STP Award for Promoting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

The Society for The Teaching of Psychology (STP; APA Division 2) is pleased to announce the STP Award for Promoting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to recognize instructors who promote and prioritize these values in their teaching and mentoring. Consistent with our Mission Statement and the Statement on Addressing Systemic Racism and Inequity in STP, we encourage applications from colleagues who are from underrepresented groups and have diverse backgrounds and experiences.

This award recognizes diversity as inclusive of perspectives and experiences that are not traditionally highlighted in psychology curricula, in a reflection of broader societal power structures. These perspectives and experiences may derive from minoritized identities that include, but are not limited to: sexual orientation, gender identity, disability status, social class, race/ethnicity, religion, and immigration status. The goal of this award is to recognize instructors of psychology who promote social justice, broadly construed, through their teaching via a variety of educational and academic activities, as per Goal 3 of the APA Guidelines for the Undergraduate Psychology Major.

2023 AWARD RECIPIENT

Leslie Berntsen, chair of the award committee, is pleased to announce Dr. Milton Fuentes as the recipient of the 2023 STP Promoting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award. Dr. Fuentes is a Professor and the Coordinator of Undergraduate Advising in the Department of Psychology at Montclair State University. Through his teaching, mentoring, outreach, and advocacy, he works tirelessly to ensure that students–in his classes and around the country–feel like they belong in higher education. 

His undergraduate and graduate courses in clinical and community psychology infuse equity and inclusion at every level, from syllabus design to the strategies that allow students to meaningfully and impactfully discuss these issues and their perspectives with each other. Many of these strategies have since been shared in an article on inclusive course design that is Teaching of Psychology’s single most highly cited article in the past three years (Fuentes, Zelaya, & Madsen, 2021). Additionally, Dr. Fuentes has served as the founding advisor for the Multicultural Scholars Program at Montclair State since 2008 and one of the co-leads for the State of New Jersey’s Safe and Inclusive Learning Environment (SILE) Working Group in 2020 to share best practices with educators across the state.

In recognition of his commitment to practicing culturally responsive teaching and mentoring and advocating for inclusive learning environments for all, STP is pleased to present Dr. Milton Fuentes with the 2023 Promoting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award. 

PAST AWARD RECIPIENTS

2022: Viji Sathy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

2021: Michelle Reyna Nario-Redmond, Hiram College

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

Teachers of psychology at any kind of institution and any stage of their career are eligible for this award. (Contributions and accomplishments will be evaluated relative to an applicant’s career stage.) Applicants must be members of the Society for the Teaching of Psychology. (Click here to join if you are not already a member.) 

Self-nominations are encouraged. Those hoping to nominate a colleague for this award are encouraged to work together with the nominee in order to prepare the most compelling dossier possible.

AWARD DEADLINE

February 1 of the award year

MATERIALS TO BE SUBMITTED

• Cover sheet that includes the applicant’s name, institution, and contact information, as well as a short description of the applicant’s teaching duties. Also include the name and contact information for the person who should be informed (e.g., chair, principal, supervisor, etc.) if the applicant wins the award. 

• Evidence of STP membership

• DEI-focused curriculum vitae

• Evidence to illustrate award criteria, along with a summary sheet that explains each piece of evidence in approximately 75 words or less (per piece of evidence, not total) 

AWARD CRITERIA + SUGGESTIONS FOR SUPPORTING EVIDENCE

This is a non-exhaustive list of suggestions for supporting evidence to illustrate the criteria for this award. Applicants need not have achieved recognition in all five criteria and are encouraged to only include evidence that meaningfully contributes to an overarching narrative about their commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, rather than taking a “checklist” approach. 

An overall teaching approach and/or specific teaching practices that amplify diverse perspectives and foster an equitable learning environment

• Teaching philosophy

• Summary of student evaluations (please do not include original evaluation forms) 

• Other informal student feedback  

• Sample teaching materials 

• Exemplary student work that demonstrates knowledge/appreciation of DEI as related to course learning objectives

• Letters of support

Community-based educational initiatives that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion outside of the classroom

• Sample teaching materials 

• Evidence of impact

Conference presentations and/or invited/public talks focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion in the teaching of psychology

• Representative conference posters

• List of talk titles/abstracts

Mentorship that is responsive to the needs of minoritized students, trainees, and colleagues

• Mentoring philosophy 

• Letters of support

Publications (whether academic or popular) focused on inclusive and equitable pedagogy

• Annotated bibliography (please include the DOI or link to each publication, but not the full-text publications themselves) 

SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS

Please submit your dossier as one single PDF. You can merge documents in most PDF software or at www.ilovepdf.com, which also has a function to compress large files. 

Any letters of support can be included directly in the dossier or submitted separately by the referees. 

Submit your application here (requires login).

AWARD AND REVIEW DETAILS

Awards are only for STP members. Recipients will receive $1,500, a plaque, and (if they do not have travel funds from other sources) up to $1,500 to attend STP’s Annual Conference on Teaching to accept their award. 

Applications will be reviewed by the STP Promoting DEI Award Committee. Applicants not receiving the award may apply again in future years. STP reserves the right not to make an award if the award committee believes no applicant is qualified in a particular year. Policies regarding STP grant programs can be found here.

If you have any questions about this award or the application process, please contact Leslie Berntsen, Inaugural Promoting DEI Award Chair, at dei-award@teachpsych.org 

PROMOTING DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION AWARD COMMITTEE

• Leslie Berntsen (Chair), University of Southern California

• Arlen Garcia, Miami Dade College

• Dina Gohar, University of Michigan

• Jacqueline Goldman, Delta State University

• Amy Nusbaum, Heritage University