The American Psychological Association (APA) is honoring Dinelia Rosa, Director of Teachers College’s Dean-Hope Center of Educational & Psychological Services, and Robert Siegler, TC’s Jacob H. Schiff Foundations Professor of Psychology & Education in the Department of Human Development.

Rosa is receiving a Presidential citation from the APA for her long-term service to that organization, to state, provincial and territorial psychological associations, to practitioners, and to trainees.

In 2014, Rosa became the first Latina president of the New York State Psychological Association (NYSPA). Previously she helped charter the Division of Culture, Race, and Ethnicity at the association, and was honored with the NYSPA Service Award.

Rosa was the first Latina president of the New York State Psychological Association and helped charter the Division of Culture, Race, and Ethnicity at the association. She is co-author of the graduate psychology textbook, Grief Therapy with Latinos: Integrating Culture for Clinicians

Among the many accomplishments by Rosa highlighted in the citation from APA President Jennifer Kelly are:

Her nearly 20 years of clinical work throughout New York City with children and families from diverse backgrounds. 

Her research on youth in both school and clinical settings, grief, and emergency response. (In 2002, she was part of the Sesame Street Workshop Advisory Committee that produced the video series, "Helping You Help Children Cope with Stress” in response to the 9/11 attacks.)

Her co-authorship of the widely used graduate psychology textbook, Grief Therapy with Latinos: Integrating Culture for Clinicians

Her volunteer work for the nonprofit Latino Share to spread awareness about ovarian and breast cancer and assist with services for women affected by those cancers. 

Rosa is also a past recipient of the APA Diversity Leadership Award.

[Read a story about Rosa and her leadership in enabling the Dean Hope Center to provide online service for neighborhood residents during the COVID-19 pandemic. Read a profile of Rosa that appeared in TC’s 2017 Annual Report]

Siegler, a renowned authority on children’s mathematical learning, will receive the 2022 G. Stanley Hall Award for Distinguished Contribution to Developmental Psychology from Division 7 of the American Psychological Association.

“Throughout your career you have contributed in so many important ways to the science of developmental psychology,” wrote Mary Gauvain, President-Elect for Division 7, in a letter to Siegler. “The field has benefited greatly from your work.”

Siegler’s research focuses on how children learn mathematics and how theoretical understanding of mathematical development can be applied to improving that learning. 

Siegler’s research focuses on how children learn mathematics and how theoretical understanding of mathematical development can be applied to improving that learning. Among his many contributions, he has demonstrated the variability of strategy use, the adaptiveness of strategy choices, and the usefulness of microgenetic methods for indicating how cognitive change occurs. He has written 11 books, edited 6 others, and authored more than 250 articles, monographs, and book chapters.

Siegler, who was previously the Teresa Heinz Professor of Cognitive Psychology at Carnegie Mellon University, received the American Psychological Association’s Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award in 2005, was elected to the National Academy of Education in 2010 and was appointed Director of the Siegler Center for Innovative Learning at Beijing Normal University in 2012. He was elected to the Gallery of Scientists of the Federation of Associations in the Behavioral Sciences in 2015, elected to the Society of Experimental Psychologists in 2015, and honored by his students and colleagues with an homage in Aix en Provence, France, in 2016.

[Read an interview with Siegler about why American students struggle with fractions.]