Past President's Note

Democratic Leadership

Written by Dr. Violet Cheung-Blunden

Edited by Aashna Banerjee

Freedom demonstration in Ukraine

As the division’s past-president, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the membership for placing your confidence in me. It has been rewarding to restore the democratic spirit on the leadership team during my tenure. Overall, I would say I have spent about one-fifth of my working hours on division business. I presided over bi-monthly executive committee meetings, met with numerous stakeholders, and resolved conflicts. The leadership team now has a safe environment where the executive committee members can speak their minds and discuss their ideas. We listen to each other with patience, empathy, and respect. 

This atmosphere has been long in the making. The executive committee is blessed with a good dose of internationalization and diversity. For example, the executive committee members of 2023 are in a range of time zones – the continental United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. At the time of this writing, some efforts are underway to set up a common meeting time with the constraints being someone getting up at 5am, another going to bed at 1am, sacrifices in family time and religion participation. Insomuch as internationalization comes with different time zones, diversity brings different opinions. There are times when all points of views agree or everyone is right; but in all other occasions, we rely on democratic mechanisms to collectively solve problems and own our decisions.

There is a global decline in democracy in terms of lower freedom scores as well as restricted civil liberties. Even in the democratic world, some electorates have chosen “strongmen” to lead their countries with a muscular and authoritarian style. Further troubling signs are the trends to deny election results without sufficient evidence and pre-denying election results (depending on whether one wins or not). Having spent my childhood in an authoritarian regime, I know how leaders can think they know the best and how the public can find it expedient and even comforting to rely on someone with black-and-white answers. However, we only need to look back in history or read international news to appreciate the privileges afforded by democracy. Iranians demonstrators have a different opinion about hijab from the morality police and Ukrainians are fighting with their lives for the right of self-determination. I believe our division is obligated to set a shining example for using democratic mechanisms to work toward peace

.The democratic spirit on the leadership team has paved the way for inclusive and effective governance. In 2022, the executive committee processed about 100 agenda items in our meetings. I have listed numerous accomplishments in my newsletter entry in the summer, e.g., the APA convention, awards, small grants, newsletter, student group, activism, benefactor of a donation, and election. Since then, we appointed a new director of Student and Early Career membership (SEC), restarted our Inclusion, Equity and Diversity committee, engaged in a process of filling several liaison positions, and prepared for the transition into 2023. Beyond the accomplishments at the division, we now have a greater presence and a higher profile at APA. I have attended over half dozen meetings at APA for leadership training, socials with other division leaders, and bi-directional communications with APA. As a case in point, APA created advocacy liaisons on the heels of one of these meetings where the very issue was raised by our division and several others. 

I would like to take the opportunity to congratulate Nahid Nasrat and Ian Hansen as they concluded their respective services as the past-president and the treasurer. I want to thank the many executive committee members who will go into 2023 by serving the division in the same capacities as before. Let me also briefly mention the new executive committee members/liaisons. Since everyone is well-qualified, I will limit my mentions to one service item in the division per person for the sake of space. 

  • Robin Treptow will be the president of 2023. She was the secretary for three years.

  • Grant Rich will be the president-elect in 2023. He served as the convention chair for three years.

  • Serdar M. Değirmencioğlu will be the secretary for three years starting 2023. He was the division’s president in 2019.

  • Stephanie Beckman will be our treasurer in 2023 for a three-year term. She was the SEC director since summer of 2021.

  • Stylianos Syropoulos will start a three-year term as a member-at-large in 2023. He is the chair of our Inclusion, Equity and Diversity committee. 

  • Alma Jeftic will be starting her three-year term as the director of SEC. She has been an Associate Editor of our newsletter since 2022.

  • Darryl Johnson will be the convention chair. He has been an Associate Editor of our newsletter since January 2022.

  • Art Kendall will be the Science Partner Liaison for a one-year term. He has been a long-term member of the division since it started.





I thank you for your care and contributions in 2022 and I look forward to fruitful collaborations in 2023.  












Dr. Violet Cheung-Blunden