Promoting Underrepresented Minorities in Psychology

Welcome to the PUMP homepage! PUMP is a collaboration between six divisions of the American Psychological Association: 2 (Teaching Psychology), 12 (Society of Clinical Psychology), 18 (Public Service), 28 (Psychopharmacology and Substance Use), 45 (Society for the Psychological Study of Culture, Ethnicity and Race), and 50 (Society for Addiction Psychology). PUMP, a mentorship program funded by the APA Committee on Division/APA Divisions, hopes to increase retention of underrepresented scientists in psychology. 

PUMP is a formalized system of mentoring specifically for people who are underrepresented, and is intended to ultimately help increase representation in the psychological sciences. Our definition of an underrepresented group mirrors that of the National Institutes of Health. That is, “racial and ethnic minorities, individuals with disabilities, and individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds” (more information here). Additionally, we welcome individual scholars to make personal determinations about whether they consider a different aspect of their identity (e.g., LGBTQ+) to fall under the category of ‘underrepresented minority’, and also welcome their participation in the PUMP program. We ultimately leave this decision up to the individual to judge whether their identity is in line with our stated aims.

In many ways, PUMP mirrors the peer review process. Through this web portal, you can submit a request for review/mentorship. You may request “informal” or “formal” review.

In informal review, you may not have a specific manuscript or grant for which you are seeking feedback but may instead have general questions about a topic area or professional development. These types of interactions may require phone/video contact or more in-depth communication between the mentee and the mentor, is less structured, and can be a single meeting or form the basis of a long-term mentoring relationship. This might involve talking through a research question more generally, discussion about statistics or analyses, writing or public speaking advice, or advice on applying to graduate school and postdoc/faculty positions.

In formal review, you would be seeking formal mock review on some semblance of a finished product. The primary areas are:

1. career/job application material review (personal statements, CVs, etc.)

2. manuscript reviews

3. grant reviews

Once you submit your application, facilitators will review your request and identify an expert mentor from our database based on the project and the keywords provided. The mentor will provide mentorship in the way requested (formally or informally) in a timely manner.

More than 100 experts from various subspecialities have already signed up as mentors for PUMP.