About / Aug 10 / Casas receives APA honor and named to task force on immigration

August 31, 2010
For immediate release

Manny Casas of the Gevirtz School at UC Santa Barbara receives American Psychological Association (APA) honor and is named to APA task force on immigration

Manny Casas, an emeritus professor in the Department of Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology at the Gevirtz School at UC Santa Barbara, was given the Elder Recognition Award for Distinguished Contributions to Counseling Psychology by the American Psychological Association (APA) at its recent annual convention held in San Diego, August 14-17.

In addition to that honor, Casas was also appointed to the six-member American Psychological Association Presidential Task Force on Immigration. The empirically-based conclusions and recommendations of this task force will be disseminated to inform the development of a broad range of immigration-related policy at various levels. The Task Force is comprised of researchers, practitioners and educators who are knowledgeable about the numerous factors related to the experience of immigration, with particular attention to the effects of acculturation, prejudice, discrimination, and immigration policy on individuals, the immigrant community and the broader community.

J. Manuel Casas, Ph.D., a native of Mexico, received his doctorate from Stanford University with a specialization in counseling psychology. He recently retired, after 38 years as a professor in the Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology Department at UC Santa Barbara. He has published extensively (over 145 publications). He is the co-author of the Handbook of Racial/Ethnic Minority Counseling Research and is one of the editors of the three editions of the Handbook of Multicultural Counseling. He has served on numerous editorial boards including The Counseling Psychologist, Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, Applied Developmental Science, and Psychology of Men and Masculinity. His most recent research and publication endeavors have focused on Hispanic families and children who are at risk for experiencing educational and psychosocial problems, including drug and alcohol abuse. His research in this area gives special attention to the resiliency factors that can help Hispanic families avoid or overcome such problems. For the past 15 years, he has been the only Hispanic mental health commissioner on the Santa Barbara County Mental Health Commission.

Dr. Casas served as the first chairperson of APA’s Division 17 Committee on Ethnic Minority Affairs and President of Division 45 Presently he is a member of the Committee on Children, Youth, and Families. He has been honored as a fellow of APA Division 17 (Counseling Psychology), Division 45 (Society for the Study of Ethnic Minority Issues), and of the Rockefeller Foundation. For all of these accomplishments, Dr. Casas was honored as a distinguished scholar in the field of Chicana/o Psychology by the Julian Samora Research Institute at the 1998 Innovations in Chicana/o Psychology conference at Michigan State University.

[Manny Casas is available for interviews; contact George Yatchisin at 805 893 5789]
– end –

School-wide Links
Courses Apply	Computing Contact

News

Manny Casas of the Gevirtz School at UC Santa Barbara receives American Psychological Association (APA) honor and is named to APA task force on immigration