Governing Board
Art Blume, PhD President
Gayle Skawen:nio Morse, PhD President Elect
Caroline Morris,PhD Past President
Joanna Shadlow, PhD Secretary
Chris Morris, PhD Treasurer
May 19, 2017
Subject: Nomination of Melinda Garcia, PhD
for the Ninth Annual Award for Outstanding
Contributions to Ethics Education
Dear APA Ethics Award Committee:
As is culturally fitting, we write and submit this letter as a collective, feeling privileged to be
associated with Dr. Melinda Garcia, who is a member of our ethnic community, and whom we
strongly recommend be selected as the Ninth Annual recipient of the Award for Outstanding
Contributions to Ethics Education.
The Society of Indian Psychologist’s Commentary on the American Psychological
Association’s Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct, henceforth referred to as The
SIP Commentary, was a ground-breaking work and a first for any ethnic minority psychological
association in the United States (or possibly the world). For those who may be unfamiliar, The SIP
Commentary originated as a dream by of one the elders in the Society of Indian Psychologists who
had long believed that the APA Ethics Code had not been written in a manner that served the
highest interests of ethnic minority psychologists. As a result, the APA Ethics Office and the APA
Ethics Committee began a collaborative effort with members of the SIP to reexamine the APA Ethics
Code and pinpoint why and how the code could or needed to be revised to better fit the cultural
values, traditions, and belief systems of American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian
psychologists.
As the principal author of The SIP Commentary, Dr. Garcia was relentless in bringing her
vision to fruition after several years of working with APA Ethics Committee members, as well as the
membership of the SIP. Dr. Garcia’s vision was for a Commentary that would speak to providers of
Indigenous services all over the country and all around the world. That task would require going
beyond linear, abstract, Cartesian logic that was more Eurocentric in nature and which perpetuated
colonial worldviews and practices. Under Dr. Garcia’s deft leadership, the SIP process was carefully
and purposefully designed, ultimately embracing the foundational Native tradition of
communicating in the language of stories. Stories that would bring the abstract to life, and in turn,
bring the struggles experienced by Native psychologists to life.
The significance of The SIP Commentary, however, merely begins here. Although exclusively
focused on stories about American Indian and Alaska Native psychologist’s experiences, the stories
also held the power to communicate across cultures. Everyone, regardless of race, ethnicity, or
culture, could relate to some, if not many aspects of each example provided in The SIP Commentary.
Garcia Nomination 2
Likewise, having noted that this is merely where our story of Dr. Garcia’s contribution to ethics
begins, we would subsequently enumerate the wide range of ethics education activities in which
The SIP Commentary has made an impact. To date, hundreds of SIP Commentaries have been
purchased for use by students, professionals, and institutions. The following are just of the few of
the known applications and activities that have been associated with The SIP Commentary:
The initial Community Based Participatory Action Research project that involved 70+
member stakeholders of SIP in a collaborative approach to research.
A half-day continuing education workshop entitled “Skillful Navigation of Culture and
Ethics” Workshop offered at the National Multicultural Conference and Summit 2015,
Atlanta, GA.
Presentation of continuing education workshops for mental health and cultural
competence training for family service organizations.
A blog to inform and train psychologists about ethics and cultural competence.
Numerous ethics courses being taught at Universities, Colleges, Tribal Colleges, and
Medical Schools around the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
As a training tool for counseling and internship programs.
The SIP Commentary has been so widely used and disseminated for ethics education that it has
inspired members of the SIP, including Dr. Garcia, to develop and publish an Instructor training
manual to identify and implement strategies for alerting psychology graduate professors, students,
researchers, supervisors, and clinicians to the commentary’s existence and to create supplemental
materials enhancing its utility.
Finally, Dr. Garcia has published articles and book chapters related to ethics with research and
mental health in indigenous populations and heads the development of a National Ethnic Minority
Psychological Association monograph on Ethical considerations with ethnic minority populations.
In closing, although we believe that Dr. Garcia has made significant and outstanding
contributions to the profession of psychology through her ethics education activities, they are but a
small part of what she has contributed to our ethnic community and organization. Consequently, we
certainly hope you will honor Dr. Garcia as the Ninth Annual recipient of the Award for Outstanding
Contributions to Ethics Education for all that she has done in helping that original dream to become
the reality that has inspired, taught, and guided so many students and professionals both in the U.S.
and abroad, to view and understand ethics from an more diverse perspective.
Very Respectfully,
Wendy
Garcia Nomination 3
Arthur (Art) W. Blume, PhD
Professor of Psychology
President, Society of Indian Psychologists
Art.blume@wsu.edu
Gayle Skawen:nio Morse, PhD
Associate Professor
President Elect Society of Indian Psychologist
morseg@sage.edu
