Editor’s Corner

Editor’s Corner

Dana Litt, PhD
SoAP Box Editor

Victoria Votaw, MS
Student Editor

Welcome to the Summer 2021 issue of the SoAP Box. This issue also happens to be my last issue before I hand over the reins to our incoming editor, Angelo DiBello. I can hardly believe that my term has come to an end as it seems like just yesterday that I stepped into this role. It has truly been my honor to serve as the SoAP Box Editor since Fall 2018. Through the past three years, I have had the pleasure of working closely with three SoAP Presidents (thank you to Jennifer Buckman, Linda Sobell, and Joel Grube for their support), a wonderful and hard-working board, two amazing assistant editors (Jennifer Cadigan and Victoria Votaw) and countless other members from across the division. I am particularly thankful for all of the member support in my first year when I worked with then-President Jennifer Buckman, and Katie Witkiewitz, Technology & Communications Chair, to transition the static PDF newsletter into a new, more dynamic web-based format. I know that this was a significant change from how things had been done in the past, but I truly believe that this change has made content coming from our division more accessible.

As a final reflection on my time as editor, while the last several years have been particularly trying on multiple counts, I have seen tremendous growth and resilience from Division 50 as a whole. Despite the challenges related to racism, social inequity, and injustice and the pandemic, I have seen our members rise to the occasion and have meaningful and impactful discourses around all of these issues. I am so incredibly optimistic about the future of our division and can’t wait to see what comes next.

Now to the good part – the wonderful content that awaits you in this issue! As always, please start with Dr. Joel Grube’s President’s Column, where Dr. Joel Grube reflects on the past year as President and introduces some important initiatives that will be coming soon under the incoming President, Dr. Mark Sobell. In this issue’s Early Career Psychologist (ECP) spotlight, I am pleased to highlight one of our amazing postdoctoral members, Melissa Pielech. Further, I am happy to highlight another early career psychologist, Alexandra Hernandez-Vallant, in our Diversity Science Spotlight where she shares about her passion for evaluating the cultural acceptability of service delivery and examining the cross-cultural utility of assessment tools. In this section, we also highlight the Society of Addiction Psychology Statement on Anti-Asian Racism. In this issue, we are fortunate enough to have three amazing submissions for our Finding Success Through Failure column that tackle issues related to circumstances where someone did not receive a job or position that they had hoped for. In addition, we have two excellent submissions for the Clinical Translation column focused on policy implications for screening among incarcerated individuals and a ground-breaking study examining social anxiety, cue reactivity, and alcohol and cannabis use. As always, we received great submissions for SoAP Box Sound Bites, Community Corner, and Show and Tell, which highlight the opinions and contributions of the members that make SoAP what it is today. Please be sure to read the several important division announcements appearing in this issue. First, please check out the results of the SoAP Election that was held this April to learn more about your incoming board. Next, please see an announcement from the Division 50 Education & Training Committee that includes a link to a member survey. There is also an important announcement about a rebate the division will be receiving from APA that has important implications for the financial health of our division. In addition, please read the announcement from the International Consortium of Universities for Drug Demand Reduction. This issue also includes important updates on both the CPA and APA conferences that I am sure our readers are interested in, including APA programming updates and the APA virtual conference announcement. Last but not least, please be sure to view the In Memoriam piece reflecting on the loss of Martin Y. Iguchi, a long-term member and leader in our division.

For the next issue, please be on the lookout for communications from Angelo DiBello, the incoming SoAP Box Editor.  I truly could not be leaving the SoAP Box in better hands and I am so excited to see what comes next.