2005 APA Education Leadership Conference

Dialogues on Diversity: Individual, Organizational and Epistemological

Speaker Bios

Gina Acosta is an assistant editor for The Washington Post's Editorial Page, where she has worked for 6 years selecting and editing letters to the editor, editorials and op-eds. She also serves on the newspaper's style and diversity committees. She has won numerous journalism awards and is a member of the National Society of Hispanic Journalists and the American Copy Editors Society.

Mary M. Brabeck, PhD joined The Steinhardt School of Education as dean in October 2003. The Steinhardt School houses approximately 7000 students and 230 full time faculty in education, psychology, the health sciences, music, art and communication.

A leader in the field of applied psychology, Dr. Brabeck was the dean of Boston College’s Lynch School of Education from 1996-2003 and a professor of counseling and developmental psychology at Boston College from 1980-2003. Dr. Brabeck is an APA Fellow (Divisions 7, 35 and 52). She has published more than 90 journal articles and book chapters.  A licensed psychologist, Dean Brabeck’s research interests include intellectual and ethical development, values and conceptions of the moral self, human rights education, professional and feminist ethics, and inter-professional collaboration. Her most recent edited books are Practicing Feminist Ethics in Psychology (2000, Washington DC: APA) and Meeting at the Hyphen:  Schools-Universities-Professions in Collaboration for Student Achievement and Well Being. 102nd Yearbook of the National Society for Study in Education, Part II (2003, Chicago:  University of Chicago Press). 

Dean Brabeck serves as a member of the American Psychological Association’s Board of Educational Affairs, Standing Hearing Panel of the Ethics Committee and as Chair of the BEA Task Force on Applications of Psychological Science to Teaching and Learning. She is a member of the Holmes Partnership Board of Directors. She is also a member of the Carnegie Corporation’s Teachers for a New Era Research Coordinating Council. Dean Brabeck served as chair of the American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education 2004-05.

A. Toy Caldwell-Colbert, PhD is currently Vice Chair for Psychological Services and Professor of Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine Howard University Hospital Howard University, as well as Consultant to the President. She most recently served as Senior Research Associate with the Center for Advancement of Racial and Ethnic Equity at the American Council on Education where she assisted the Center in fostering its mission of identifying and developing strategies and programs to assist institutions in designing, expanding and evaluating their efforts to foster greater participation and achievement of minorities on their campuses. Among her many professional service activities with the American Psychological Association, Dr. Caldwell-Colbert is serving as President of APA Division 45 (Society for the Psychological Study of Ethnic Minority Issues). She was on sabbatical from Howard University during 2003-2004 after serving as Howard University’s provost and chief academic officer. Dr. Caldwell-Colbert served as provost from July 1, 2001 to June 30, 2003.

Dr. Caldwell-Colbert’s 27-year career in higher education includes administrative, research, faculty, and clinical appointments. She has held major administrative and faculty positions at the University of Illinois, the University of Kansas, and Indiana State University. A board-certified clinical psychologist, Dr. Caldwell-Colbert earned the bachelor’s degree magna cum laude in psychology from Spelman College, and the master’s and doctorate degrees in psychology and clinical psychology, respectively, from the University of Georgia.

Dr. Caldwell-Colbert’s major research interests are training and development of mental health professionals, cross-cultural research in depression, and issues of colorism in interpersonal relationships. She has published more than 22 articles related to these topics in professional journals. She has served on the American Council on Education Council of Fellows, and as an American Psychological Association Fellow (Divisions 2, 12, 35, 45, and 52). During the 2004 APA convention, Dr. Caldwell-Colbert was awarded the Stanley Sue Award of Achievement for her significant contributions to advancing the clinical psychology of ethnic minorities.

She is a Trustee and Vice Chair of the Board of Spelman College in Atlanta Georgia (2003-present). She also served on the board of the National Association of College and University Business Officers (2001-2004), was a board member of the American Psychological Association’s Board of Educational Affairs (2001-2003), the President’s Commission for Education and Training for Licensure in Psychology and is a committee member and outgoing Chair of the President’s 5-Year Implementation Plan for Ethnic Minority Recruitment, Retention and Training of Psychologists for APA (1999-2005). She also is a member of Phi Delta Kappa and Sigma Xi. Dr. Caldwell-Colbert’s other professional affiliations include memberships in the Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy and International Mental Health Professionals.

Janel Gauthier, PhD is Professor of Psychology at Laval University in Quebec, Canada. He is a Past President of the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) and a Fellow of CPA. He received his PhD in Clinical Psychology from Queen’s University at Kingston ( Ontario) in 1975. He was formally recognized for his distinguished contribution to Canadian Psychology by the Canadian Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology in 1998. He is leading an international initiative involving the development of universal declaration of ethical principles for psychologists. The project is under the auspices of the International Union of Psychological Science, the International Association of Applied Psychology, and the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology. Dr. Gauthier is Chair of the Committee on Ethics of the International Association of Applied Psychology. He is also a Canadian delegate to the General Assembly of the International Union of Psychological Science.

Steven D. Hollon, PhD is Professor of Psychology at Vanderbilt University, with a cross-appointment in Psychiatry. He received his doctorate in psychology from the Florida State University in 1977 and completed his clinical internship at the University of Pennsylvania before joining the faculty at the University of Minnesota. He is an active clinical investigator, whose research focuses on the nature and treatment of depression. He has published over a 130 articles, chapters, and books, and has placed numerous students in academic and clinical research positions. He is a past president of the Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy (AABT) and the recipient of a Distinguished Scientist Award from the Society for a Science of Clinical Psychology (SSCP) and the George A. Miller Award for Outstanding Article from the American Psychology Association (APA). A former director of clinical training, he maintains an active clinical practice in the context of his research studies.

Donna M. Mertens, PhD is Professor in the Department of Educational Foundations and Research at Gallaudet University. She teaches research methods, program evaluation, statistics, and educational psychology to deaf and hearing students at the BA, MA, and PhD levels.

She has conducted research and evaluation studies on such topics as improvement of special education services in international settings, planning for the inclusion of students with disabilities in neighborhood schools, enhancing the educational experiences of students with disabilities, preventing sexual abuse in residential schools for deaf students, improving access to the court systems for deaf and hard of hearing people, and improving the preparation of teachers of the deaf through appropriate use of instructional technology. Her research focuses on improving methods of inquiry by integrating the perspectives of those who have experienced oppression in our society. She draws on the writings of feminists, racial and ethnic minorities, and people with disabilities who have addressed the issues of power and oppression and their implications for research and program evaluation methodology.

Dr. Mertens has made numerous presentations at the meetings of the American Educational Research Association, the American Evaluation Association (AEA), the Convention of American Instructors of the Deaf, the Association for College Educators of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, and various international organizations that explore these themes. She served as President (1998) and Board member of the American Evaluation Association from 1997 to 2002 and as a member of the Board of Trustees for the International Organization for Cooperation in Evaluation 2002–2003. In 2005, she recieved AEA's highest award for service in recognition of her work in diversity and internationalizing evaluation.

Her publications include Research and Evaluation in Education and Psychology: Integrating Diversity with Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed Methods (Sage, 2005); Research and Evaluation Methods in Special Education (coauthored with John McLaughlin, Corwin Press, 2004), Parents and Their Deaf Children (coauthored with Kay Meadow-Orlans and Marilyn Sass Lehrer, Gallaudet Press, 2003) as well as two edited volumes, Creative Ideas for Teaching Evaluation (Kluwer Press, 1989), and Research and Inequality (coedited with Carole Truman and Beth Humphries, Taylor & Francis, 2000). She has also published many chapters and articles in edited volumes, encyclopedias, handbooks, and journals, such as New Directions for Program Evaluation, American Journal of Evaluation, American Annals of the Deaf, Studies in Educational Evaluation, and Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis.

Jill G. Morawski, PhD is Professor of Psychology at Wesleyan University, Middletown CT., where she also serves on the faculty of the Science in Society Program and Women’s Studies Program. She is past president of APA Divisions 24 (Philosophical Psychology) and 26 (History of Psychology). Dr. Morawski’s research is in the areas of the history of American psychology and the psychology of gender. Her publications include The Rise of Experimentation in American Psychology (Yale, 1988) and Practicing Feminisms, Reconstructing Psychology: Notes on a Liminal Science ( Michigan, 1994). She is currently working on a history of practical know-how in experimental techniques; a biography of socialization theory; and a socio-historical study of sperm as an icon of modern masculinity.

Roger Peterson, PhD is Professor and Chair in the Department of Clinical Psychology at Antioch New England Graduate School. He received his B A from Harvard University and his doctorate in clinical psychology from Purdue University in 1971 after an internship at Duke. Dr. Peterson is a Diplomate in Clinical Psychology. He is past president of the National Council of Schools and Programs of Professional Psychology (NCSPP) in which he has held a variety of roles and chaired national conferences on the core curriculum and on educational standards (with Donald R. Peterson). He was a member of the Committee on Accreditation from 1999-2004. He is senior editor of The Core Curriculum in Professional Psychology (1992) and senior author of “The National Council of Schools and Programs of Professional Psychology Educational Model” (1967). Dr. Peterson’s academic writing is on postmodern and social cognitive constructionism. He is a licensed psychologist in New Hampshire.

Erik Smulson has served in various communications positions in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate for nearly two decades, most recently as the Communications Director for Sen. Jim Jeffords and for the Committee on Environment and Public Works (minority). In that capacity, he served as the Senator’s spokesman, wrote speeches, op-eds, and floor statements as well as planned the communications strategy for the Senator and Committee’s minority operation.

Beginning September 19th, Mr. Smulson will serve as the Assistant Vice President for Communications and spokesman for Georgetown University, his alma mater.

Luis A. Vargas, PhD is an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine, where he was previously the director of the psychology internship program for fourteen years. During these years, the internship program had a strong focus on training psychology interns to be culturally responsive and to serve culturally diverse patient populations within the public sector. He is co-editor of "Working with Culture: Psychotherapeutic Interventions with Ethnic Minority Children and Adolescents" and a co-author of "Working with Latino Youth: Culture, Development, and Context," both published by Jossey-Bass. He is past president of APA Division 37 (Child, Youth, and Family Services) and a fellow of Divisions 12 and 37.