The Asian American Psychological Association (AAPA) invites submissions of proposals for the AAPA 2009 Annual Convention to be held in Toronto, Canada on Wednesday, August 5th, 2009 addressing the theme Strengthening Our Diverse Families and Communities in Times of Change.
 
During the past year, individuals living in the U.S. have witnessed and experienced many changes in personal, familial, psychological, political and economic realities.  During these times of uncertainty, some families and communities remain resilient, while others struggle. Social justice oriented psychologists are keenly aware that these disparate outcomes are often the result of inequities in support and resources. More than ever, psychologists need to foster ways of supporting and strengthening our diverse families and communities, while also confronting the systems of power and privilege that perpetuate societal inequities. We define families broadly to recognize the diversity of AAPI family constellations and encourage all program submissions to use a diverse definition of families and communities with the understanding of intersecting privileges and oppressions (e.g. extended kinship networks, blended families, LGBTQ families, adopted and foster families, intercultural families related to religious/spiritual affiliation as well as race/ethnicity, etc.). Special attention will be given to proposals that involve interdisciplinary or community collaborations.

Proposals may address, but are not limited to, the following topics within Asian American psychology: 

• Supporting Asian American/Pacific Islander (AAPI) families across the lifespan
• Diverse and under-served Asian American individuals and families (e.g., multi-racial, transracially adoptive, LGBTQ, transnational, refugee, veterans)
• Families and communities as sources of strengths and resilience
• Social class and economic impacts for Asian American families and communities, including supporting individuals and families in poverty, and sustaining resilience in times of economic distress
• Exemplary prevention and intervention programming for families and communities
• Social justice counseling and psychotherapy models
• Empowering AAPI families through activism, political lobbying, and community organizing
• Innovative practice to address racial disparities in mental and physical health
• Policy initiatives needed to support AAPI individuals and families in changing times

Who may submit

    AAPA members at all levels of training (professional, graduate level, and undergraduate level), including non-psychologists, interested in psychological issues affecting Asian Americans are encouraged to submit proposals. Undergraduate proposals are encouraged. Non-AAPA members at all levels may also submit proposals. 

    To reinforce the convention's theme on interdisciplinary collaborations, we also particularly encourage submissions from non-psychologists, including members of related mental health professions (e.g. nursing, social work, education) as well as members of other professions and fields that are not primarily psychological in nature (i.e., sociologists, anthropologists, journalists, clergy, artists, writers).  Because strengthening diverse families and communities are of particular importance for psychologists of color, we strongly encourage submissions from members of the Association of Black Psychologists (ABPsi), Society of Indian Psychologists (SIP), or the National Latina/o Psychological Association (NLPA).




Types of Submissions

Deadline for all submissions is March 16, 2009.  All submissions will be online at: http://forms.apa.org/aapa

SESSIONS

Interactive Sessions (60 minutes) provide an environment for focused discussions and interactions. In a typical session, facilitators introduce the topic and set up a context for subsequent discussions and interactions among participants. Please contact Anjuli Amin at amin.anjuli@gmail.com with any questions about submitting interactive session proposals. 

Symposia (60 minutes) are forums where multiple presentations around a common theme are addressed. A typical symposium will include presentations from various perspectives by subsequent presenters. An invited expert discussant may provide feedback. Please contact Anjuli Amin at amin.anjuli@gmail.com with any questions about submitting symposia proposals. 

If applicable, please submit interactive sessions or symposia proposals concurrently for poster session consideration. Do not submit a separate poster proposal for a session that you would also like to be considered as a poster. Instead, clearly indicate on the cover sheet under “A: Type of Program” that you would like your session proposal to also be considered for a poster presentation.

No individual paper proposals are accepted. Single research papers should be submitted as posters.

POSTERS

Posters are conceptual and/or empirical reports presented in the form of a poster. In a poster session, multiple posters are displayed to disseminate information and elicit interactions with participants. Please contact Kimberly Langrehr at klangrehr@gmail.com with any questions about submitting poster proposals. 


AAPA Conference Related Awards and Application Process

Student Travel Awards.
AAPA offers some travel awards for student presenters. AAPA student presenters who have been a member anytime in the last three years are eligible to apply. Priority will be given to the first authors, students who have not received the award before, and students traveling longer distances to the convention.  Following the acceptance of your proposal, students should send application materials to the AAPA Awards Chair: Alvin Alvarez at aalvarez@sfsu.edu. Please see the AAPA website for further information: www.aapaonline.org/membership/awards.htm. 

Division on Women (DoW) Awards.
The DoW offers two awards:
    The Division on Women Award is given to a presenter of a session related to psychological issues of Asian and Pacific Islander women to celebrate and highlight work on Asian American women's issues. Following the acceptance of your proposal, applicants interested in the DoW Award should send application materials to the DoW co-chairs: Elayne Chou at elaynechou@comcast.net or Natasha Foo Kune at nmfookune@ucdavis.edu. For more information see AAPA website: www.aapaonline.org. 
      The Alice F. Chang Student Scholar Award is given to the best poster presentation related to the mental health of Asian and Pacific Islander women. All accepted and presented posters submitted by students as the first author are considered for this award. The best poster will be judged and awarded at the convention.


Number of accepted proposals allowed

There is no limit to the number of submitted proposals per individual. However, individuals can only be the first author of ONE proposal. In the event that multiple first author submissions are received, submitters will be asked to choose ONE of these proposals to be reviewed. Exempted from this rule are presenters who are invited speakers and discussants in symposia.


Audiovisual Equipments

Following the acceptance of your proposal, presenters will be asked to indicate their needs for audiovisual equipment.  AAPA will provide flip charts, over-head projectors, and will try our best to provide LCD projectors for power point presentations.  However, please be aware that we cannot guarantee that LCD projectors will be available for all presenters.


Guidelines for proposals

• The deadline for all proposal submission is March 16, 2009.
• All online proposals should include:
• Contact information for the presenters,
• an Abstract (50 to 100 words) with no author names, and
• a Program Summary (500 to 700 words) with no author names.
• For submissions to interactive sessions and symposia, submit only ONE program summary that integrates the multiple presentations within the proposed session but also clearly indicates the titles and contents of each presentation within the interactive session or symposium.
• Proposals will be sent for anonymous reviews. As such, the Abstract and Program Summary should NOT include identifying information of the author(s) and/or presenter(s). 
• Submitters will be notified by email upon receipt of their proposal.
• Submission outcomes will be sent by email by the end of April, 2009.