The ABPP Foundation is pleased, and extremely fortunate, to be able to announce a new scholarship program.  The Walter Katkovsky Scholarship was created at the end of 2019 through a generous donation by Walter Katkovsky, PhD, ABPP to encourage and to support health service psychologists, at any point in their professional career, and to demonstrate and certify their competencies in their specialty area of practice by supporting them in their pursuit of specialty board certification through the American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP).  The Walter Katkovsky Scholarship funds have been dedicated to help defray the costs incurred by psychologists over the course of the certification process for the following specialty areas: Behavioral and Cognitive Psychology, Clinical Psychology, Clinical Health Psychology, Clinical Neuropsychology, Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, Counseling Psychology, Couple and Family Psychology, Geropsychology, Group Psychology, Rehabilitation Psychology, and School Psychology.

Through the generous support of Dr. Katkovsky, the Foundation is able to award up to 15 scholarships each year beginning in 2020.  Information about the scholarship program, including how prospective specialists may apply for the funds, can be found on the ABPP Foundation website:  Walter Katovsky Scholarship

I asked Dr. Katkovsky if he would be willing to share for The Specialist about his background and about what led him to establish and fund this scholarship program.  He was happy to do so, and this is what he shared:

“When asked the reason for establishing an ABPP scholarship fund, my reply is to further promote excellence, i.e., high standards involving knowledge and research from theoretical-and-evidence-based practices as well as ethical issues by psychology practitioners in their specialty areas.

My introduction to ABPP occurred while I was in graduate training in the early 1950’s.  At that time the ABEPP concept, newly introduced, was controversial and opposition was expressed by my mentor on the grounds that the practice of clinical psychology was not sufficiently empirically based to justify establishing standards of excellence.  The fallacy of that logic and opposition crystallized in my thinking during my early post-PhD experiences and remains my present belief.  Even though psychological practice continues to be a young and developing profession, part knowledge and part art, that is not justification to oppose programs that endeavor to promote striving for excellence, which I understand is the implicit aim of ABPP.

After about 10 years of post-PhD experience (two years teaching and co-directing the clinical training clinic at Pennsylvania State University, three years at the Fels Research Institute collaborating in child-development research, followed by joining the clinical training program at Fordham University), I felt sufficiently confident to pursue the ABPP evaluation.  At that time the Psychology Department and the clinical training program at Fordham University was expanding and ABPP certification of a member of the clinical faculty constituted an essential criterion for APA approval of the program.  My ABPP certification also was a significant factor in my subsequent career move.  In the late 1960’s Northern Illinois University (NIU), formerly a teachers college was in the process of developing a Graduate School that included a Ph.D. program in clinical psychology.  Again, an APA advisory evaluation mandated the hiring of an ABPP certified clinical psychologist to further develop and implement the program to qualify for APA certification.  I subsequently spent the next 24 years of my career at NIU as Director of the Psychology Clinic interspersed with periods as Director of Clinical Training as well.  Thus my ABPP certification has played a significant role in my career and I believe it is likely to do so for others. The scholarship fund constitutes both payback on my part and implements my continued desire to support the goal of excellence by practicing psychologists. 

Following my ABPP certification, I participated as examiner in a number of examinations in the specialty area of clinical psychology.  My personal examination as well as my experiences as examiner raised questions in my mind that pointed to the need for continued study of the examination process with respect to identifying passing criteria.  An often repeated phrase in evaluating professionals is “Effective practice requires knowledge, skill and art”.  The difficulty identifying the variables under the heading of “art” opens the door to subjective judgments that may be inappropriate biases by examiners.   Clear definitions of specialty areas are one step in maximizing knowledge over subjectivity along with having examiners who also represent the specialty area of the candidate. Additionally, the examination committee needs to consider idiographic factors about candidates including the nature of the populations served and specific personal factors about the candidates themselves. In summation, my hope is that the scholarships will not only increase the number of ABPP applicants in their efforts to pursue excellence but also will promote continued study of the ABBPP examination process itself in its goal of pursuing excellence.”

Thank you, Dr. Katkovsky.

Cordially,

James W. Lichtenberg, PhD, ABPP
Chair, ABPP Foundation