Director of counseling services at Northwestern serves on APA council

Dr. Sally Oakes Edman, director of counseling services at Northwestern College, has been elected to represent the state of Iowa on the Council of Representatives for the American Psychological Association (APA).

The Council of Representatives is the legislative body of the APA and has full power and authority over the affairs of the association, including the power to review the actions of any board, committee or division of affiliated organizations. The council is made up of elected representatives of state, provincial and territorial psychology associations and members of the Board of Directors.

Edman’s three-year term began in January, and in this role she is also appointed to serve on the Executive Council of the Iowa Psychological Association, of which she served as president in 2001. She is also a member of the organization’s Ethics Board.

Director of Northwestern’s counseling services since 2003, Edman previously served as a therapist in a private practice, community mental health center and a family practice medical clinic. A licensed clinical psychologist, she earned doctoral and master’s degrees in counseling psychology at the University of Notre Dame and a bachelor’s in psychology at Luther College. From 2006–10, she also served on the APA’s Continuing Education Committee.

Founded in 1892, the APA has more than 117,500 members and 54 divisions in subfields of psychology. The organization aspires to excel as a valuable, effective and influential association to advance psychology as a science.