Kimberly Belmonte
MA, Psychology, State University of New York at New Paltz
BA, Art History, International Relations, Boston University

Kimberly's current research interests center on the exchange of injustice and resistance. Specifically, she is interested in how women internalize or resist oppression (e.g., heteronormativity, sexism) as well as women's alternative discourses of gender and sexuality. At SUNY New Paltz, her mixed-methods master's thesis explored the relationship of environmental contexts to positive and negative sexual identity. Kimberly has also done HIV prevention research in the juvenile justice system with the HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral Studies.

Master's thesis: "Lesbian and Bisexual Sexual Identity in Multiple Ecological Contexts"

Publications
Holmes, T., Belmonte, K., Wentworth, M., Tillman, K., (2010). Parents "in the System": An Ecological Systems Approach to the Development of Children with Incarcerated Parents. In Harris, Y. R., Graham, J. A., Carpenter, G. J. (Eds.), Children of Incarcerated Parents: Theoretical Developmental and Clinical Issues (pp. 21-44). New York, NY: Springer Press.

e: kbelmonte@gc.cuny.edu

Alexis Halkovic
MA, Social-Organizational Psychology, Teachers College Columbia University MA, Medieval Indian History, Jawaharlal Nehru University (New Delhi)
BA, History, Columbia College Columbia University

Alexis has spent several years studying and working in India. There, she developed a strong interest in both the privilege and stereotypes associated with various identities, including gender, religion, race, and ethnicity. Her previous work has focused on identity salience in various contexts across an individual's lifetime and its effect on perception of personal agency. As a dancer and improviser, Alexis facilitates workshops using movement and improvisation as tools for developing awareness of privilege and oppression. She is currently researching the development of civic and political engagement in adolescents through their participation in activist organizations.

e: ahalkovic@gc.cuny.edu

Andrew Johnson
MA, General Psychology, Western Carolina University
BS, Psychology, Furman University

Andrew's primary research interests lie in the intersection between the areas of political psychology, moral psychology and personality. Specifically, he is interested in investigating the socio-cognitive factors and personality components that explain individual differences in the development and maintenance of political ideology and specific political attitudes and opinions. His most current research is investigating the cognitive reasoning and heuristics individuals use to interpret economic inequality and the causes of poverty, and how these interpretations relate to political opinions about government economic policies (i.e., social welfare programs, tax structure, etc.).

Publications
Johnson, A., McCord, D. M., Cooper, C., Asberg, K. & Gordon, W. (under review). Personality, political ideology and attitudes towards social welfare: A facet-based five factor model approach.

e: andrew.johnson751@gmail.com

Amanda Marin
BA in Psychology, UNLV University of Nevada Las Vegas
MA in Psychology, SDSU San Diego State University State

Amanda is interested in health psychology. In the past couple of years at SDSU Amanda did research on the prevention and treatment of cancer at the Moores UCSD Comprehensive Cancer center. Research included analysing health disparaties in the Latino and African American communites. Currently, she is interested in health disparity issues related to cancer and coping processes of individuals and their families facing chronic physical illness research.

e: amanda.marin@yahoo.com

Inna Saboshchuk
BA, Psychology, Hunter College, City University of New York

While Inna was an undergraduate at Hunter College she used qualitative methods to propose an integrated framework of Tajfel's Social Identity Theory and the Loneliness and Sexual Risk Model for the factors that lead to the development of sexual compulsivity. She is currently a research assistant at the Center for HIV/AIDS Educational Studies and Training (CHEST). Her research interests surround the interaction between social identity and sexual health. More specifically, she would like to employ mixed methodology in order to explore how societal factors influence our sexual identities, and how these identities relate to the decisions we make about our sexual behavior.

Publications
Saboshchuk, I., Wells, B.E., Grov, C. & Parsons, J.T. (2011, March). The Factors that Lead to the Development of Sexual Compulsivity in Men who have Sex with Men. Poster session presented at the Eastern Regional Conference of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality, Philadelphia, PA.

e: isaboshchuk@gc.cuny.edu

Denise Choi
BS, Applied Psychology, New York University

For the past three years, Denise has been involved in health disparity research within the Asian American community. Her research projects have focused on tobacco cessation, cardiovascular disease, and hepatitis B. Denise was a project coordinator for an anti-tobacco advertisement youth campaign to reduce advertisements in local community stores. Additionally, she has been involved in community-based participatory research studies to reduce hypertension among Filipino Americans and hepatitis B among Korean and Chinese Americans. Denise is interested in health disparities, specifically understanding the psychosocial and sociocultural factors that influence health.

Publications
Kim, D., Kwon, S., Park, J., & Sim, S. C. (2009). Documenting and assessing hepatitis B coverage in NYC Korean American newspapers, 2003-2007. Poster presented at the Asian American Health Conference, 5th Annual Conference, New York, NY.

e: dk1183@gmail.com

Devin A. Heyward
BA, Psychology, Hunter College of the City University of New York

While an undergraduate at Hunter College, Devin's research focused on interpersonal relationships and how heterosexual couples make safer sex decisions. She hopes to continue working on this topic and to also study HIV/AIDS prevention methods among heterosexual couples. In addition, her research interests revolve around the process of negotiation, decision-making, and power dynamics in romantic relationships. She's also interested in studying how modern technology (e.g., social networking sites) impacts social relationships. Currently, Devin is working with the Creative Arts Team as a program coordinator on a new HIV/AIDS outreach program entitled Project CHANGE (Community Health Action in Neighborhoods for Growth and Empowerment). Project CHANGE's goal is to improve knowledge about HIV/AIDS in southeast Queens and central Brooklyn through interactive, issue based drama. Devin is very excited to begin her professional research career at the Graduate Center.

Publications
Goodman, S.H., Rouse, M.H., Conell, A.M., Robbins Broth, M., Hall, C.M., and Heyward, D. (in press) Maternal Depression and Child Psychopathology: A Meta-Analytic Review. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review.

e: dheyward89@gmail.com

Brian Johnston
MA, Psychology, Rutgers University
BA, Psychology, University of South Florida

As an undergraduate at the University of South Florida, Brian was involved with research on personality and the jury decision making process. As a graduate student at Rutgers University he became interested in emotions, emotion regulation, prejudice, and political psychology. His master's thesis involved experimentally decreasing anger toward an outgroup (i.e. blacks) in an effort to decrease prejudice toward this outgroup. Brian would like to further explore whether or not discrete emotions are related to particular forms of prejudice, and if this prejudice can be decreased via regulation of prejudiced emotions.

Master's Thesis: Emotion Regulation and Prejudice Reduction

Poster Presentation
Garguilo, S.P., Johnston, B.M., Roseman, I.J., & Bryant, A.D. (2010). The effects of discrete emotions on the perceptions of political candidates. Poster presented at the 2010 Eastern Psychological Association, Brooklyn, NY.

e: b.m.johnstn@gmail.com

Wen Liu
BS, Psychology, University of Washington

Wen was born in Taiwan and immigrated to the US at the age of 16. Her research interests focus on the intersectional identities of race, gender, class, sexuality, and immigration. Specifically, she aims to highlight the experience of individuals with multiple minority identities such as queer immigrants. She is interested in examining how oppression divides different minority groups but also how intergroup coalition can be built under adversity. Her undergraduate independent research, Racial Minority Relationships, explored how identifying with a superordinate ingroup identity might have helped facilitated more empathetic attitudes between Asian Americans and African Americans.

View Wen's CV: coming soon!

e: altwen@gmail.com

Naomi Podber
BM, Flute Performace, Copland School of Music at Queens College

Naomi Podber grew up in Brooklyn, NY. She has spent the past decade teaching music in a diverse cross section of New York City's public, private, parochial, and performing arts schools, as well as
incorporating music into social justice work. Naomi's current
research interests involve construction of gender and sexual identity
and their influence on mental and physical health. She is also
interested in social influence and conformity. Naomi plans on using
participatory action research to work with and empower youth and
adults to document social patterns. She plans on incorporating music
into her research.

e: npodber@gc.cuny.edu

Patrick Sweeney
BA, Psychology, Public Policy minor, University of California, Riverside

Patrick's undergraduate research focused on youth violence and the criminalization of young people's behaviors. He worked on a project testing the validity of the "What Would Make You Fight?" scale and investigated how young women's aggressive behaviors have been re-articulated as crime. Other research has included projects exploring the organizing methods of undocumented day laborers and educational activists. He is interested in power, injustice, and resistance in social relationships; including youth activism, the creation of oppositional identities, and the role that media and culture play in shaping ideology and conceptions of justice.

Undergraduate Research Project: Gendered Violence, Gendered Motivation: Aggressive Girls, Criminality, and Moral Panic.

e: psweeney@gc.cuny.edu

Justine Elizabeth Calcagno
BS, Psychology & Philosophy, University of Oregon

Justine's research focuses on social identity, intergroup relations & conflict, and social change. Justine currently researches the relationship between group-based power and public discourse. She is investigating how and why advantaged and disadvantaged groups avoid and/or approach public discourse about group-based inequality, and how this relates to social change outcomes. Another line of her research seeks to identify social identity mechanisms that can facilitate openness to new information in the context of intergroup disagreement & conflict. Additionally, she is looking at the relationship between social identity fluidity and psychological & physiological stress outcomes in the context of group-based discrimination.

View Justine's CV: jcalcagno.pdf

Publications
Calcagno, J. E. & Cook, J. E. (2008, February). The Experience of Stigmatized Identity: Variation in Trait and State Characteristics. Poster presented at the annual meeting for the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Albuquerque, NM.

e: justine.calcagno@gmail.com

Kristine E. Gamarel
EdM, Psychological Counseling, Columbia University,
MA, Psychological Counseling, Columbia University
BA, Psychology, Bard College

Kristi Gamarel is a doctoral student at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY) in the Social Personality Psychology Department. She currently works at the Center for HIV/AIDS Educational Studies & Training (CHEST) as a Research Coordinator & Therapist. Kristi has more than 10 years of work experience in the fields of health psychology and public health research within the areas of reproductive health, mental health, and HIV prevention. Her current research interests focus broadly on the social and psychological factors that influence health disparities and promotion among populations affected by HIV/AIDS. Specifically, she is interested in how LGBTQ young people and same-sex male couples cope with stressors and its impact on psychological, relational, sexual and physical health.

First Doctoral Exam: "Tracing the Looking Glass Self: Implications for stigma and psychological health among LGBT youth"

Publications
Golub, S.A., Botsko, M., Gamarel, K.E., Parsons, J.T., Brennan, M., & Karpiak, S.E. Dimensions of psychological well-being predict consistent condom use among older adults living with HIV. Ageing International, 36(3), 340-360.
Johnson, M. O., Gamarel, K. E., & Dawson Rose, C. (2006). Changing HIV treatment expectancies: A pilot study. AIDS Care, 18(6), 550-553.
Stewart, T. L., La Duke, J. R., Bracht, C., Sweet, B. A. M., & Gamarel, K. E. (2003). Do the "eyes" have it? A program evaluation of Jane Elliott's "blue eyes/brown eyes" diversity training exercise. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 24, 1898-1921.

e: kristigamarel@gmail.com

Hunter Kincaid
M.A. Social Science, University of Chicago
B.S. in psychology, University of Washington

Hunter is interested in research on sexuality, particularly smaller sub groups within the LGBT community whose voices are rarely heard. His recent focus has been on rural or “small town” LGBT people, how they see themselves in relation to the larger LGBT community, and their unique needs and desires separate from the LGBT community at large. Hunter is also currently interested in LGBT dating practices in regard to race, ethnicity, and sexual stereotyping.

Master's Thesis: "Steers and Queers: What happens when gays leave the heartland?"

e: kincaidhunter@yahoo.com

Christin Bowman
MS, Secondary Science Teaching, Pace University
BS, Biopsychology and Cognitive Sciences, University of Michigan

After graduating from U of M, Christin joined Teach for America and spent two years teaching high school science to underprivileged 9th graders in the Bronx while earning her Master's Degree. She came out of this two-year commitment filled with questions. Christin is most interested in female adolescent sexuality development as well as experiences of sexuality in adult women. Using a critical feminist lens, her current research focuses on developing a comprehensive understanding of the phenomenology of female masturbation. Her second year project will use a mixed methods approach to determine the differences among several populations of women in their masturbatory practices, explicate relationships between masturbatory practices and psychological outcomes, and understand the ways in which women navigate the social and societal implications associated with being a woman who masturbates. She currently serves on the GC's Campus Coalition for Sexual Literacy (CCSL) board.

View Christin's CV: cbowman.pdf

First Doctoral Exam: Tracing the Concept of the Looking-Glass Self
Master's Thesis: "What's that word again?: The impact of focused vocabulary instruction on science regents mastery"
Undergraduate Research Project: "Effects of prenatal testosterone on the association behaviors of singleton sheep"

e: christinbowman@gmail.com

Brian Davis
MA, Psychology, The City College of New York
BS, Physics, University of Texas at Dallas
BA, Art & Performance, University of Texas at Dallas

A native Texan, Brian spent five years in Japan during which time he was involved in volunteer work with sexual minority (e.g. gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender) groups. Brian will serve as an intern for the American Psychological Association non-governmental organization to the United Nations (APA UN NGO) from 2010-2011, where he will work on human rights issues related to sexual orientation and gender identity. He is currently working on his second year research project on sexual minority individuals' multilevel interaction with discourses around/with gay communities. Brian’s teaching appointments include courses in experimental design, introductory statistics, and social psychology at both Hunter College and The City College.

First Doctoral Exam: "A Sociological Situated Self-Concept in Psychology: Tracing the Course of an Idea"

Poster Presentation:
"(Un)Told Stories: Representations of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Themes in the U.S. News Media" - poster to be presented at the 8th Biennial Conference of the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI) in New Orleans.

Panel Discussion:
"Gross human rights violations on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity" - APA UN NGO panel discussion at the 2010 Annual APA convention in San Diego.

e: bdavis@gc.cuny.edu

Erica Jayne Friedman
BA, Psychology, Binghamton University

Erica was born and raised in upstate New York, earned her bachelor's in New York's Southern Tier, and finally arrived here in the Big Apple in 2008. At the Graduate Center, she manages the SP program's webpage and is a board member of the Campus Coalition for Sexual Literacy (CCSL). She also spent her first three years working for Hunter College as a research assistant at the Center for HIV Educational Studies and Training (CHEST). Erica is now a Graduate Teaching Fellow at Hunter College. Her passion is in teaching and researching the exciting and complex world of gender and sexuality.

Broadly, Erica is interested in using a combination of social cognitive and queer theoretical approaches to examine how gender binarism (including cisgenderism and heterosexism) is reproduced and/or resisted. She is interested in examining this question via a multitude of affected behaviors and attitudes occurring in people at the individual and group level. In 2010, Erica was accepted as a graduate student attendee for the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Psychology Summer Institute at the University of Michigan. There, she did a poster presentation on preliminary data from her second year project. This project examines how gender performance affects drag king's feelings of agency in the face of heterosexist social norms and negativity. Erica is also currently working on a project with several researchers whom she met while attending the Summer Institute. Together, they are examining cisgenderism in mental health professionals' diagnostic reasoning and decisions about their clients/patients.

View Erica's CV: efriedman.pdf

First Doctoral Exam: "What Is Being Pathologized Now? Tracking the Conflation of Homosexuality and Gender Inversion Pre- and Post the DSM addition of Gender Identity Disorder"

Academic Presentations:
Friedman, E. J. & Golub, S. A. (February, 2011). Reconstructing the drag scene: Drag kings fight oppressions and social issues. [Abstract; oral presentation]. 18th Lesbian Lives conferences – Revolting: Bodies, Politics, Genders, University of Brighton.
Friedman, E. J. & Golub, S. A. (August, 2010). Drag kings performances as agency against heterosexism. [poster presentation]. The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Psychology Summer Institute, University of Michigan.
Friedman, E. J., Parsons, J. T., Tomassilli, J. C. , & Golub, S. A. (June, 2009). Psychometric properties of a scale measuring LGB motivations for parenthood. [Abstract; oral presentation]. The Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality Eastern & Midcontinent Region Joint Conference, St. Petersburg, Florida. [Winner, Best Student Paper Award]

e: efriedman1@gc.cuny.edu

Rachel Liebert
MA in psychology, University of Auckland, New Zealand
BSc in Psychology and Geography, University of Auckland, New Zealand

Rachel uses a critical feminist psychology framework to explore the ways in which young women’s psyches/bodies/souls are a contested (and resisted) site for social, economic, and political interests. Her research to date has mainly been with regard to the use of psychotropic drugs and the pharmaceutical industry. She has particular resonance with creative qualitative research methods, and critical participatory epistemologies. She is also involved in a feminist activist campaign to challenge the medicalisation and commodification of women’s sexualities, and has several years' professional experience in New Zealand as a community project worker to challenge dominant discourses and marginalising practices around youth distress/madness.

First Doctoral Exam: "Tracing Dora: Psychology's Changing Constructions of the Relationship between Women's Bodies and Women's Distress since Freud"

Recent Publications:
Liebert, R. (2010). Synaptic peace-keeping: Of Bipolar and Securitization. Women's Studies Quarterly Special Issue, Market, 38(3&4): 325-342.
Liebert, R. (2010). Feminist psychology, hormones and the raging politics of medicalisation. Feminism & Psychology, 20(1).
Liebert, R. & Gavey, N. (2009). "There's always two sides to these things": Managing the dilemmas of serious adverse effects from SSRI use. Social Science and Medicine, 68(10): 1882-1891.
Liebert, R. & Gavey, N. (2008). "I didn't just cross a line I tripped over an edge":Personal accounts of SSRI-induced suicidality and/or aggression. New Zealand Journal of Psychology, 37(1).
Liebert, R. & Gavey, N. (2006). "They took my depression and then medicated me into madness": Co-constructed narratives of SSRI-induced suicidality. Radical Psychology, 5.

e: RLiebert@gc.cuny.edu

Puleng Segalo
MA, Psychology, University of South Africa
BA, Psychology and Anthropology, University of Pretoria, South Africa

Puleng moved here from South Africa to be a part of the SP program. Her research interests relate to the notion of identity construction in various contexts and also on issues of gender, sexuality, and power, and how these interplay and are problematized. Puleng is a Oppenheimer Memorial Trust recipient (2010-2011) and P.E.O. Peace Scholarship recipient (2010-2011). She was also appointed as a SPSSI UN/NGO Representative in May of 2010.

First Doctoral Exam: "Insecure identifications and the complexity of social categorizations"

Recent Publications:
Fourie, E., Segalo, P. & Terre Blanche, M. (2010). Towards an appropriate pedagogy for community psychology: The University of South Africa experience. Acta Academica Supplementum, 2, 22-46.
Mudavanhu, D., Segalo, P. & Fourie, E. (2009). Grandmothers caring for their grandchildren orphaned by HIV/AIDS. New Voices (in press)
Segalo, P. & Terre Blanche, (2008). Talking to ourselves and others: Shimcheong, Ubuntu and all that jazz (Commentary on Choi & Han). International Journal of Dialogical Science, 3(1), 249-254.
Segalo, P., Kruger, D.J., Fourie, E., & Terre Blanche, M. (2007). Re-Imagining Community: The Unisa Community Psychology Experience. In: Journey to Freedom Narratives. Andersson, M. (Ed.). University of South Africa: Unisa Press.

e: nankulele@gmail.com

Jonathon Rendina
BPhil, Interdisciplinary Studies, The Pennsylvania State University

Jon is pursuing his PhD in Social-Personality Psychology and concurrently his MPH in Biostatistics (from Hunter College). Prior to coming to CUNY, he worked at Penn State as a research assistant for Dr. Anthony D'Augelli with The Q&A Project, which deals with the experiences of young LGBT youth (coming out, victimization, mental health, sexual experiences, etc.), as well as with Dr. Kenneth Levy at the Laboratory for Personality, Psychopathology, and Psychotherapy Research. He currently works as a research assistant at the Center for HIV/AIDS Educational Studies & Training (CHEST) with Dr. Sarit Golub and Dr. Jeffrey Parsons. His current research focuses primarily on the lives of people with HIV. Specifically, he examines the impact of HIV status-based rejection experiences on social and health-related outcomes. He also has academic interests in queer theory, critical psychology, and psychoanlytic theory, and maintains a mixed-methods approach to his research.

View Jon's CV: jrendina.pdf

First Doctoral Exam: "Learning from the past: The development of the internal working model over time"

Publications
D’Augelli, A. R., Rendina, H. J., Grossman, A. H., & Sinclair, K. O. (2008). Lesbian and gay youths’ aspirations for marriage and raising children. Journal of LGBT Issues in Counseling 1(4), 77-98.

e: jrendina@gc.cuny.edu

Stephanie M. Anderson
MA, Psychology, Graduate Center, CUNY
BA, Psychology, Kalamazoo College
BA, Religion, Kalamazoo College

Steph is broadly interested in the ways in which interrelationships of gender and sexuality inform individual understandings of self and identity expression. Her dissertation research critically interrogates notions of "safe spaces" for sexual-minorities who participate in gay-identified recreational sport leagues across the United States. Methodologically, Steph is interested in the use of video within social psychological research throughout the research process. Working to unite her dual passions in film and psychology, she is currently completing a certification in Documentary Studies at the New School. Steph also teaches courses in the Psychology of Women and the Psychology of Human Sexuality at Hunter College.

First Doctoral Exam: Tracing the Concept of False Consciousness
Second Year Project: Editing Lives: The Cultivation of Critical Consciousness through Documentary Film
Second Doctoral Exam: Treading Uncertain Waters: The Ethics of Video in Social Psychological Research

Publications:
Anderson, S. M. (in press). Editing lives: The justice of recognition through documentary film. In M. S. Hanley. A Way Out of No Way: The Arts as Social Justice in Education.
Fox, M. C., & Anderson, S. M. (2010). Working the openings: Youth participatory action research and documentary filmmaking for justice. In R. Verma, Be the change: Teacher, activist, global citizen, pp. 153-167. New York: Peter Lang Publishing.

e: sanderson1@gc.cuny.edu

Kendra Brewster
MA Psychology, San Francisco State University
BA Psychology; BA English, Sonoma State University

Kendea is interested in how race and gender intersect in person perception and in how people make meaning of their membership in multiple social groups. Intersectionality is a hallmark of my research and interest in (1) the decision making process of capital jurors and those who judge youth, (2) the way girls’ sexuality has been conceived of and “managed,” and (3) the experience of women living with Lupus. Currently, I am teaching courses such as Introductory Psychology, Social Psychology, and Gender and Sexuality at the College of Staten Island. I also support an adolescent mentoring course that forms relationships between girls within a residential facility and college students.

Second Docoral Exam: "Bodies as research: Contemporary psychological research on adolescent girls' sexuality"

e: kbrewster@gc.cuny.edu

Duquann Hinton
BA, Forensic Psychology, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY

There are two levels to Duquann’s academic interests – general and cultural. On a general level he is interested in the ways in which personality, creativity, critical consciousness, human development and the soul is constrained and unencumbered; imprisoned and freed by oppression. On a cultural level he is interested in the historical and contemporary experience of the African-American community and the various ways in which they express selves as unique, imaginative, and thoughtful in the midst of/despite pronounced obstacles.

First Doctoral Examination: "DuBois in the Air: Double Consciousness, Resistance, and Negotiating Prejudice"
Second Year Project: "Dispelling Myths: discerning generativity in the midst of oppression in the past, present, and subjunctive tense"

Other projects: Polling for Justice; Rebuilding Urban Communities: The economic, educational, and civic impact of post-prison college on adults and their children; Discerning Dialogical Relations: The Deaths and Lives of Donald Goines; Academy for Educational Developmen; The College Initiative, The African-American Studies Department at John Jay College of Criminal Justice; The CUNY Leadership Academy

e: dhinton@gc.cuny.edu

Carolina Muñoz Proto
BA, Psychology and Neuroscience, Macalester College

Carolina is a doctoral student in the Social Personality Psychology Program of Graduate Center at CUNY and is proudly affiliated to the Institute for Participatory Action Research and Design. Her interests are at the intersection of psychology, social movements, and the arts. Her current work focuses on the experiences and identities of nonviolence activists as well as on young people's experiences with criminalization and other forms of marginalization. Carolina current projects explore the intergenerational implications of post-prison college, youth experiences with health, education and criminal justice in NYC, and collective memory and imagination about nonviolence activism. In the past, she has studied cross-cultural mentoring relationships as potential sites for effective alliance building and mutual education towards biculturalism social change. Carolina is also a Chancellor Fellow and Graduate Instructor of psychology at Lehman College, CUNY.

Log Project : "A decade in North American Psychology, Latin American Psychology and the Arts."
First Doctoral Exam: "Tracking W.E.B. Dubois in the marginality literature"
Second-Year Project: "Locked out: Youth and the lansdcape of parental incarceration"

Other Projects: Rebuilding communities and families through higher education: The economic, educational, and civic impact of post-prison college on adults and their children, Polling for health, education and justice, Memoscopio: Kaleidoscopic stories, memories and imaginations of peace and nonviolence

e: cmunoz_proto@gc.cuny.edu

Akemi Nishida
BA, Psychology, West Chester University of Pennsylvania

Akemi's research interest is centered on the process of power dynamics, such as when so-called marginalized individuals supplant “de-powerment” from stigmatization with “empowerment” through politicization. In parallel, she is focusing on identity development through an interdisciplinary approach, incorporating social justice theory, critical disability theory, critical race theory, and feminist theories. Akemi is exploring both of these research interests with a focus on disability communities and their inter-group and intra-group relations. By employing a liberating research process, including life narrative method and use of alternative data sources such as artistic expression, she hopes to make the process accessible to disabled population who were traditionally excluded from research.

View Akemi's CV: anishida.pdf

First Doctoral Exam: "Development of concepts on stigma, stigmatization and its power dynamics"
Second-Year Profect: "Getting politicized and becoming an activist: Life narratives of disabled disability rights activists across generations."

e: anishidagc@gc.cuny.edu

Sean Akerman
BA in Psychology, Wheaton College

Sean teaches undergraduate courses at Hunter College in developmental psychology and theories of personality. Among his research interests are existential/phenomenological theories of interpretation, narratives of trauma and illness, and aesthetic experience and its relationship to the practice of self and identity.

Second-Year Project: "Towards an Aesthetic Exegesis: Understanding the Narrative Construction of Identity in the Lives of Artists."
Second Doctoral Exam: "The Remainder of Selfhood: Imagining Limits and Possibilities in Narrative Research."

e: akerman.sean@gmail.com

Sabrica Barnett
MA, Psychology, Hunter College, City University of New York
BA, Psychology, New York University

Sabrica is a doctoral student in the Social-Personality Psychology program at the Graduate Center. She received her undergraduate degree at New York University and a Masters degree at Hunter College. Sabrica’s research examines how personal and ecological factors influence how people develop and maintain a sense of self related to their racial and ethnic heritages. Her current research examines how individuals develop and maintain their multiracial identity, experiences and consequences associated with coming from a multiracial background (i.e., well-being, group attitudes, intergroup behaviors), and the extent to which their multiracial identity is consistent across time and contexts. Sabrica is the 2011 recipient of the RiSE-UP (Research on Socially and Economically Underrepresented Populations) Research Award through the Association for Psychological Science. She also received the 2011 Dissertation Fellowship (Honorable Mention) from the National Academies Ford Foundation.

View Sabrica's CV: sbarnett.pdf

First Doctoral Exam: The Self in Relation to Others: Critical People, Critical Places
Second Year Project: Examining Fluidity of Multiracial Self-Categorization on Personal and Collective Self-Esteem
Masters Thesis: Examining Ethnic Identity and Social Support as a Predictor of Self-Esteem among Asian, Black, Latino, and White College Students

Affiliations: Gender Equity Project (GEP), Girls for Gender Equity (GGE)

e: sbarnett@gc.cuny.edu

Michelle Billies
MSW, Practice, Programming, & Supervision, Columbia University
BA, French and English Literature, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor

Working with the Welfare Warriors Research Collaborative and the participatory action research team she helped found in 2007 for her second year research project, Michelle studies the biopolitics of social welfare and policing that LGBTGNC (gender nonconforming) communities confront and challenge daily in homeless shelters, on the street, in hospitals, and in government and nonprofit agencies. Her dissertation is looking at racialization and gendering in U.S. identification documents and processes. Michelle is
also a Gestalt psychotherapist and has worked and volunteered with the advocacy organization, Queers for Economic Justice, since January 2006.

Second Doctoral Exam: Can I See Your ID? Queer Negotiations of
Identification Threat

Publications
"A Fabulous Attitude: Low Income LGBTGNC People Surviving and Thriving
on Love, Shelter, and Knowledge" (2010). Research Report. Welfare Warriors
Research Collaborative. Queers for Economic Justice, q4ej.org.
"PAR Method: Journey to a Participatory Conscientization" International Review
of Qualitative Research. Co-Editor. forthcoming
"Kindred: Review of Shulman's (2009) Ties that Bind, New Press." Left Turn
Magazine.
"Naming Our Reality: Low Income LGBT People Documenting Violence,
Discrimination, and Assertions of Justice" (2009) Feminism & Psychology. 19(3),
pp. 375-380.

e: mbillies@gc.cuny.edu

Maddy Fox
BA, Peace & Justice Studies, Union Institute & University

Madeline's interests lie in using participatory action research and art with communities and youth to understand and address injustice. Before graduate school, Maddy was a union organizer in the U.S., a community organizer in Belfast in the north of Ireland, and an educator in the green mountains of Vermont. She is currently the project director for the Polling for Justice Project, a participatory action research project investigating the ways health, education and criminal justice intersect in the daily lives of New York City youth.

Publications
Evans, D., Fine, M., & Fox, M. (forthcoming). Producing selves and knowledges: Reflections on participatory youth inquiry. In Ares, N. (Ed.) Youth cultural practices as resources for learning and development.
Fox, M., Mediratta, K., Ruglis, J., Stoudt, B., Shah, S. & Fine, M. (forthcoming) Critical youth engagement: Participatory action research and organizing. In Sherrod, L.; Torney-Puta, J.; & Flanagan, C. (Eds) Handbook of Research and Policy on Civic Engagement with Youth. NJ: Wiley Press.
Solinger, R., Fox, M., & Irani, K. (Eds.) (2008) Telling stories to change the world: Global voices on the power of narrative to build community and make social justice claims. New York: Routledge Press.

e: mfox@gc.cuny.edu

Rachel Verni
MA in General Psychology, Boston University
BA in Psychology and Women's Studies, Skidmore College

Rachel is generally interested in issues of identity construction and enactment as well as inter- and intra-group relations. Most recently, she completed a second-year research project pursuing passing practices among self-identified gay/lesbian/bisexual/queer individuals. Currently, Rachel is investigating questions of identity construction and social interaction with respect to social networking websites. Additionally, she is interested in the intersectionality of gender, race, and class in identity and has completed the Women’s Studies Certificate through The Graduate Center.

First Doctoral Exam:Collective and Social Representations
Second Year Project:"Queering Passing: An Exploration of Passing among GLBQ Individuals" (currently under journal revew, presented at various conferences)
Second Doctoral Exam: "Technologies of Self: Social Networking Sites and the Construction/Performance of Possible Selves"

e: rverni@gc.cuny.edu

Autumn Beckman
MPhil, Psychology, The Graduate Center - CUNY
BA, Psychology, University of Housto
BFA, Studio Arts-Painting, University of Houston

Autumn's research interests center around women’s empowerment. Initially, they involved healthy female sexuality, but following Hurricane Katrina, they shifted to women's ways of rebuilding following major upheaval in their lives. Hrt second year research project focused on men and women survivors of Katrina in New Orleans and Houston and her dissertation will examine women business owners in New Orleans and Galveston following Hurricanes Katrina and Ike, respectively. Autumn has taught at Brooklyn and Hunter Colleges and currently volunteers at the Houston Area Women's Center. She is also an artist and often incorporates art into her research.

View Autumn's CV: coming soon...

e: autumnbeckman@gmail.com

Kirsten Firminger
BA, Psychology & Anthropology, University of Michigan–Ann Arbor

As a Doctoral Candidate, Kirsten's research focuses on individuals who have voluntarily chosen to reduce their consumption levels; in particular, examining the social processes involved in beginning and maintaining reduced consumption activity in New York City. Kirsten works as a Research Associate with Dr. Shoshanna Sofaer at Baruch College-CUNY where their research centers on reporting health care quality information to the public and conducting program evaluation. The current research grant is an evaluation of the Hartford Geriatric Nursing Initiative, funded by the John A. Hartford Foundation.

View Kirsten's online CV-profile here.

Recent Publications
Sofaer, S., Hopper, S., Firminger, K., Naierman, N., & Nelson, M. (2009). The potential impact of comparative hospice quality reports on the public: A focus group study. Forthcoming. The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety.
Firminger, K. B. (2006). "Is he boyfriend material? Representation of males in teenage girls' magazines." Men & Masculinities, 8(3), 298-308. Reprinted in Joan Z. Spade and Catherine G. Valentine (Eds.), The Kaleidoscope of Gender: Prisms, Patterns, and Possibilities, 2nd Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press, 2007.

Recent Presentations
Academy Health Research Meeting, “Interdisciplinary Nursing Quality Research Initiative (INQRI): Developing And Testing Nursing Quality Measures with Consumers and Patients” Washington, DC, June 9th, 2008.
Academy Health Research Meeting, “Public Responses to the NQF 15 Nursing-Sensitive Quality Measures” Washington, DC, June 9th, 2008.

e: kfirminger@gmail.com

Sachelle Heavens
MA, Psychology, The Graduate Center, CUNY
BA, Psychology, Rutgers College, Rutgers University

Sachelle's current research interests include exploring the ways in which the racial socialization and experiences of discrimination of Black American students may influence their academic achievement motivation. Emphasizing matters of race early on and hinting at its perceived importance in society and mainstream American culture enables minority children to deal with the difficulties associated with being members of a stigmatized group within many social environments. For her dissertation she is investigating how Black students interpret parental socialization messages and make use of this message content in encounters with perceived societal discrimination and prejudice and within their educational aspirations.

Dissertation Proposal: "The Psychological Impact of Racial Socialization on Experiences of
Discrimination and Academic Achievement Motivation of Black Students"

e: sheavens@gc.cuny.edu

Debora Upegui-Hernandez
MA. In Psychology, Hunter College, CUNY
BA. In Psychology and Spanish Litertature, Hunter College, CUNY

Debora is currently writing her dissertation on identity negotiations among 2nd generation immigrants from Dominican and Colombian backgrounds. She has taught at Baruch College and Saint Peter’s College. Debora has worked as a Assistant Researcher at the Center for Latin American, Caribbean and Latino Studies. Some of her research interests are immigration, displacement, transnational identity and transnationalism, bilingual education, biculturalism, social movements in Latin American, peacebuilding and peace communities. She has been very active in student organizations at the Graduate Center like AELLA (Association for Latino and Latin Americans students), as a way to advocate for resources and greater representation of Latinos/as pursuing graduate degrees at CUNY.

Recent Publications
Upegui-Hernandez, D. (in press) Double-Consciousness: A journey through Multiplicity of Personal and Social Selves. In Jean Lau Chi (Ed), Diversity in Mind and in Action: Volume I - Multiple Faces of Identity.
Upegui-Hernandez, D. (in press) What is missing in the transnational migration literature? A Latin American Feminist Psychological Perspective. Feminism and Psychology: Special Issue- Feminism and Psychology in Latin AmericaI
Upegui-Hernandez, D. (2008). Transnationalism: A Challenge for the Psychological Study of Migration. United Nations International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women: Resources.
Upegui-Hernandez, D. (2008). Rethinking the Role of Escuelas Nuevas and Social Capital in Colombia:Through the Lens of Peacebuilding and Reconciliation. Journal of Pacific-Rim Psychology Vol.I1, Issue 1,. 21-29.

e: dupegui@gc.cuny.edu

Catherine Ma
M.A. in Psychology, Hunter College
B.A. in Psychology, SUNY Albany

Catherine's past research includes individualism and collectivism, acculturation, and intimate relationship satisfaction. Some of her current research interests are breastfeeding ideology, the political aspects of breastfeeding, academia and motherhood, and women’s experiences of motherhood and breastfeeding. Her dissertation research examines how first-time mothers view breastfeeding while pregnant in their last trimester until the late postpartum period. Outside of the GC, Catherine enjoys teaching undergraduates at the College of Staten Island and she is a mom to 3 spirited children who are her greatest teachers and inspiration.

Publications and Presentations
Ma, C. (2008). If the breast is best, why are breastfeeding rates so low? An in-depth look at breastfeeding from policy makers to the bottom dollar. In J. Nathanson & L. Tuley (Eds.), Mother knows best: Talking back to Sears and other baby trainers (pp. 91-102). Toronto: Demeter Press.
Poster presented at Immigration (a SPSSI-sponsored international conference) “Acculturation and Individualism-Collectivism Influences on Career Values Among Asian Americans"

e: machupchu@yahoo.com

Patricia Ruiz-Navarro
MA, Psychology, New School for Social Research
BA, Psychology, Universidad de las Americas

Patiricia's research interests include the study of transnationalism, gendered migration and identity. She was recently awarded a Mellon Dissertation Fellowship. In her dissertation titled “Orientation to Homeland: Understanding Return Migration and Parenting Decisions among Mexican Migrant Mothers”, she explores the personal, socio-economic and institutional factors that influence migrant mothers’ orientation to homeland. Orientation to homeland, as she conceived it, alludes to migrant mothers’ return migration and transnational motherhood. Two other research interests are: First, how religious identities shape ethnic identities and community among immigrants. This led Patricia to explore the relevance of religious celebrations among Mexican immigrants (2nd. year project). Second, the liberation psychology of Ignacio Martin-Baró, a social psychologist and Jesuit priest murdered in 1989, during the civil war in El Salvador (2nd Doc. Exam). She values the richness of mix-method studies and will like to work with census and large secondary data sets.

View Patricia's CV: prnavarro.pdf

Recent Publications
Ruiz-Navarro, P & Marcelli, E. (accepted for publication). Capital Social, fecundidad y asentamiento permanente en los Estados Unidos; Mujeres migrantes en Los Ángeles, California. In J.C. Luque and C. Amescua (Eds.), Democracia, ciudadanía y migración en América. Mexico, DF: UNAM; Colombia, U. de Manizales.
Ruiz-Navarro, P & Yoshikawa, H. (accepted for publication). Healthy babies and prosper lives; Mothering and motherhood among Mexican migrant mothers. In S.D. Smith and J. Santiago (Eds.), Latina/Chicana Mothering. Toronto, ON: Demeter Press.
Ruiz-Navarro, P (in print). New Guadalupanos; Mexican Immigrants, a Grassroots Organization and a Pilgrimage to New York. In G. Bonifacio and V. Angeles (Eds.), Gender, Religion and Migration: Pathways of Integration. Lexington Books.

e: pruiz-navarro@gc.cuny.edu

Elizabeth Velilla
MPhil, Psychology, CUNY Graduate Center
MA, Psychology, Hunter College
BA, Psychology, Columbia University

Elizabeth is interested in exploring the factors that predict persistence and retention in college, particularly among low income and first generation college students. Why are some students able to defy all odds and realize their dream of higher educational opportunity, while others do not? She is motivated to both understand the causes and consequences of social inequality as well as the ways in which they effect intellectual and academic achievement among students of color in higher education.

Dissertation Proposal: "It’s More Than Just About the Money: Predictors of Retention of Low-Income First Generation College Students."

e: evelilla@gc.cuny.edu

Sarah Zeller-Beckman
MA, Psychology, Hunter College
BA, Psychology, Dance Minor, Emory University

I am interested in adult-youth partnerships for social justice. Some of my research focuses on this interest as the object of my research, but often my praxis involves partnering with young people using a participatory action research design to explore a variety of social justice issues. I have conducted research on the impact of parental incarceration on young people while supporting young people to advocate for change in current policies and programs. I am interested in the intersections between PAR and life history methodologies. Lastly, I am developing a critical youth development framework as a lens to view the field of youth development and push towards field-level change. I have worked in the Children’s Studies Department at Brooklyn College and I have recently created a graduate course on Adult-Youth Partnerships/Critical Youth Development for The CUNY Youth Studies Department. I am currently the director of a national initiative for the Youth Development Institute (YDI).

Publications
Fine, M., Tuck, E., and Zeller-Berkman, S. (2008). Do you believe in Geneva?: Methods and ethics at the global local nexus. In the Handbook on Critical and Indigenous Methodologies. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. (reprint) (Eds.) Denzin, N. Also in McCarthy, C. (2007) Globalizing cultural studies. New York: Routeledge.
Zeller-Berkman, S. (2007). "Peering in: A look into reflective practices in youth participatory action research." Children, Youth and Environments 17 (2): 315-328.
Shcaefer-McDaniel, N., Clark, H., and Zeller-Berkman, S (2007). Where are young people in youth program evaluation research? Community, Youth and Environments. Special Issue on Participatory Action Research. (Eds). Cahill, Caitlin & Hart, Roger.

e: szb98@hotmail.com