The National Institute of Mental Health has named Enrique W. Neblett Jr., PhD, as the first winner of its James Jackson Memorial Award. The award recognizes scholars who have a record of outstanding research on mental health disparities and have demonstrated excellence in mentorship, influence, and support of BIPOC students. Neblett is a professor of health behavior and health education at the University of Michigan School of Public Health and associate director of the Detroit Community-Academic Urban Research Center. The award honors the legacy of renowned social psychologist James Jackson, PhD, who died in 2020.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has appointed Cheryl N. Grills, PhD, to the state’s newly formed Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans. Grills’s work focuses on racial stress and trauma, implicit bias, and community healing centered on the needs of people of African ancestry. She is a President’s Professor at Loyola Marymount University, where she has taught for 34 years.
Kimberlyn Leary, PhD, joined the White House Office of Management and Budget as its first senior equity fellow to help support the implementation of President Joseph Biden’s executive order on advancing equity. Leary is a senior vice president at the Urban Institute and an associate professor at Harvard University, with posts at the university’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard Medical School (McLean), and the Harvard Kennedy School. She was also an advisor to the White House Council on Women and Girls during the Obama administration.
West Chester University has presented its Service-Learning Teaching Excellence Award to psychology professor Ellie Brown, PhD, for infusing service-learning opportunities into her psychology courses. Brown conducts research in her community on how intensive arts programs can improve the lives of children experiencing poverty and reduce their stress. Brown has adapted her work to COVID-19 conditions to keep the research program going throughout the pandemic and to continue to support local children and families.
University of California, Davis psychology professor and department chair Susan Rivera, PhD, has been named to a three-year term on the federal Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee, which provides guidance to Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra on autism research, services, and policy. Rivera has been studying neurocognitive development in people with autism and other developmental disabilities using brain imaging and eye tracking techniques for 20 years.
Seton Hall University has named Georita M. Frierson, PhD, as the new dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. Frierson’s previous roles include serving as interim vice president of academic affairs at D’Youville College and as psychology department chair at Rowan University. She is also the incoming chair of APA’s Commission on Accreditation.
Anjali Forber-Pratt, PhD, has joined the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as the new director of the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research. Forber-Pratt was previously an assistant professor of psychology at Vanderbilt University, where she studied disability identity development. She is also a two-time Paralympian and medalist in the sport of wheelchair racing and an advocate for access to employment, education, and sports for the international disability community.