Interim Report for the President’s Task Force on

Teaching Psychology in the Community

William S. Altman–SUNY Broome Community College

Dawn Albertson–Minnesota State University, Mankato

Bryan Auday–Gordon College

Betty Biernat–St. Catherine University

Stephen Chew–Samford University

Dennis Galvan–Gallaudet University

Riki Koenigsberg–Yeshiva University High School for Girls

Jerry Rudmann–Irvine Valley College

Judy Schulze–Baker College of Cadillac

Joan Warmbold–Oakton Community College

On 20 January, 2016, we received a charge from STP President Janie Wilson.  Our mission was to find ways to share psychology with the larger community.  As part of that charge, we were to help determine

• what insights from psychology we might share with our communities;
• the best ways to share them; and
• the best venues for sharing with different communities.

We began work as a team on 30 January, 2016.  To facilitate the exchange of ideas, we began by setting up a wiki with pages devoted to each part of our charge.  Task force members began populating the wiki with ideas almost immediately, and it currently houses a good deal of information about each of the areas at which we’ve been looking.

In addition to suggestions for each of these areas, the task force has begun to brainstorm about groups with which we might partner, the creation of training modules for helping our colleagues improve their communication skills, links to appropriate online materials, and possible “canned” presentations that members might be able to use.

We envision this wiki as a working document, which can be opened to the general membership once our charge is completed.  It would provide a central clearinghouse where psychologists who wished to engage with their communities could find any materials or suggestions for engagement that they might need.  We hope that this wiki, and any materials that are developed for community communication can be distributed through links at OTRP and ToPIX.

This report has been uploaded to the wiki, as will future reports.  The members of the task force encourage anyone interested in this work to explore the wiki, and to add to, or comment on, any of the pages where they have information, ideas, or critiques.