Staff Bios

 

David L. Blustein
David L. Blustein received a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University, in 1985. He joined the faculty in the Department of Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology at Boston College in 1999 after serving on the Counseling Psychology faculty at the University at Albany, State University of New York for 14 years.

He is a fellow of Division 17 of the American Psychological Association, and he has received the Division 17 Early Career Scientist-Practitioner Award and the John Holland Award for Outstanding Achievement in Personality and Career Research. His current interests include the psychology of work, work-based transitions, the exploration process, the interface between work and interpersonal functioning, and the impact of social class in human development.

Janet E. Helms (http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/soe/isprc/staff/helms.html)
Janet E. Helms is the Augustus Long Professor of Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology at Boston College and founding director of the Institute for the Study and Promotion of Race and Culture at Boston College. She is a Fellow in Division 17 (Counseling Psychology) and Division 45 (Ethnic Diversity) of the American Psychological Association (APA) and is a representative to Council, APA's governing body.
 
Dr. Helms is associate editor of the Journal of Counseling Psychology and serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Psychological Assessment, and the Journal of Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology. She has written over fifty empirical and theoretical articles and four books on the topics of racial identity and cultural influences on assessment and counseling practice. Her Books include A Race Is a Nice Thing To Have, and Using Race and Culture in Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theory and Process (with Donelda Cook).
Guerda Nicolas (http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/soe/isprc/staff/nicolas.html)
Guerda Nicolas obtained her PhD in clinical psychology from Boston University. She is a licensed clinical psychologist and full time professor at Boston College in the Lynch School of Education, Department of Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology. As a multicultural (Haitian American) and multilingual (Spanish, French, and Haitian Creole) psychologist, her research is reflective of her background and interests. Her current research projects center on addressing the needs of immigrant and ethnic minority adolescents and adults.Guerda Nicolas obtained her PhD in clinical psychology from Boston University. She is a licensed clinical psychologist and full time professor at Boston College in the Lynch School of Education, Department of Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology. As a multicultural (Haitian American) and multilingual (Spanish, French, and Haitian Creole) psychologist, her research is reflective of her background and interests. Her current research projects center on addressing the needs of immigrant and ethnic minority adolescents and adults.
Theresa Perry
Theresa Perry is a Professor in the Departments of Africana Studies and Education at Simmons College and Director of the Simmons College/Beacon Press Race, Education and Democracy Lecture and Book Series. Her current writings and work have focused on the development of a theory of practice for African American achievement and a meta-analysis of educational environments that normalize high achievement for Black students. Dr. Perry is co-author, with Asa Hilliard III and Claude Steele of Young Gifted and Black: Promoting High Achievement Among African American Students, co-editor with Lisa Delpit of The Real Ebonics Debate: Power Language and the Education of African American Students, editor of Teaching Malcolm X, and co-editor of Freedom’s Plow: Teaching in the Multicultural Classroom. She is completing a book entitled, Educating African American Students: What Teachers, Teacher Educators and Community Activists Should Know.

Prior to joining the Simmons College faculty, Dr. Perry held the positions of Undergraduate Dean, Dean of the faculty and Vice President for Community Relations at Wheelock College. During her tenure as Undergraduate Dean, the College was selected by NCEST (National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools and Teaching) as one of the seven exemplary teacher preparation programs in the country. Her accomplishments while employed at Wheelock College include leading the faculty in the integration of content about race, culture and ethnicity into the curriculum; increasing the representation of faculty of color in the undergraduate division to 25 percent, and developing robust partnership relationships with Boston Pubic Schools, which linked teacher development with the preparation of new teachers.

Dr. Perry is currently a member of the advocacy group, Community Partners for a New Superintendent; a member of the Board of the Boson Medical Center; a founding member of the National Coalition for Quality Schools in New Orleans. She conceptualized and is one of the leaders of the citywide lecture series, entitled Race, Culture Identity and Achievement Seminar Series. September 2007 will begin the fourth year for the Series.

She has lectured to educators and/or consulted with school systems throughout the country, including the public school systems in Evanston Illinois, San Bernardino, California, and Webster Grove, Missouri. Most recently she delivered keynote addresses to the Boston Public Schools’ school based administrators and to the Society for Educational Studies Annual meeting in London England. She has developed and is the principal faculty in a Boston based summer institute entitled, Promoting African American Achievement—Theory, Research and Practice.

Dr. Perry received her baccalaureate degree from Loyola University in New Orleans, Louisiana, a Masters degree from Marquette University in Milwaukee Wisconsin and a doctoral degree from the Human Development Laboratory at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Maria Senour (http://www.sdccd.net/public/district/trustees/senour.html)
Dr. Marìa Nieto Senour is a member of the San Diego Community College District Board of Trustees, the first Latina elected to a city-wide office in San Diego. She was first elected in 1990 and re-elected in 1994, 1998 and 2002. In that position, and in the community work she has done, Marìa has been an advocate for children and for increasing staff and student diversity in education.
Elizabeth Sparks (http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/soe/people/profiles/cdep/Sparks.htm)
Elizabeth Sparks is an Associate Professor of Counseling Psychology at Boston College, a faculty member at the Jean Baker Miller Training Institute of the Stone Center at Wellesley College, and has a private psychotherapy practice. She has worked for over 28 years in the areas of child welfare and community mental health, providing clinical services primarily to African America youth and families and conducting research on youth who are living in at-risk situations. Dr. Sparks' current area of research focuses on female delinquents, and her publications include articles and book chapters on youth involvement in violence, myths surrounding welfare recipients, challenges faced by community mental health, the effects of race/ethnicity and gender on mental illness, and the application of feminist theory to the lives of girls and women of color.
Joseph Trimble (http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~trimble/)
Joseph E. Trimble (PhD, University of Oklahoma, Institute of Group Relations, 1969) is a Professor of Psychology and a Research Associate in the Center for Cross-Cultural Research at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington. Also, he is a Senior Scholar at the Tri-Ethnic Center for Prevention Research and an Adjunct Professor of Psychology at Colorado State University and a Research Associate for the National Center for American Indian and Alaska Native Mental Health Research at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. From 2000-2001, he was a Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies at Harvard University. And in March 2007, he was the O’Brian Visiting Professor at Scripps College.

Dr. Trimble earned a baccalaureate degree from Waynesburg College in 1961 and pursued graduate studies in psychology at the University of New Hampshire, Harvard University, and the University of Oklahoma. In addition, he pursued postdoctoral studies at the University of Colorado, Ohio University, and the University of Hawai’i-Manoa, /East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Throughout his thirty five-year career, he has focused his efforts on promoting psychological and sociocultural research with indigenous populations, especially American Indians and Alaska Natives. For the past 25 years, he has been working on drug abuse prevention research models for American Indian and Alaska Native youth. He has collaborated on a series of studies concerning the etiology of drug abuse among American Indian youth, and has been involved in promoting drug use research among America's ethnic minority populations. Since 1972, he has served as a member of scientific review committees and research panels for the following federal agencies: NIAAA; NIDA; NIA; NIMH; National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute; NICHD; NCI; National Center for Research Resources, NIH; Risk, Prevention, and Health Behavior, NIH; Center for Substance Abuse Prevention; National Academy of Sciences; and NSF. Recently he completed a term as a review committee member of the National Institute on Drug Abuse’s Subcommittee on Epidemiology and Prevention Research for which he received a Certificate of Appreciation in 1999. From 1998-2004, he served as a member of the Risk, Prevention, and Health Behavior Initial Review Group for the Center for Scientific Review at the National Institutes of Health. Currently, he is a review committee member of the National Institute of Drug Abuse’s Health Services Research Subcommittee.

Dr. Trimble has held offices in the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology and the American Psychological Association; he holds Fellow status in three divisions in the APA (Divisions 9, 27, and 45). He is past-President of the Society for the Psychological Study of Ethnic Minority Issues (Division 45 of the American Psychological Association) and a Council member for the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (Division 9 of the American Psychological Association). In 1994, he received a Lifetime Distinguished Career Award from the American Psychological Association's Division 45 for his research and dedication to cross-cultural and ethnic psychology. In 1991, he received a Certificate of Commendation for Outstanding Contributions to the Development and Implementation of the National Institute on Drug Abuse's Special Populations Research Programs. And, in 2001, he was awarded the Eleventh Annual Janet E. Helms Award for Mentoring and Scholarship in Professional Psychology at the Teachers College, Columbia University, 18th Annual Roundtable on Cross-Cultural Psychology and Education. He has presented over 150 papers, invited addresses, and invited lectures at professional meetings, and has generated over 140 publications and technical reports on topics in psychology and higher education research including 16 authored or edited books. His co-edited book with Guillermo Bernal, Ann Kathleen Burlew, and Fred Leong, the Handbook of Racial and Ethnic Minority Psychology, was selected as CHOICE Magazine’s Outstanding Academic Titles for 2004. His most recent books include (with Celia B. Fisher) The Handbook of Ethical Research with Ethnocultural Populations and Communities (Sage Publications) and (with Paul Pedersen, Juris Draguns, Walter J. Lonner) Counseling Across Cultures, 6th Edition (Sage Publications.

He is a dedicated teacher, researcher and scholar. He is the recipient of three awards from Western Washington University -- the Outstanding Teacher-Scholar Award in 1985, the Excellence in Teaching Award in 1987, and the Paul J. Olscamp Outstanding Faculty Research Award in 1999. In addition, the Washington State Psychological Association awarded him the Distinguished Psychologist Award for 2002. In 2004, he was the recipient of the Peace and Social Justice Award from the American Psychological Association’s Division on Peace Psychology. In 2006, he received the Allen L. Edwards Lecturer Fellowship from the Department of Psychology at the University of Washington. And in 2007, he was the recipient of the Distinguished Elder Award from the National Multicultural Conference and Summit.

LaQueta L. Wright
LaQueta L. Wright is a Professor of Sociology for the Dallas County Community College District at Richland College in Dallas, Texas. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of North Texas. After receiving a Master of Arts degree in Human Relations from the University of Oklahoma and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism-Public Relations, Ms. Wright served as the Coordinator of African-American Student Services and Assistant Dean of Student Life at Southern Methodist University.

Ms. Wright has received numerous awards and much recognition for her dedication, commitment, and service to the African-American community and our community at-large. She is a 2006 Fulbright Fellow (Senegal, West Africa), a core faculty member for the Texas A & M University Diversity Training Institute, a Board of Director for the Renewed Hope Foundation, Inc. (social and economic development in Kenya/East Africa), National President of the University of Oklahoma Black Alumni Society, Board Member for the University of Oklahoma Alumni Association, and former Board of Director for the Texas Association of Black Personnel in Higher Education (TABPHE). Ms. Wright is the recipient of the University Oklahoma 2002 Distinguished Alumni Award, the SMU Alpha Phi Alpha “Women Who Move Mountains” Award, the OU Human Relations Citation of Service Award, the Southern Methodist University “M” Award, Who’s Who Among Colleges and Universities, amongst numerous others.

A native of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Ms. Wright with her contagious smile, sincere heart and commitment to building community is a mentor to over 100 students and professionals; a servant leader an educational consultant to institutions of higher learning throughout the South and Midwest regions of the United States.