Dr. Helen Neville, who received her Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology at UC Santa Barbara’s Gevirtz School in 1993, has been elected president of the American Psychological Association (APA) Division 45: The Society for the Psychological Study of Culture, Ethnicity, and Race.
The Society for the Psychological Study of Culture, Ethnicity, and Race, a Division of the APA is the major representative body for psychologists who conduct research on ethnic minority concerns or who apply psychological knowledge and techniques to ethnic minority issues. The Division’s purpose is to advance psychology as a science and to promote public welfare through research, to apply research findings towards addressing ethnic minority issues, and to encourage professional relationships among psychologists with these interests. It also represents ethnic minority concerns within the governance of the APA.
Helen Neville is a Professor in the Departments of Educational Psychology and African American Studies at the UIUC. She is also an affiliated faculty member in Psychology and Gender and Women’s Studies at the same institution. Dr. Neville came to the University of Illinois from the University of Missouri, where she was an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology, the Black Studies Program, and the Co-Director for the Center for Multicultural Research, Training, and Consultation.
Her current research interests center on two interrelated areas of racial ideology: Black racial ideology: Black racial identity and color-blind racial ideology. Her work has appeared in a wide range of journals including The Journal of Counseling Psychology, Journal of Black Studies, Journal of Black Psychology, and Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology. She served as the Associate Editor of The Counseling Psychologist and the Journal of Black Psychology and she currently serves on the board of a number of scholarly journals. She is the lead editor of the Handbook of African American Psychology.