SUMMER 2016: FROM THE SECTION PRESIDENT

In my last column, I noted the ways in which your officers have been hard at work improving the infrastructure and functioning of Section IV to provide more opportunities for our members. Here are some updates on our progress.

Section IV has been successful in funding and developing four brand new awards for both research and travel. These awards will be given for the first time this summer and are focused on honoring our Early Career Psychologist and Graduate Student members. These important new awards are meant to facilitate the implementation and presentation of cutting edge sexual and gender minority research among feminist psychologists.

I'm also pleased to announce that our Graduate Student Committee (GSC), consisting of 6 members and the committee chair, is now active and fully functioning. The GSC has already been hard at work overhauling the Section’s social media presence and helping to select our inaugural research and travel award winners.

Section IV officers continue the process of updating our bylaws, with the first initiative focused on the ability to hold Section-wide votes electronically rather than via snail mail. Members have likely already received their ballots to vote on this initiative. Other proposed bylaws updates (e.g., a change to our Section name) will be circulated to Section membership for comment and vote this fall. As always, we welcome and encourage your feedback on this process.

Last, but certainly not least, I’d like to personally invite you to attend the many exciting Section IV events that will be held at the upcoming APA Convention in Denver.

• 8:00–9:50 am, Friday, August 5^th—Section IV was thrilled to be accepted this year for collaborative Convention programming focused on “Violence Toward the Trans* Community: Connection, Collaboration, & Community Action.” Join us in the Convention Center Mile High Ballroom 3B.
• 10:00–10:50 am, Friday, August 5^th—Please join Section IV as we collaborate with all Division 35 Sections for a roundtable discussion on “Living at the Intersection of Marginalization—Struggles & Resilience of Diverse Feminists.” Held in the Convention Center Mile High Ballrooms 2A and 3A.
• 3:00–3:50 pm, Friday, August 5^th—Join your Section IV officers for our annual business meeting and social hour, which will be held in the SPW/AWP Hospitality Suite. All are welcome and snacks will be provided!
• 4:00–4:50 pm, Friday, August 5^th—Immediately following our business meeting/social hour, Section IV will present its annual symposium: “Emerging Areas of Science, Practice, and Education with LGBTQ Women.” Held in the Convention Center, Room 707.
• 8:00–8:50 am, Saturday, August 6^th—Section IV and Section I of Division 35 have teamed up to present a symposium regarding “What to Know, What to (Not) Do: Working with Trans Women of Color.” Held in the Convention Center Mile High Ballroom 4B.

Please also make plans to join us at 4:00 pm on Saturday, August 6^th for the Division 35 Awards Ceremony, followed by our Division Social. Section IV will be presenting Dr. Marge Charmoli with the Laura Brown Award to honor her incredible contributions to the field of lesbian, bisexual, and transgender women’s psychology. We will also honor our inaugural Section IV Research Award winners: Kaitlin Portz and Dr. Katina Sawyer. Read more about our award winners on pages 21 to 23. 

For those who are not able to attend the Convention, I would still love to meet and hear from you. Please email me. Share your thoughts on how Section IV can be most helpful to you and in continuing to address the major challenges within our community. As always, I look forward to speaking with you!

Jennifer A. Vencill, PhD (jvencill@umn.edu).

EDITOR’S NOTE

For the past several weeks our editorial team has been very busy preparing this issue of PERSPECTIVES — working diligently to get it out to you before the APA Convention. We received an unprecedented number of submissions this summer, and were thrilled to see so many thoughtful contributions from members of our section on a range of topics (pages 4 through 15). This summer issue of PERSPECTIVES also features a message from our president (page 3), information about the Convention (pages 16 through 20), biographical pieces about recipients of Section IV 2016 awards (pages 22 through 24), and announcements about professional development opportunities of interest to our members (pages 2, and 21 through 25).

While we were busy at work, on June 12th, we received news of the Orlando shooting, which took the lives of so many members of our LGBTQ and Latino communities. We remember and honor them by listing their names on our cover (page 1) and reflecting on the impact this event has had on our communities (page 4). Also in the last week, as we worked to finalize this issue of PERSPECTIVES, we received news of more tragic deaths resulting from senseless violence in Louisiana, Minnesota, and Texas. We are deeply troubled by this recent wave of shootings, and sadly recognize that there is still much work to be done to eradicate racism and other “isms” from our society. How can psychologists make a difference? We invite you to write about these issues and help us move the dialogue forward. 

Cristina Magalhaes, PhD (cmagalhaes@alliant.edu).