In recognition of the commitment, dedication, and leadership in advancing strategies to disarm and dismantle racism in psychology, Germine H. Awad, PhD, is awarded a Presidential Citation.
Awad has an extensive body of research and expertise in prejudice, discrimination, identity, acculturation and body image. She specifically focuses on the effects of acculturation and identity on discrimination in those of Arab/Middle Eastern descent and African Americans.
Awad is an associate professor in the human development, culture and learning sciences, and counseling psychology programs in the department of educational psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. She coedited the award-winning “Handbook of Arab American Psychology” and cocreated the “Model of Cumulative Racial/Ethnic Trauma for Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) Americans.”
Awad earned her doctorate in psychology from Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Her dissertation addressed the psychosocial and cultural predictors of test performance for African American college students. She is a founding board member of the American Arab, Middle Eastern and North African Psychological Association (AMENA-Psy), and she was elected to serve as the 2022 AMENA-Psy president.
Awad is a fellow of the American Psychological Association. She is cochair of the APA Presidential Task Force on Strategies to Eradicate Racism, Discrimination and Hate which oversaw APA’s review of psychology’s history with respect to racism and racist ideologies; provided oversight for the completion of an apology for this history; advised on actions needed to address this history; and is responsible for recommending a set of evidence-based resources for dissemination to psychology and others to use in efforts to prevent and address racism, discrimination and hate.
Awad has served as the cochair and program cochair of the Society for the Psychological Study of Culture, Ethnicity, and Race (Div. 45) Research Conference; and served as the membership chair of Div. 45. Awad was also the cochair of the APA Committee on Ethnic Minority Affairs Middle Eastern Working Group.
Awad is nationally recognized for her expertise in American Arab, Middle Eastern and North African psychology and has consulted with the U.S. Census Bureau about research methodology to revise the race/ethnicity category for Middle Eastern and North African groups.
Because of her numerous presentations, research and dedication to eliminating bias and discrimination, and her commitment and service to APA and the profession of psychology, it is my honor to award Germine Awad, PhD, with this 2021 Presidential Citation.