Merith Cosden, a Professor and Acting Dean of UC Santa Barbara’s Gevirtz School, will take part in a panel of community experts discussing Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison on Thursday, April 2 at 6 pm at the Public Library, Goleta, 500 N. Fairview Ave. The panel is part of the ninth annual UCSB Reads 2015, in which the campus and Santa Barbara communities are reading the same book, Piper Kerman's best-selling memoir Orange Is the New Black. The event is free and open to the public.
Other panelists include Caren Converse, a lecturer in the Writing Program, and Eileen Boris, Hull Professor in Feminist Studies.
Professor Cosden, former Chair of the Department of Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology in the Gevirtz School, joined the faculty in 1988. She has served as Acting Dean of the school since July 2014. She is a recipient of the UCSB Graduate Mentor award for her work with doctoral students. She is also a licensed psychologist and a recipient of the Legacy Award from the Santa Barbara County Psychological Association, in recognition of her contributions to training psychologists and working with community-based agencies over the last 30 years. Her research covers several areas, including child abuse prevention and treatment and the use of trauma-informed, substance abuse treatment for clients with co-occurring substance abuse and mental health disorders.