Invited Speakers

Hector Y. Adames, Psy.D., received his doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the APA accredited program at Wright State University in Ohio and completed his APA pre-doctoral internship at the Boston University School of Medicine's Center for Multicultural Training in Psychology (CMTP). By training, he is a neuropsychologist and currently an Associate Professor at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology. He is the editor of Latina/o Psychology Today (LPT) and the co-author of a textbook focusing on skin-color and physiognomy among U.S. Latino/as titled, Cultural Foundations and Interventions in Latino/a Mental Health: History, Theory and within Group Differences to be published in 2016 by Routledge Press. His research focuses on how socio-race, skin-color, colorism, and how ethnic and racial group membership influence health and cognition (i.e., brain functioning). He has earned a number of awards including the 2014 Distinguished Professional Early Career Award from the National Latina/o Psychological Association (NLPA). You can follow him on Twitter @HYAdames

Patricia Arredondo, EdD, is a highly respected Latina psychologist and well-known for her work in multicultural counseling. Arredondo grew up in a rural town with a very small Latino population right outside of Cleveland, Ohio. As a second generation Mexican-American, Dr. Arredondo’s childhood experiences inspired her to pursue a career that had a special interest in working with minorities, especially Latino/a Americans. Dr. Arredondo has held leadership positions in numerous national professional organizations. She served as President of the American Counseling Association, American Psychological Association Division 45 Society for the Psychological Study of Culture, Ethnicity and Race, National Latina/o Psychological Association, Association of Multicultural Counseling and Development, and the Latino Professional Network of Boston. She is the author and co-author of five books, 100 plus articles and book chapters, and multiple counselor training videos and DVDs in English and Spanish. Her most recent research involved first-time homeowners, primarily Latino immigrants in a south Phoenix Habitat for Humanity community.

Muninder K. Ahluwalia is an Associate Professor in the Department of Counseling and Educational Leadership in the College of Education and Human Services at Montclair State University. Dr. Ahluwalia received her Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from New York University. She serves on the Committee on Ethnic Minority Affairs of the American Psychological Association, and the Editorial Board for Journal for Social Action in Counseling and Psychology. Dr. Ahluwalia’s engages in research and scholarship with her students focusing on intersecting identities of racial and ethnic minorities in the U.S., with particular attention to the psychological impact of racism and discrimination on individuals and communities. Current research studies include the experiences of faculty of color teaching multicultural competence, and the experiences of the Sikh youth in the face of religious oppression and discrimination. Dr. Ahluwalia also has a consultation practice, where she engages in assessment and training related to multicultural competence.

Doris F. Chang is Associate Professor of Psychology at the New School for Social Research and a research scientist at the Center of Excellence for Cultural Competence, New York State Psychiatric Institute.  Her research addresses disparities in the quality of mental health services for racial and ethnic minorities by a) describing the role of race, ethnicity, and culture in mental health and service delivery, b) identifying strategies for improving treatment processes and outcomes involving racially, culturally, and linguistically discordant provider-patient dyads, and c) developing empirically- and culturally-grounded therapeutic interventions. She is currently the principal investigator of an international collaboration to develop and apply Taoist Cognitive Therapy to Chinese American immigrants with generalized anxiety disorder. In 2015, Dr. Chang was awarded The New School Award for Outstanding Achievements in Diversity and Social Justice Teaching. A licensed clinical psychologist, Dr. Chang also maintains a private practice in New York City.

Nayeli Y. Chavez-Dueñas, Ph.D., received her doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the APA accredited program at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. She is an Associate Professor at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology where she serves as the faculty coordinator for the concentration in Latino/a Mental Health for the masters in counseling psychology. She is the associate editor of Latina/o Psychology Today (LPT); and the co-author of a textbook that focuses on skin-color and within group differences among Latino/as in the U.S. titled, Cultural Foundations and Interventions in Latino/a Mental Health: History, Theory and within Group Differences to be published in 2016 by Routledge Press. Her research focuses on colorism, skin-color differences, parenting styles, immigration, unaccompanied minors, multiculturalism, and race relations. She has earned a number of awards including the 2012 Distinguished Teaching Award for Excellence in Multicultural Pedagogy by TCSPP. You can follow her on Twitter @NYChavez

Dr. Cross is “old school” and his involvement in the racial-cultural discourse dates back to 1971.  He exited the Graduate Center-CUNY in 2008 as professor emeritus, with the intention of retiring but as he tells his friends, he is a total failure at retiring, and has sense held positions at UNLV and currently the University of Denver.  The Winter Roundtable is one of his favorite spaces and places and while he is healthy and full of energy, he wants to say good-bye and hold conversation with students, faculty and friends who share his passion for the study of identity.  Dr. Cross took his PhD from Princeton in 1976 and has held positions at Cornell University, Penn State University, the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, the Graduate Center-CUNY, UNLV and the University of Denver.  His most recent work is an edited volume on black identity [Meaning making, internalized racism and African American Identity] that is being considered by SUNY Press. Jas Sullivan, PhD., of the LSU Political Science Department, is co-editor.

Dr. Milo L. Dodson earned his Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Notre Dame. He is currently a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the UC Irvine Counseling Center. Dr. Dodson is a committed advocate for service-based leadership, and serves as Camp Director for Common’s Dreamers and Believers Summer Youth Camp. He also provides consultation services for the MVP Group Program - an innovative talent development consultancy.Dr. Dodson was recently hired by his former choir – the internationally acclaimed Pueri Cantores San Gabriel Valley – as the Director of Team Building to help co-lead the choir on its pilgrimage-tour to Italy. Dr. Dodson is currently working on creating/hosting a television show to holistically discuss wellness, mental health, and social justice. This fall, Dr. Dodson became a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. by way of Xi Iota Lambda Chapter.

Melanie M. Domenech Rodríguez is a Professor of Psychology at Utah State University. At present, Dr. Domenech Rodríguez is actively engaged in programs of research in Oregon, Missouri, and Idaho. In Oregon, Dr. Domenech Rodríguez is collaborating with Iris Educational Media to develop and implement Padres Preparados, a preventive parenting intervention for Spanish-speaking parents of preschool aged children. Padres Preparados is a Parent Management Training - Oregon (PMTO) model intervention. In Missouri, Dr. Domenech Rodríguez is collaborating with colleagues on a project to implement PMTO training in university settings using distance education technology with the ultimate goal of providing a sustainable model for dissemination of evidence-based interventions. Finally, Dr. Domenech Rodríguez is collaborating on a Heath Resources and Services Administration grant. Pipeline to Diversity targets linguistic and cultural competence of Physician Assistant Studies students with the ultimate goal of improving access to medical services for marginalized populations. Dr. Domenech Rodríguez is President-Elect of the National Latina/o Psychological Association.  Dr. Domenech Rodríguez is a licensed psychologist. She obtained her doctoral degree at Colorado State University in 1999.

P. Paul Heppner, Ph.D. holds a Curators’ Professorship (the highest distinction) at the University of Missouri and Directs the Coalition for Cultural Competencies (an organization he co-founded in 1998).  His research focuses on how people cope with stressful life problems across different cultural groups in the US as well as in other countries, including crossing national borders and developing cross-cultural competencies. He has published over 200 articles/book chapters, nine books, made hundreds of presentations at national conferences, and delivered over 70 invited international presentations across14 countries. Dr. Heppner is the recipient of three Fulbright awards, is a Fellow in three Divisions of the American Psychological Association (17, 45 and 52) as well as the American Psychological Society. He has served on several national/international editorial boards, including as Editor of The Counseling Psychologist.  In 2005/6 he served as President of the Society of Counseling Psychology, and in 2009 he received the Leona Tyler Award, the Society’s highest award. He is also the recipient of numerous other awards for his leadership, research, teaching, mentoring, international work, and promoting diversity and social justice issues.

Jioni A. Lewis received her Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Her research is focused on the impacts of subtle forms of racism on the mental and physical health of people of color, with a specific focus on women of color. She recently developed a self-report instrument to measure Black women's experiences with the intersection of subtle forms of racism and sexism, or gendered racial microaggressions. She serves as the Media and PR Co-Coordinator for Division 17 of the American Psychological Association. She also serves on the editorial boards of The Counseling Psychologist and Psychology of Women Quarterly. Dr. Lewis was recently awarded the 2015 Carolyn Payton Early Career Professional Award from Division 35 of the American Psychological Association for her published work addressing the concerns of black women and girls.

Dr. Silvia Mazzula is a psychologist, professor, mental health researcher and author. She is the Exceutive Director of the Latina Researchers Network, an Assistant Professor of Psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY, and Former President of the Latino Psychological Association of New Jersey. Dr. Mazzula has extensive research and counseling experience with underserved communities. She is a speaker, consultant and trainer on issues of diversity, inclusion and leadership development.

Matthew J. Miller is an associate professor and the co-director of training of the counseling psychology program in the Department of Counseling, Higher Education, and Special Education at the University of Maryland. He is currently on the editorial boards of the Journal of Counseling Psychology, Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, Asian American Journal of Psychology, Journal of Career Assessment, and Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development. His Culture, Race, and Health Lab studies (a) basic cultural and race-related processes, (b) the role of cultural and racial factors in health and health disparities, and (c) the measurement and assessment of cultural and racial constructs. Currently, one of his research priorities is to develop interventions that increase historically underserved populations’ access to culturally appropriate evidence based strategies for coping with racism and depression in an ecologically valid video format.

Kevin Nadal, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor at the City University of New York (John Jay College of Criminal Justice and The Graduate Center), the Executive Director of CLAGS: The Center for LGBTQ Studies, and the President of the Asian American Psychological Association. He is a national trustee of the Filipino American National Historical Society and a co-founder of the LGBTQ Scholars of Color Network. He is one of the leading researchers in understanding microaggressions, or subtle forms of discrimination that negatively impact historically marginalized groups. A California-bred New Yorker, he was one of People Magazine's hottest bachelors in 2006; he once won an argument with Bill O'Reilly on Fox News Channel's "The O'Reilly Factor"; and he was even once a Hot Topic on ABC's "The View".  He has also been featured in the New York Times, Buzzfeed, The O’Reilly Factor, HGTV, The Weather Channel, ABC News, PBS, and more.

Thomas A. Parham is Vice Chancellor, Student Affairs and an adjunct faculty member at the University of California, Irvine. Prior to these positions, he served as Assistant Vice Chancellor for Counseling and Health Services, Counseling Center Director, and Director of the Career and Life Planning Center at UCI. Before that, Dr. Parham held an appointment on the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Dr. Parham received his Ph.D. in counseling psychology at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. He has also been recognized as a “Distinguished Psychologist” by the Association of Black Psychologists. For the past 30-plus years, Dr. Parham has focused his research efforts in the area of psychological nigrescence and has authored 6 books and over 40 journal articles and book chapters in the areas of identity development, African psychology and multicultural counseling. He has also produced several videos including Counseling African Americans, Youth and Violence, and Innovative Approaches to Counseling African Descent People.  Dr. Parham has received numerous honors and awards for his academic contributions and community service.

David P. Rivera, Ph.D., is an associate professor of counselor education at Queens College-CUNY.  He received his doctorate in counseling psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University. He also holds degrees in psychology and counseling from Johns Hopkins University and the University of Wyoming.  David’s research focuses on cultural competency development and issues impacting the marginalization and wellbeing of people of color and oppressed sexual orientation and gender identity groups, with a focus on microaggressions.  He has published journal articles and book chapters in various areas of multicultural psychology. David is currently board co-chair of CLAGS: Center for LGBTQ Studies, on the executive committee of the APA’s Society for the Psychological study of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Issues, a consulting editor of the journal Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, and an adviser to The Steve Fund.  His practical work includes consultations and trainings on a variety of cultural competency issues.

Anastasia Salter is an assistant professor of digital media at the University of Central Florida. She is the author of What is Your Quest? From Adventure Games to Interactive Books (University of Iowa Press, 2014) and co-author of Flash: Building the Interactive Web (MIT Press, 2014). Her recent projects include “Alice in Dataland” (Kairos 20.1), a playful multimodal exploration of Alice and her Wonderland as a metaphor, and “Secret Societies of the Avant-garde,” a game for teaching 20^th century art history developed in collaboration with Keri Watson. She writes for Profhacker, a blog on technology and pedagogy hosted by the Chronicle of Higher Education, and is a member of the THATCamp Council. Website: anastasiasalter.net  Twitter: @anasalter

A. Jordan Wright, Ph.D., ABAP is the academic coordinator for psychology at the Center for Distance Learning at Empire State College, State University of New York.  He earned his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Columbia University, is a diplomate of the American Board of Assessment Psychology, and is a fellow of the Society for Personality Assessment.  He oversees the online psychology curriculum for the college and designs the online offerings.  He is the author of Conducting Psychological Assessment: A Guide for Practitioners (Wiley, 2010) and co-author of the sixth edition of the Handbook of Psychological Assessment (Wiley, 2016).  His research focuses primarily on minority stress, microaggressions, and identity and personality within the LGBTQ community.  He is the author of the Homonegative Microaggression Scale (HMS), and he designs and delivers microaggressions trainings throughout secondary and higher educational contexts.