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

After researching intergroup relationships and marginalized identity as an undergraduate at the University of Oregon, Justine became a project director in the Psychology Department at Princeton University, where she further researched intergroup relations, prejudice and discrimination. This fall, she will continue this directing position, switching to a study in NYC that focuses on ethnic identity in youth. She's interested in: political behavior, identity, and ideology; intergroup reconciliation and prejudice-reduction; morality; and the role emotion plays in these phenomena. She hopes her research will contribute to the development of just social policy.

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
(July 2009) EdM, Psychological Counseling, Columbia University,
MA, Psychological Counseling, Columbia University
BA, Psychology, Bard College

Kristi was born and raised in Brookside, NJ. After receiving a BA in Psychology from Bard College, she moved to San Francisco, CA for several years working in reproductive health and HIV prevention. In 2007, she relocated to New York City to pursue her MA and EdM in counseling psychology from Teacher’s College. She has also served as clinical intern at the Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC) and worked on a program evaluation of the national suicide prevention hotlines. Her research interests include HIV prevention and treatment, sexual health and substance use.

View Kristi's CV: kgamarel.pdf

Publications
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 adolescent development of identity in marginalized groups, namely the following: gender identity, sexual orientation, gender roles and power dynamics, and social class and race and their impact on adolescent development. Furthermore, she is interested in these areas as they pertain to academic achievement, the “achievement gap” and the school environment. She currently serves on the GC's Campus Coalition for Sexual Literacy (CCSL) board.

Undergraduate Research Project: "Effects of prenatal testosterone on the association behaviors of singleton sheep"
Master's Thesis: "What's that word again?: The impact of focused vocabulary instruction on science regents mastery"

e: christinbowman@gmail.com

Nathan Cooper
BA in Psychology, University of Kansas

Nathan worked in two different labs at the University of Kansas, one looked at stereotyping and prejudice and the other examined smoking cessation. While he was there, he did a Senior Thesis titled "Controllability and Differing Levels of Controllability Over Drug Intake in Moderating the Effects of Tobacco Smoking." Nathan then worked at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center for two years as a research assistant in the Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Department. He is currently working with Dr. Tracey Revenson on an on-going Psycho-oncology study, and in Dr. Curtis Hardin's Social-Cognition lab. He will soon be starting a study in Curtis Hardin's lab investigating the relationship between religious salience and justification of the status quo.

First Doctoral Exam: "The Haves and the Have-Nots: Ways in which subordinates contribute to and perpetuate their lower status"

Poster Presentation
SBM Conference, April 2009: "Acceptability of and Adherence to an Expressive Writing Intervention in Colorectal Cancer Patients"

e: ncooper@gc.cuny.edu

Brian Davis
BS, Physics, University of Texas at Dallas
BA, Art & Performance, University of Texas at Dallas

A native Texan, Brian spent five years abroad in Japan, during which time his passion for psychology became evident through volunteer work with sexual minority (e.g. gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender) groups. Initial research interests included attitude change toward sexual minorities, and he is currently working on the relationship of community to sexual minorities, particularly in terms of self and identity. He is working on a Master's thesis titled "Analysis of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Depictions in Three Major News Magazines " Brian’s teaching appointments include courses 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
"Content Analysis of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Themes in Time Magazine: November 2006-April 2007"

e: bdavis@gc.cuny.edu

Erica Jayne Friedman
BA, Psychology, Binghamton University

Erica was born in upstate New York and currently lives in Astoria, Queens. Outside of her research and school work at the Graduate Center, she is a research assistant at CHEST, a teaching assistant at Hunter College, the website manager for the SP Program, and a board member for the GC's Campus Coalition for Sexual Literacy (CCSL).

Her research interests focus generally on sexuality/gender identity change and development over time, social forces influencing parents’ level of acceptance of their LGBTQ child, non-labelers and pomosexuality, gender nonconformity, HIV/AIDS prevention, and open/nonmonogamous relationships. She approaches most of her research using queer and critical theory. Erica is looking into ways of building bridges between the ideas of queer theory in academia and public policy and the media. Her second year project will involve looking at drag kings and how their drag identity/performance affects their agency in response to heterosexism.

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 Presentation:
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. & Gavey, N. (in press). There’s always two sides to these things”: Managing the dilemmas of serious adverse effects from SSRI use. Social Science and Medicine
Liebert, R. (2009). The Personal is Political: SSRIs as Neoliberal Embodiment. Oral presentation for Critical Feminist Psychology Symposia, Association of Women in Psychology Conference, 2009, Rhode Island, USA.
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).

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.

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

Recent Publications:
Fourie, E., Segalo, P. & Terre Blanche, M. (In Press). Towards an appropriate pedagogy for community psychology: The University of South Africa experience. Acta Academica
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 Anderson
BA, Psychology, Kalamazoo College
BA, Religion, Kalamazoo College

Stephanie is interested in the role of information accessibility on the identity formation and civic engagement among both privileged and marginalized youth. She has previously done research examining the consequences of non-heteronormative sexual educational curricula within secondary education for both queer and heterosexual youth. At present, she is investigating how documentary film production informs the cultivation of critical consciousness among urban youth. In her future research, Stephanie hopes to incorporate video as a methodology and, overall, to inform secondary educational policies and curricula.

First Doctoral Exam: Tracing the Concept of False Consciousness
Second Year Project: "Editing Lives: The Cultivation of Critical Consciousness through Documentary Film"
Other working paper: "The Neoliberal Nature of the System Justification Theory"

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.

Recent Publications
Publications

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.

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

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.

Other Affiliations: A Buddhist Blog for Everyone on Beliefnet for the Interdependence Project, committee member on theIntegral Activism program at the Interdependence Project

e: kfirminger@gmail.com

Valerie Futch
MA Psychology, Hunter College
BS Psychology, Women's Studies minor, Stetson University

Valerie's research interests broadly focus on the interactions between the self and other and the ways in which such interactions influence an individual’s sense of identity and self-understanding. She approaches this topic through a variety of research paradigms including: narrative identity, feminist theory, theatre/performance, personality theory, and psychodynamics. In terms of methodology, she has had experience with participant observation, focus groups, group interviews, individual interviews, and quantitative survey methods (particularly online surveying). Most recently, she has been interested in expanding the dialogical self theory, as it has been developed by Hermans and others, into areas of personality and adolescent development. For her dissertation she will explore identity processes in young adults and how the arts, and theatre in particular, provide a vital outlet of expression for today’s youth.

For more on Valerie, view her personal website here.

e: valerie.futch@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

Carla Marquez
MA, General Psychology, CSU, Fresno
BA, Psychology, Minor Criminology, CSU, Fresno

While at CSU, Carla researched social/cognitive issues such as eyewitness testimony (specifically the cross race effect) as well as unrealistic optimism, wishful thinking, and directed forgetting. She continued eyewitness testimony work at the GC, focusing on moral reasoning and children. Currently, her research interests focus on the "invisible punishments/collateral consequences" of imprisonment from the perspective of those experiencing the transition. Her dissertation examines the parole process for violent offenders in NYS. Carla also is a part of a PAR group comprised of formerly incarcerated persons. She has taught many areas of psychology at Lehman College, Medgar Evers, BMCC, Fresno Pacific University in California , Gallaudet University in Washington D.C and is currently finishing her 2nd year as full-time faculty at John Jay College on a substitute line. Carla’s research interests include: Psychology and Law, Identity, Cognition and Social Cognition, Basic and Applied Studies of Memory and Judgment, Participatory Action Research, Psychology of Prisons/ Re-entry, Eyewitness Identification, and Cross-Cultural Psychology.

Recent Publications
Marquez, C. (2009, May). Mass incarceration and democracy: Considering the evidence on long term sentences. Co-sponsor and panel member. Symposium on Prison Reform, New York City, NY.
Marquez, C., Boudin, K., Vargas, F., & Waters,W.E. (2009, April). The long arm of prisons: Pre and post-release surveillance for people who have been convicted of violent crimes. Panel Chair and Presenter at Surveillance Societies: What Price Security? at Macaulay Honors College, New York, New York.
Marquez, C. (2009, April). The paradox of post-prison life: Hypervisibility & invisibility in the process of re-entering society. Paper presented at Surveillance Societies: What Price Security? at Macaulay Honors College, New York, New York.
Marquez, C. (2009, March). Separate, but not always equal: Moral exclusion, provisional belonging, and notions of success for formerly incarcerated men and women. Paper submitted and accepted for presentation at the Interdisciplinary Conference: Lumpen City- Discourses of Marginality/ Marginalizing Discourses, Toronto, Canada. :

e: cmarquez@gc.cuny.edu

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

Krystal Perkins
BA in Psychology, SUNY Purchase

Bio coming soon...

Dissertation Proposal: "Acceptance of injustice among African Americans as a function of ideology and social comparison processes"

Publications
C. Stayton, McVeigh, T., Olson, C., Perkins, K. Kerker, B. (In progress). Comparing health risks between weapon-carrying youth with and without victimization experiences.
Wiley, S., Perkins, K. & Deaux, K. (2008). Through the Looking Glass: Ethnic and Generational Patterns of Immigrant Identity. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 32, 385-398.

e: KPerkins@gc.cuny.edu

Julia C. Tomassilli
M.Phil., Social/Personality Psychology, Graduate Center, CUNY
M.A., Psychology, Hunter College, CUNY
B.A., Psychology, UC Santa Cruz

Julia’s research interests focus on sexual stigma, examining the ways in which people are stigmatized for their sexual identity, orientation, and behavior, and other sexuality related issues (e.g., STIs), and how that stigmatization affects their psychosexual well-being. She is currently working on her dissertation titled “Navigating Sexuality in the Stigmatized Context of HIV” which focuses on the unique way in which HIV stigma is linked to HIV-positive individuals’ sexuality and can therefore have a negative effect on their psychosexual well-being. Further, her dissertation explores the way the relationship between HIV stigma and psychosexual well-being impacts individuals’ general psychological well-being. Julia currently works for the Center for HIV Educational Studies and Training conducting research on HIV risk behavior, substance use, and sexuality.

Recent Publications
Tomassilli, J. C., Golub, S. A. Bimbi, D. S., & Parsons, J. T. (2009). Behind closed doors: An exploration of kinky sexual behaviors in urban lesbian and bisexual women. Journal of Sex Research.
Golub, S. A., Tomassilli, J. C., & Parsons J. T. (2008). Partner serostatus and disclosure stigma: implications for physical and mental health outcomes among HIV-positive adults. AIDS & Behavior. [epub ahead of print].
Tomassilli, J., Nanin, J., Bimbi, D., & Parsons, J. (2008, November). Gay men’s engagement in kinky sexual behaviors. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality. November 5-9, San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Tomassilli, J., Golub, S.A., & Parsons, J. T. (2008, May). Examining the role of individual difference factors in the relationship between drug use and lifetime history of STI. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality Eastern and Mid-Continent Regions, Cleveland, OH.
Tomassilli, J. C., Siodmak, E., & Parsons, J. (2008, March). The combined effect of gender and sexual identity on sexual risk. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Behavioral Medicine, San Diego, CA.

e: jtomassilli@chestnyc.org

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