SCRA Community Psychology Practice Council

Community Psychology Practice Profile

Background Information

Your name:         Bil Berkowitz

Address:          Dept. of Psychology, UMass/Lowell, Lowell, MA 01854  (w)

Phone numbers:             (978) 934-3655 (w)

Name of workplace(s):   (1) University of Massachusetts Lowell

                                      (2) Community Tool Box

Title(s):                           (1) Professor Emeritus

                                       (2) Consultant

E-mail:                           Bill_Berkowitz@uml.edu

Website:

How would you prefer to be contacted? (Please mark all that apply)

[x  ]  E-mail                 

[x  ]  Telephone                       

[x  ]   Snail Mail                

[   ]   Other                                          

Please list professional affiliations that relate to community psychology practice. 

                    SCRA (Fellow)

In which of the following formats would you be interested in sharing your account? (Please mark all that apply)

Website   x            Book   x          Journal   x          Article in "The Community Psychologist"_maybe 

Would you be willing to participate in longer interview or answer more questions via e-mail or a longer questionnaire? (Please mark all that apply)

[  x ]  Telephone Interview             or possibly e-mail     

[   ]  Video Interview         

[   ]  Longer Questionnaire  

[   ]  No           

 Please describe the work you do, for pay, as a community psychologist, including the setting(s) where you work?  

        Teach courses in community psychology and related topics at UMass/Lowell

        Consult to Community Tool Box

What training/education do you have in community psychology?

       35+ years in teaching, writing, researching, adminsitering, consulting, program development, and action in community practice

Please describe how your training/education contributed to your work as a community psychologist. What do you view as the most important skills you learned in your training as a community psychologist.

        In contrast to many others, I was trained as an experimental psychologist working in animal laboratories. I learned much about scientific methodology and the values and limitations of research that remains with me to this day.

What other experiences or training have contributed to or enhanced your ability to work as a community psychologist? 

        Practical work in multiple settings and in multiple communities, including work in my own home community as a citizen and low-level elected public official (Town Meeting Member)

Are there other ways you use your community psychology background and training, either unpaid or in paid roles other than your primary work? 

      Through involvement in my own community and neighborhood, and in the public policy arena 

What advice might you give to students or people considering community

psychology as a career?

     It's a great way to make a living and lead a life!

     And it's a life-long activity, for there's always plenty of good work to do!

Is there anything else you would like to say about your role as a community psychology practitioner?

       It calls upon the full range of capacities one has as a human being - upon technical abilities, practical skills, and research knowledge, but also upon personal qualities such as passion and determination.