Aaron and Matty Canter Award for Lifetime Achievement in Psychology

The Aaron and Matty Canter award is the highest award given by the Arizona Psychological Association. It is given to recipients who have demonstrated leadership and dedication in psychology. For more than 60 years, Aaron and Matty Canter embodied the best of our profession. The Distinguished Contribution to Professional Psychology award honors those who follow in their spirit of compassion and service. The award is given to those who have shown commitment to AzPA and the broader psychological community throughout their careers. 

2025 Award Recipient

Joseph Stewart, Ed.D.

Distinguished Service to Psychology

Distinguished service as a psychologist is reflected in leadership and support of the psychological community. The Distinguished Service to Psychology award honors those who have served AzPA and other psychological organizations. Recipients may have defended the profession from efforts to restrict the practice of psychology in Arizona. The Distinguished Service to Psychology award is given to our leaders who have dedicated themselves to unselfish service for our profession.

2025 Award Recipient

Jane F. Hamilton, Ph.D., FAPA, CEIP-MH

Distinguished Contribution to the Professional Practice of Psychology

Those who apply psychology in professional practice are experts in assessing and diagnosing problems, preventing and alleviating suffering, and expanding health and resilience. The Distinguished Contribution to the Professional Practice of Psychology award recognizes those who dedicated their efforts to the prevention, assessment, or treatment of mental health problems. Recipients may have developed a clinical strategy, promoted a theoretical orientation or modality, or brought a psychological intervention to an underserved population. 

2025 Award Recipients

Janna Kautz, Ph.D.

Amy Serin, Ph.D.

Distinguished Contribution to Diversity

We live and work in communities that reflect a myriad of identity diversity, including those of race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, gender identity, religious identity, and disability status.  The professional psychology community reflects these varying identities, and as psychologists we are also obligated to competently serve the diversity in our society. The Distinguished Contribution to Diversity award is given to persons who advocate for diversity in all forms. It recognizes the value of identities that enrich the population of our state.

2025 Award Recipient

Monica Acevedo-Molina, Ph.D.

Distinguished Contribution to Advocacy

The Advocacy award honors those who have used their expertise to assist the psychological community and broader society by building coalitions to achieve social goals. They may work with psychological organizations, community organizations, judicial or legislative bodies, or the public to advance worthwhile causes.

2025 Award Recipient

Jeni McCutcheon, Psy.D., M.S.C.P., ABPP

Distinguished Contribution to Science

This Research and scholarship are the scientific foundations of psychology. It honors those who disseminate their scholarship through undergraduate and graduate teaching. Scholar's mentor their students to value intellectual curiosity, scientific methodology, and critical reasoning. The Distinguished Contribution to Science award recognizes Arizona psychologists who conduct research that improves the lives of others.

2025 Award Recipient

Brad A. MacNeil, Ph.D., CHE

McCray Award for Service-Centered Leadership

The McCray Award for Service-Centered Leadership honors a psychologist in Arizona whose professional life reflects a deep commitment to service as a form of leadership. Established in memory of Dr. Adam E. McCray, this award recognizes individuals whose impact is rooted not in titles or recognition, but in steadfast dedication to healing, mentorship, and the uplift of both communities and colleagues. Dr. McCray exemplified leadership through care, offering trauma-informed support to veterans, cultivating resilience in those around him, and quietly advancing mental health access and services. In his spirit, this award celebrates those whose work strengthens the psychological profession from the inside out: through presence, humility, and an unwavering ethic of service.

2025 Award Recipients

Dr. Adam E. McCray

Buffy Wooten, Ph.D.

Outstanding Psychology Faculty

This award is chosen by the AzPA Graduate Student membership. It recognizes the many and varied roles that psychology faculty perform in the education and mentoring of their students. It honors those faculty members who have inspired students and colleagues, contributed to the advancement of psychological science, and created an atmosphere of joyful learning.

2025 Award Recipient

Marisa Menchola, Ph.D., ABPP (CN)

Hal Arkowitz Award for Outstanding Mentor

Mentors play a unique and critical role in supporting the development of future generations in our profession. The Hal Arkowitz Award for Outstanding Mentor honors those who readily share what they know with students, early career psychologists, and established colleagues. Through their work, they help others integrate their personal and professional roles.

Presented by the Arizona Psychological Foundation.

2025 Award Recipient

Ellen W. Williams, Ph.D.

Outstanding Early Career Psychologist

This award honors psychologists who are in the first ten years of their careers. It recognizes those new psychologists who are already making significant contributions in the areas of professional leadership, service, and research. Recipients of this award are the future of psychology in our state.

Presented by the Arizona Psychological Foundation.

2025 Award Recipient

Maricela Smith, Psy.D.
 

Outstanding Graduate Student

Research and scholarship are the scientific foundations of psychology. It honors those who disseminate their scholarship through undergraduate and graduate teaching. Scholars mentor their students to value intellectual curiosity, scientific methodology, and critical reasoning. The Distinguished Contribution to Science award recognizes Arizona psychologists who conduct research that improves the lives of others.

Presented by the Arizona Psychological Foundation.

2025 Award Recipient

Jennifer Lee, MS

The Andy Hogg & John Stapert Award for Excellence in Psychology Training

The Andy Hogg and John Stapert award for excellence in psychology training honors those who have made a significant contribution to psychologist training over the course of their careers. It honors to individuals whose dedication to psychologist training influenced hundreds of individual psychologists and the profession of psychology in Arizona through their work as supervisors, teachers and mentors, as well as their contribution to the founding and support of the Arizona Psychology Training Consortium.

Presented by the Arizona Psychology Training Consortium

2025 Award Recipients

John Stapert, Ph.D.

Andy Hogg, Ph.D., ABPP