Congratulations to Dr. Chris Stout, Founding Director of the Center on his election to the American Psychological Associations Committee on International Relations in Psychology (CIRP). He will serve on a 3 year term. He was also the 2009 Recipient of APA’s Division on International Psychology’s Outstanding International Psychologist Award. Here is the recognition:

This Award focuses on outstanding contributions to international psychology though various mechanisms and approaches. Dr. Stout has demonstrated creative leadership in teaching, research, advocacy, contributions to international organizations, and in the development of projects that bring psychology to the table where it would otherwise be absent.

In the five years since his being awarded the APA’s International Humanitarian Award, Dr. Stout has not rested on his laurels; in fact he seems to have accelerated. For example, as for research since then he has published The Psychology of Resolving Global Conflicts [3 volumes] with Mari Fitzduff, PhD; Collateral Damage: Psychological Effects of America's War on Terrorism, with Paul Kimmel, PhD; and his landmark 2009 three volume set, The New Humanitarians: Inspiration, Innovations, and Blueprints for Visionaries. His written works have evolved from the informational to the inspirational. 

Additionally he has worked to publish the following important books in his Praeger series: Handbook of International Disaster Psychology [4 volumes], by Gilbert Reyes, PhD & George Jacobs, PhD; Terror in the Promised Land by Judy Kuriansky, PhD; Making Enemies, by Evelyn Lindner, PhD, Who Benefits from Global Violence and War, by Marc Pilisuk, PhD with Jennifer Rountree, PhD; Beyond Bullets and Bombs, by Judy Kuriansky, PhD and Trauma Psychology [Two Volumes], by Elizabeth K. Carll, PhD.

He has gained 501(c)(3) status for his Center for Global Initiatives (CenterForGlobalInitiatives.org) and has developed a training/teaching practicum with the Adler School in Chicago. Therein he affords the opportunity to involve between 1 and 4 graduate psychology students each semester in international projects and development. This has lead to publications and APA presentations by his students–a wonderful opportunity for these individuals and a tool to sew the seeds of excitement for international work in psychology with students.  He is currently working to expand this to Argosy and Loyola as well.

The Center stands as testament to his advocacy melded with his desire to help others embark on their own projects. He has developed two programs (MENTOR: Methods, Experiences, Networking & Training, Organizing & Research and “Do-It-Yourself” Humanitarianism) that act to empower individuals with the tools and knowhow to turn their passions into deliverables in the global humanitarian space.

Dr. Stout has worked also as a strong advocate for psychology to be in international activities. His Center focuses on remedying disconnections – globally and locally, biologically and behaviorally, training and practice. He sees health inequities as continuing unless public health and primary care are blended with the tools that psychology has to offer. Over a decade ago he noted this while working through SPSSI at the UN in a position paper he authored on sustainable development and psychological denominators (prior thinking for this is evidenced in his book The Integration Of Psychological Principles in Policy Development (Praeger, 1996) and subsequently in The Psychology of Diplomacy with Harvey Langholtz, PhD, Praeger, 2004)).

Dr. Stout’s contribution to international organizations is demonstrated in various ways. All the projects that the Center is working on have come from his being invited to help. In 2005 this lead to one of his proudest accomplishments—word from the Ministry of Education in Tanzania that they had approved the proposed kindergarten for orphans he had been working with for many years. His Center is one of only two international organizations allowed to work in Bolivian prisons with the children of imprisoned mothers (in Bolivia, children are housed with their imprisoned mothers). He notes that “We tend to work in places where if we were not there, there would be no services.”

And on the other hand, Dr. Stout has also been a frequently invited speaker at international conferences and meetings—from the World Economic Forum as a Faculty for their Davos Conference (and being named as a “Global Leader for Tomorrow”), to the invitation to work with OpenDemocracy and the Club de Madrid for the “Madrid 11” working group on countering terrorism. In all venues he is a vocal representative for what psychology can bring to the work—as a partner, not an afterthought.

Chris is the kind of person that champions and helps others to achieve their goals—be it book projects, international workgroup collaboratives, graduate students, or international groups in need. Of special merit is that Chris takes no salary from his work at the Center, it operates entirely from volunteers, and he has an arrangement with Praeger for his book royalties to go to funding the Center’s projects. He is also a proud Fellow of Division 52 who represents us well.