College - Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology

I lacked training in a hospital setting,
but through MSPP I received wonderful
experiences at University Hospital (now
BU Medical Center).”
Lacritz credits MSPP with helping her
launch a fulfilling and diverse career
that encompassed specialized work with
women, children and in corporate set-
tings as an organizational psychologist.
In recent years, Lacritz has focused more
of her energies on her family, with the
remaining time spent helping a number
of charitable institutions. “Philanthropy
is an important way of giving back to
the community—and even on a broader
scale—humanity. I firmly believe that
giving to others is an important compo-
nent of our profession. It helps us better
ourselves as human beings. When you
give, you do get a lot back.”
Lacritz says she and her family are proud
to support the continued efforts of
MSPP. “For me—and I think for many
alums—keeping the MSPP mission
going is almost a quid pro quo. The
school provided us with many oppor-
tunities, and now it is our chance to
contribute something in return. When
you think about what the school has
given its students and the community,
you realize that as an institution, MSPP
gets it right.”
Trustee | Dr. Lise Motherwell
MSPP trustee, alumna and faculty mem-
ber, Dr. Lise Motherwell, found her way
to MSPP because she wanted to change
from her PhD research to clinical work
with children. Having finished her PsyD
in 1992, she is now in private practice
where she does individual work with
adolescents, children and adults and runs
adult groups. She also teaches and super-
vises psychiatric residents, psychologists
and social workers at the MGH Center
for Psychoanalytic Studies.
“MSPP gave me a lot of confidence and
numerous friends and mentors. Many are
still in my life. It has also had personal
and ongoing impact on me as a person.
The school’s emphasis on being self-
reflective has served me well in all
aspects of my life,” she says.
She adds: “At this point in my career,
I really want to give back. This is a time
of great growth and change at MSPP
and an enormous chance for creativity
and innovation to flourish. I want to
be a part of creating that change.”
“I like that we are going to these
communities (Latinos, children in need)
and not waiting for them to come to us.
In the past, psychotherapy has been for
the privileged. MSPP is reaching out to
those who have been disenfranchised.
We want to speak their languages and
tailor care to their needs. All this reso-
nates strongly with me,” she says.
As for her contribution to MSPP:
“I think I can help the board to think
outside the box and still be clear about
the essential mission of the school.
I believe my passion for creativity and
excellence can make a difference.”
Trustee | Richard Freedman
Richard (RIF) Freedman, board mem-
ber, long-time business owner (Webster
Spring), and major gifts officer at Har-
vard School of Education after “retire-
ment,” sees his trustee role as equally
compelling as Motherwell’s. “I believe
my way of contributing to the school is
by sharing my business know-how, my
development experience, and my under-
standing of other institutions of higher
learning,” he says.
Freedman, whose hard work and counsel
to keep MSPP financially sound spans
nearly two decades, believes his loyalty
has been well rewarded. “When
I came on board at Stan Buchin’s
request, I knew nothing about the
Massachusetts School of Professional
Psychology. Now I have a working
knowledge of the field, but more
importantly I have had the privilege of
knowing and working with profession-
als dedicated to the training of young
psychologists, who, as we all know, will
impact our world in important ways in
coming years.”
A contributor to MSPP and other non-
profits over the years, Freedman believes
that philanthropy can have a huge
impact on the life of an organization
such as MSPP. “I believe it can make
a big difference in an organization’s
ability to be flexible and creative and to
experiment with new ideas and program-
ming. It also allows a school like MSPP
to widen its base of students by provid-
ing scholarships to those who otherwise
could not afford to come.”
Citing the Latino Mental Health and the
School Psychology programs as examples
of this, he adds: “It makes me feel good
to give back to the community, knowing
I can make a real difference.”
Trustee | Dr. James Stellar
Dr. James R. Stellar is dean of the
College of Arts and Sciences at North-
eastern University. He also teaches,
conducts research, and serves as a
trustee of MSPP.
Stellar believes in the integrated model
adopted by MSPP—the combining of
clinical theory with clinical field train-
ing. It is familiar ground, given his work
at Northeastern, an institution that pio-
neered a cooperative system where students
learn by working outside the university in
fields appropriate to their studies.
“For me,” he says, “there have been three
major career challenges: understanding
the nervous system, including research
in combating drug addiction; passing on
knowledge to students; and higher edu-
cation—how to work and learn within,
and outside, a university.”
As a trustee, Stellar’s contributions to
MSPP include strategic planning as well
as providing a sense of academic man-
agement. “Regarding MSPP’s future,” he
says, “I want to see MSPP build on the
excellence of its accomplishments, and to
carry this out, fundraising is extremely
important, yet with a balance that does not
undermine the core values of the school.”
0 | Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology Annual Report 2005 |