The Newman-Proshansky Career Achievement Award is offered annually to recognize the achievements of an individual who has made significant lifetime contributions to the fields of environmental, population and/or conservation psychology. The award includes a certificate, an invitation to give an address at the upcoming APA convention, and a complimentary one-year membership in the division for the following calendar year.

The award is named after Sidney H. Newman and Harold M. Proshansky, both early leaders in the establishment of environmental and population psychology.

Harold M. Proshansky helped give definition to the field of environmental psychology when his “Environmental Psychology in the Real World” was published in 1976. Proshansky abandoned his earlier laboratory research because he saw the methods, rather than the problem, as driving the research and sought to pursue psychological research on problems of poverty, prejudice, and group conflict. Proshansky became provost and then president of the graduate school and the university center of the City University of New York.

Sidney Newman was active in the APA Task Force on Psychology, Family Planning and Population Policy established in 1969 that brought population and human reproductive issues to broader attention in American psychology and eventually led to the formation of Division 34. Among other positions, Newman served in the U.S. Public Health Service and in the Center for Population Research at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Nominations should consist of a detailed statement indicating why the nominee is a worthy candidate for the award, as well as one or more supporting letters from others who endorse the nomination. The candidate’s curriculum vitae should also be submitted at the time of nomination, if available.

Nominees must be current members of the division, and their body of work should reflect substantive contributions to environmental, population and/or conservation psychology.

Email your nominations along with any questions about the award to the current chair of the Awards Committee at awards@sepcp.org

The review panel will include the awards committee members and a selection of recent award recipients.

2026: Anthony Leiserowitz and Terry Hartig

2025: Janet Swim

2024: Elke Weber

2023: Susan Clayton

2022: Sabine Pahl

2021: Linda Steg

2020: Joseph Reser

2019: Richard Wener

2018: Carol Saunders

2017: Barbara Brown

2016: Robert Gifford

2015: Susan Saegert

2014: Daniel Stokols

2013: Vaida D. Thompson

2012: Paul C. Stern

2011: Nancy E. Adler

2010: Gary W. Evans

2009: Joseph L. Rodgers

2008: Robert Sommer

2007: Toni L. Falbo

2006: Irwin Altman