Biennial Graduate Student Diversity Challenge Conference

Roberto L. Abreu (he/him/él) is an assistant professor of Counseling Psychology and the director of the Collective Healing and Empowering VoicEs through Research and Engagement (¡Chévere!) in the Department of Psychology at the University of Florida (UF). He is also an affiliate faculty in Center for Latin American Studies, and the Center for Gender, Sexualities and Women’s Studies Research at UF. His research explores ways in which marginalized communities resist systemic oppression and promote collective well-being. Specifically, my work has made significant contributions in four areas: (1) relational experiences and mental health outcomes among Latinx LGBTQ youth and their families and communities, (2) relational experiences and mental health outcomes among transgender and gender diverse (TGD) youth and their families, schools, and communities, (3) LGBTQ adults’ experiences of discrimination, oppression, violence, and support, and (4) immigration and mental health outcomes within Latinx communities. 

Roberto’s work is guided by social justice values such as person-environment interactions, growth, resilience, and resistance. He has published over 50 peer-reviewed articles in over 30 top-tier journals, over 12 book chapters, and co-edited two books: (1) Affirming LGBTQ+ Students in Higher Education (APA publication) and (2) LGBTQ+ Affirmative Psychological Interventions: A Latine/x Perspective (Springer publication). Roberto currently serves as Associate Editor for Journal of Prevention and Health Promotion (JPHP) and Qualitative Psychology (QP).

Alvin Alvarez (he/him) is currently a Professor of Counseling and formerly the Dean of the College of Health and Social Sciences at San Francisco State University. His doctorate is in counseling psychology from the University of Maryland. His scholarship focuses on Asian Americans, racial identity, and the psychological impact of racism and has been supported by the National Institute of Mental Health and has been awarded the Janet E. Helms Award for Mentoring and Scholarship and the Asian Pacific American Network Research Award from the American College Personnel Association. He is the coauthor of The Cost of Racism: Contextualizing the Experience of Discrimination, and Asian American Psychology: Current Perspectives. He received the Lifetime Achievement in Mentoring Award from the Society of Counseling Psychology. He is a past President of both the Society for the Psychological Study of Culture, Ethnicity and Race – Division 45 of APA and the Asian American Psychological Association who awarded him their Distinguished Contributions Award and the Early Career Award. His proudest achievements though are his two daughters – Sabrina (14) and Sophie (11) – who are convinced they are smart and funny young women with even more important things to accomplish than him! 

Jioni A. Lewis (she/her) is an Associate Professor and Co-Director of Training in the Counseling Psychology Doctoral Program in the Department of Counseling, Higher Education, and Special Education at the University of Maryland, College Park. She received her PhD in Counseling Psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Lewis’s primary line of research applies intersectionality theory to investigate the influence of racism and sexism on Black women’s health and wellbeing. She also examines protective factors that buffer individuals against the harmful effects of gendered racism, such as radical healing, collective coping, and resistance strategies. Dr. Lewis has received several national awards for her research, teaching, and advocacy, including the 2019 Emerging Professional Contributions to Research Award from the Society for the Psychological Study of Culture, Ethnicity, and Race (APA Division 45), the 2020 Emerging Leader for Women in Psychology Award from the Committee on Women in Psychology, and the 2022 Fritz & Linn Kuder Early Career Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions from the Society of Counseling Psychology (APA Division 17). She is Past-President of the Psychology of Black Women (APA Division 35-Section I), where she served as Lead Coordinator of the Inaugural Psychology of Black Women Conference in 2021. She is currently the Vice President for Education and Training for the Society of Counseling Psychology.

Bryan S. K. Kim (he/him) is a professor of psychology and the chairperson of the Division of Social Sciences at University of Hawaii at Hilo. He received his PhD in Combined Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology (Emphasis: Counseling Psychology) from University of California at Santa Barbara. Previous to UH Hilo, Dr. Kim was a tenured associate professor at UC Santa Barbara and before that a tenure-track assistant professor at University of Maryland. Dr. Kim has over 90 publications (including 9 psychological instruments) and 100 presentations in the areas of multicultural counseling process and outcome, measurement of cultural constructs, counselor education and supervision, and immigrant experiences. His current research examines the relations among enculturation and acculturation (e.g., adherence to Asian cultural values) and psychological functioning among Asian Americans and Asian international persons. Dr. Kim is currently the editor of The Counseling Psychologist journal and the immediate past editor of the Asian American Journal of Psychology. Dr. Kim serves on the editorial boards of several other journals including the Journal of Counseling Psychology. Dr. Kim is a recipient of research awards from several psychology and counseling organizations and is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association (Divisions 17, 29, and 45), Asian American Psychological Association, and International Academy for Intercultural Research.

Yara Mekawi, PhD, (she/her) is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of Louisville. She is the director of the Challenging Ongoing Legacies Of Racism (COLOR) lab and her research focuses on examining racial discrimination and racial prejudice at the intersection of affect and cognition. Using interdisciplinary and multi-method approaches, she pursues three main lines of inquiry: (a) What are the cognitive and affective mechanisms through which race-related stress is associated with psychopathology in racially marginalized groups? (b) What are the cognitive and affective factors that maintain racially-prejudiced behavior and attitudes among White individuals? and (c) What are the most effective strategies to reduce racial prejudice and ameliorate its effects on the mental health of individuals from racially marginalized groups? Dr. Mekawi is interested in the assessment and integration of meaningful DEI practices within organizations and the implementation of interventions designed to increase access for historically excluded racial groups. In her spare time, she dabbles in portrait and macro photography, graphic design, laser engraving, and painting.

Shawn Utsey (he/him) is a Professor of Psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University. He received his B.A. in psychology from North Carolina A&T State University, his M.A. in rehabilitation counseling from New York University, and his Ph.D. in counseling psychology from Fordham University. Dr. Utsey’s research is focused on understanding how racism-related stress impacts the psychological and physiological health of African Americans. In addition, he has examined how trauma is manifest in the victims of racial violence. Dr. Utsey is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist in the state of Virginia, where he has a private practice specializing in treating race-based traumatic injury.

Elizabeth Vera (she/her) is a Professor of Counseling Psychology at Loyola University Chicago. She received her PhD from The Ohio State University. Dr. Vera's areas of scholarship include well-being of BIPOC and linguistically diverse youth, conceptualizations of social justice, and the application of prevention, outreach, and advocacy in the field of psychology. She is an Associate Editor for The Counseling Psychologist, and is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, Divisions 17 and 45.

Melanie (Mel) M. Wilcox, PhD, ABPP (she/her) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences, Institute of Public and Preventive Health, and Department of Psychiatry at Augusta University. Her research, leadership, and advocacy is centered around three pillars: (1) Culturally and structurally responsive care and training; (2) Racial and socioeconomic inequity in higher education; and (3) critical whiteness, antiracism, and social justice more broadly. She is currently President-Elect of APA Division 17, the Society of Counseling Psychology. She is also in her 6 th and final year on the APA Board of Educational Affairs. Mel is a licensed psychologist and works part-time in private practice at the Aguirre Center for Inclusive Psychotherapy in Atlanta, GA, providing psychotherapy and psychological assessment via telehealth.