connection Payton retained her connection to the Peace Corps. In 1981, she spoke about the contribution that volunteers had made around the world, "I think the whole idea of Peace Corps was brought home to me most recently last summer, when there was a terribly damaging hurricane in the Caribbean. Some of the Volunteers who had served with me there were collecting food, clothes and money to send back to the Islanders. Those Volunteers had left the Islands in 1967, but they still had a concern and care about those Islanders. That's what I think is at the heart of the Peace Corps, and that's why the Peace Corps is relevant today." Payton was awarded the Peace Corps Leader for Peace Award in 1988. In 2000, Payton attended the swearing in ceremony for Peace Corps Director Mark L. Schneider. Professional activities and awards Payton was very active in the American Psychological Association (APA) and served on many committees and task forces including the Committee on Scientific and Professional Ethics and Conduct, the Task Force on Sex Bias and Sex Role Stereotyping in Psychotherapeutic Practice, the Committee on Women in Psychology, the Committee on Lesbian and Gay Concerns, and the Policy and Planning Board. Payton was made a fellow of APA in 1987. She also won the Distinguished Professional Contributions to Public Service Award from APA in 1982. In 1985, the APA Committee on Women in Psychology Leadership Citation Award honored her for her role as "an outstanding teacher, role model, and mentor for women and ethnic minorities. She has provided leadership on ethical and consumer issues in psychology and in eliminating sex bias in psychotherapeutic practice…her commitment to equality and justice for all oppressed peoples has made a precious difference in all our lives." In 1997, Payton received the APA Award for Outstanding Lifetime Contribution to Psychology for her "dedication to using psychology to promote better cross-cultural understanding and to end social injustice by influencing political process…[Her] success in overcoming gender and racial barriers to achieve positions of leadership and prestige make [her] a role model to women and ethnic minorities everywhere." Citations External links Peace Corps biography Carolyn Robertson Payton's profile on Psychology's Feminist Voices 1925 births 2001 deaths Peace Corps directors People from Norfolk, Virginia African-American psychologists American women psychologists 20th-century American psychologists Bennett College alumni University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni Livingstone College faculty