Roger Peterson Distinguished Speaker Series

Psychologist’s Role in Documenting and Evaluation of Psychological Trauma in Immigrants, Refugees, and Asylum Seekers- Dr. Cynthia de las Fuentes

During her graduate school training, Cynthia de las Fuentes was awarded a United States Congressional Fellowship through the Women’s Research and Education Institute and another fellowship with the Women’s Program Office of the Public Interest Directorate at the American Psychological Association (APA). She earned a PhD in Counseling Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin in 1994 and subsequently became licensed by the State of Texas in 1996. From 1993-2007, she was a tenured associate professor of psychology at Our Lady of the Lake University, an APA-accredited doctoral program, and held numerous leadership positions within the university and department, including serving as Training Director. Since 2007, she has worked in private practice offering sliding-scale consultation, psychotherapy, and forensic evaluations, focusing her expert testimony on the victims of hate crimes, racial, gender, and sexual orientation discrimination, and immigration evaluations. Her pro bono work includes training bilingual psychologists in her community on the cultural and linguistic competent delivery of forensic and immigration evaluation services to the Latiné immigrant community and delivering self-care and stress management workshops to immigration lawyers and their staff. She has dozens of presentations and publications in her areas of scholarship: ethics in psychology, feminist psychology, multicultural, and Latiné psychologies. She is active in governance of the APA where, among other positions, she served as president of the Society for the Psychology of Women, was a member of the Board of Education Affairs, was chair of the Committee for Women in Psychology, served on the APA Council of Representatives representing Division 45, the Society for the Psychological Study of Culture, Ethnicity and Race, was chair of the Council Leadership Team, and as a member of the Policy and Planning Board. She is a founding member of the National Latinx Psychological Association and was elected a member and secretary of the Board of Trustees for the Texas Psychological Association. She was the 2024 President of the American Psychological Association and the American Psychological Association Services Inc.

Jeffrey Jensen Arnett is the leading authority in the world on the age period from 18 to 29, which he named emerging adulthood. Dr. Arnett is a Senior Research Scholar in the Department of Psychology at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. He is the author of the book Emerging Adulthood: The Winding Road from the Late Teens Through the Twenties, now in its 3rd edition, published in 2024 by Oxford University Press. He founded the Society for the Study of Emerging Adulthood (ssea.org) in 2012 and served as its first Executive Director. Arnett has two children, twins Miles and Paris, born in 1999, and his wife, Lene Jensen, is also a professor at Clark. He has appeared on national television and frequently in print media, including a cover story in the New York Times Sunday Magazine in August, 2010. His book (with Elizabeth Fishel) for parents of emerging adults is Getting to 30: A Parents Guide to the Twentysomething Years. For more information, see jeffreyarnett.com. 

Dr. Arnett gave an overview of emerging adulthood, identifying the distinctive features of young people ages 18 to 29. He also talked about cultural variations in experiences and expectations during this phase of life. Mental health issues were discussed, including how symptoms of anxiety and depression varied across age groups during the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath. 

Sharon Berry, PhD, ABPP, earned her doctorate in clinical psychology from Florida State University. She was internship training director (Children's MN) and supervisor (Children's Memorial Hospital, Chicago), with numerous awards highlighting training efforts from the Council of Chairs of Training Councils, MN Psychological Association, APAGS, Association of Psychologists in Academic Health Centers, and Divisions 38 (Health) and 54 (Pediatric Psychology).

She served on the Presidential Workgroup on the APA Expanded Advocacy Model, APA Education Advocacy Coordinator, the inaugural Advocacy Coordinating Committee & Psychology PAC Advisory Board. Berry enjoyed two terms on the APPIC Board of Directors, serving on the Board of Educational Affairs and leadership in Divisions 54 and 12. She received the first Education Advocacy Distinguished Service Award in 2003 and the first Political Advocacy Champion Award in 2015, with an APA Presidential Citation in 2019. She helped improve accredited internship sustainability by increasing the states that allow billing by doctoral and postdoctoral trainees.

Dr. Berry presented a historical view of challenges for psychology education and training as well as current challenges, with examples of how past advocacy efforts have led to important programs such as the Graduate Psychology Education Program, campus suicide programs, and loan forgiveness. Involvement in advocacy was encouraged to contribute to the solutions.

Dr. Gilbert Newman is the Vice President for Academic Affairs at the Wright Institute, Berkeley, CA, and President of the National Council of Schools and Programs of Professional Psychology, presented in 2022. In this presentation, he described concerns that are addressed in reaffirming a model of training for NCSPP programs in preparing health service psychologists. The training provided a critical review of our educational model – to reaffirm what still works, to acknowledge what we have not accomplished, and to address how our values and commitments may have evolved.[/vc_toggle]

Thema Bryant-Davis, PhD is a professor of psychology at Pepperdine University and director of the Culture and Trauma Research Lab. She is the current president of the American Psychological Association, a past president of the Society for the Psychology of Women, and a past psychology representative to the United Nations. The California Psychological Association honored her as Scholar of the Year for her work in the cultural context of trauma recovery, and the Institute of Violence, Abuse, and Trauma honored her for mentorship in the field of trauma psychology. Her presentation in 2021 illuminated ways the field of psychology and student services can serve communities that live with the psychological effects of racism. Insights from liberation psychology, decolonial psychology, Black psychology, and womanist psychology were presented.

In 2019, Kermit Crawford, PhD, presented The Looking Glass Revisited: Making and Mediating Microaggressions. This presentation consisted of a deep dive into the dynamics of microaggressions and describe how they can alternatively be viewed as proxies for even deeper questions that should be asked and answered. The takeaway was an overview of the proxy nature of microaggressions for a more in-depth individual examination and institutional orientation toward change related to the multileveled impacts of structural racism.

In 2016, Jeremy Safran, PhD, presented Mindfulness, Enactment, and Affect Regulation. Dr. Safran was the author of numerous books and articles on psychotherapy, including Negotiating the Therapeutic Alliance: A Relational Treatment Guide, with co-author Chris Muran. He was a Professor of Psychology at the New School for Social Research in New York City for years, where he was also in the position of Director of Clinical Psychology for several years. He and Dr. Muran truly integrated clinical practice, training, and research in their work.

Kenneth J. Gergen is a Senior Research Professor at  Swarthmore College and President of the Taos Institute. He has authored many of the most influential works on social constructionism along with a series of updated books on An Invitation to Social Constructionism.