Jack Jernigan

Joseph Kobos Julie Landis Victor Loos Daniel Macias Rebecca Marsh Janel Miller Joseph Moore Dean Paret Robbie Sharp Amy Sheinberg Laurence Smith Vicky Spradling Ann Vreeland David Wachtel Collen Walter Maryanne Watson Joan Weltzien Kate Wyatt

$1-99 Linda Eklof Leigh Scott Suzanne Mouton-Odum Terri Menotti Pauline Clansy ALan Frol Stephen Loughhead Lynn Rehm Brian Stagner James Taylor Ronald Garber Carol Grothues Blakie LeCrone Ellis Craig Lynn Price Deborah Horn Pat Ellis Marla Craig Dana Davies

Wayne Ehrisman John Godfrey Carol Hailes Scott Hill Arthur Linskey Laurie Robinson Verlis Setne Richard Wheatley Jim Cox Marsha Harman Bonny Gardner Karen Jackson Hazel Lane Harold LeCrone George Parnham Sherry McKinney Selia Servin-Lopez Thomas Van Hoose George Arrendondo Paul Burney

Texas Psychological Foundation ContributorsContriburions received November 2006-October 2007

22 FALL 2007

Texas Psychologist

Karl F. Heiser APA Presidential Award for Advocacy

Since its establishment in 1992, the Karl F. Heiser APA Presi-dential Award for Advocacy has honored individual psycholo-gists who have been in the forefront of advocacy on behalf of

the profession. The Award is named for Karl F. Heiser, the psycholo-gist who succeeded in passing the nation’s first state statute defining and governing the practice of psychology. Given each year at the annual APA Convention, these Presidential Awards recognize those who have given voluntarily of their time to define the discipline of psychology statutorily by state and federal laws and regulations through advocacy. Such laws and regulations include, but are not limited to, licensure, freedom of choice, Medicare, Medicaid, Work-ers Compensation, disability determination, mandatory mental health/substance abuse coverage, civil commitment, hospital prac-tice, prescriptive authority, child protection and elder protection, etc. Advocacy efforts that have stopped the passage of laws inimical to psychology have also been recognized.

The 1992 recipients of the award were honored primarily because of work they did before 1975. The 1993 recipients were those who worked to ensure passage of legislation in the later 1970s through

the early 1980s. The recipients from 1994 on have been recognized for legislative advocacy benefiting the profession and the public in more recent years. Fourteen Texas psychologists have been recipient of the Award. They are:

J. Leslie McCary, PhD 1992Thomas H. Cook, PhD 1993Rodney R. Baker, PhD 1993James Bray, PhD 1994Joseph Kobos, PhD 1994Charles McDonald, PhD 1994Laurence Abrams, PhD 1996Jerry R. Grammer, PhD 1999Robert H. McPherson, PhD 1999 Randy E. Phelps, PhD 1999Rick McGraw, PhD 2000Walter Cubberly, PhD 2007David Rudd, PhD 2007Melba J.T. Vasquez, PhD 2007

© 2007 Hazelden Foundation7999051

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FALL 2007 23

Association for the Advancement of Psychology in Texas ContributorsDonations received November 1, 2006 - October 31, 2007

$1000 and above Ed DavidsonMichael Pelfrey

$500-$999 Robert McLaughlinDavid RuddMelba Vasquez

$250-$499 Paul BurneyRon CohornAlexandria DoyleRichard FulbrightCharles HaskovecSandra HotzMorton KatzLawrence MuirheadJames WomackDee Yates

$100-$249 Barbara AbramsCarolyn AndersonPaul AndrewsLarry AniolAmelia AnthonyCheryl ArmbrustCarolyn B. ReedKyle BabickAnn BakerDeborah BartonKeith BartonCarolyn BatesMichelle BeardConnie BenfieldBonnie BlankmeyerRon BoneyNorman BouffardNancy Boylan AlfordPeggy BradleyGlenn BrickenFranklin BrooksStacy BrounRay BrownAmos Jerry Bruce

Linda CalvertMichael CampbellJohn CarpenterJorge CarrilloMercy ChiezaBetty ClarkAndrew CliffordSusan CostinJim CoxMary CoxRay CoxeLeslie CrossmanMark CunninghamCaryl DaltonHarvey DavidsonDana DaviesSally DavisMichael DuffyJames DuncanAnette EdensJean EhrenbergWayne EhrismanPat EllisJohn ElwoodMichelle EmickTrent EverettBetty FeirRaymond FinnStephen FinnLarry FisherLynn Fisher-KittayRowland FolensbeeElizabeth GarrisonKatherine GoetheJames GogginEdward GoodmanJerry GrammerAndrew GriffinDennis GrillGeorge GrimesCheryl HallJudy HallaPaul HamiltonBethany HamptonHenry HannaJo Beth Hawkins

Lillie HaynesSteve HeathDavid HensleyRobert HochschildJohn HoperDavid HopkinsonJerry HuttonJennifer ImmingDaniel JacksonShelia JenkinsRonald JerebCharlotte KimmelHarry KlinefelterJoseph KobosAmelia KornfeldJulie LandisVivian LavertyMark LehmanNancy LeslieMyrna LittleAlice LottesRichard LouriePerry MarchioniSam MarulloCatherine MatthewsDonald McCannGlen McClureJill McGavinRick McGrawRobert McKenzieSherry McKinneyBrenda MeeksRobert MehlRobert MimsWill NorsworthyGina NovellinoLane OgdenDavid OgrenFrank OhlerFrank OhlerPat PerinCaren PhelanRandall PriceTimothy ProctorManuel RamirezJayne Raquepaw

Susan RebilletLynn RehmJohn ReidElizabeth RichesonSteven SchneiderGaston ScottRobert SettyRobbie SharpHerbert ShriverJoyce SichelJev SikesEdward SilvermanBryan SmithBrian StagnerJana SwartJanet TateAnn TuckerDana TurnbullThomas Van HooseDeborah VoorheesDavid WachtelJoan WeltzienMark WernickRichard WheatleyLee WindermanMichael WintersArlis WoodMimi WrightJarvis WrightSharon YoungFort Worth Area Psychological Assn

$1 - $99 Lynn Aiken PriceDrema AlbinKay AllensworthLaurie BaldwinMelvyn BerkeMelvyn BerkeKaren BerkowitzBrian CarrIngrid ChowdhuryAmy CollinsAnne DaveeRuth Ferguson

Alan FisherMarsha GabrielRon GarberJohn GodfreyThomas GrayPamela GrossmanCarol GrothuesEdmond GuilfoyleMarsha HarmanEarl JohnsonThomas JohnsonSatkartar KhalsaSatkartar KhalsaBruce KrugerLinda LaddDoreen LernerMarcia LindseyVictoria McCainJoseph McCoyGeorge McLaughlinCraig MooreLee MorrisonKathryn OdenDorothy PaceGeorge ParnhamMurray ParsonsKim PraderasArlene RiveroCecilia RobertsonLaurie RobinsonJames RyanTimothy SadlerAllison SalleeMark SchmidtHolly SchrierJonathan SchwartzOllie SeayVerlis SetneTana SlayTruett SmithRebecca SteinLaurel WagnerPatricia WegerNancy Wilson

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