David A. Smith
David A. Smith, a Notre Dame professor of psychology, has been elected chair of the American Psychological Association’s Commission on Accreditation.
His term, which began in January, involves leading the 32-person commission, which is charged with the accrediting of nearly 1,200 doctoral, internship, and postdoctoral programs in clinical, counseling, and school psychology.
“It was a great honor to be elected by the other accreditation commissioners to serve as their chair. It will also be a great challenge,” Smith said. “The APA has recently committed to accrediting master’s programs, which is a large expansion in scope we will be tackling this year.”
A member of the Notre Dame faculty since 1997, Smith is head of the department’s clinical psychology Ph.D. program and director of the Marital Therapy and Research Clinic.
The author of dozens of peer-reviewed articles published in prestigious journals, Smith’s research focuses on the links between psychopathology and interpersonal relationships. He also studies social relationships and chronic low back pain as well as various topics in quantitative psychology.
His research has been supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, John Templeton Foundation, and National Institute of Mental Health.
Smith received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Minnesota before earning his Ph.D. at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and interning at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan.
A licensed and board-certified psychologist, he is a fellow of the American Academy of Cognitive and Behavioral Psychology, the American Psychological Association’s clinical psychology division, and the Association for Psychological Science.
Originally published by at al.nd.edu on March 15, 2019.