Biography

Cynthia García Coll, Ph.D., is currently an Adjunct Professor in the Pediatrics Department at the University of Puerto Rico Medical School and the Charles Pitts Robinson and John Palmer Barstow Professor Emerita, at Brown University. Prior to moving back to Puerto Rico in 2011, she was a Professor of Education, Psychology and Pediatrics for 30 years at Brown University. Her research focuses on the interplay of sociocultural and biological influences on child development, with particular emphasis on populations that live in at-risk conditions and/or are considered minorities. She has published over 160 peer reviewed articles, book chapters and books. She received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Puerto Rico, her master’s degree from the University of Florida and her PhD from Harvard University. Dr. García Coll has served on the editorial boards of many leading academic journals, including being the editor in chief of Child Development and Developmental Psychology. She is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and the Association for Psychological Science and has received awards from Tufts and Brown University, the Society for Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD), Progreso Latino and a Doctorate in Humane Letters, Honoris Causa from the Erikson Institute. She has been on the governing boards of the United Way of Rhode Island, the Rhode Island Community Foundation, SRCD, the Society for the Study of Human Development and currently, the SRCD-Latino Caucus and the Foundation for Child Development. She also served as a member and chair of the Young Scholars Program at the WT Grant Foundation for eleven years. Her research has been funded by NIH, the McArthur Foundation, the WT Grant Foundation, and the Spencer Foundation. She has three children and two grandchildren and is an avid practitioner of yoga and mindfulness.

Dr. Monica Tsethlikai is an enrolled member of the Zuni (A:shiwi) Nation. She is currently an associate professor in the T. Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics at Arizona State University. In all of her work, Dr. Tsethlikai incorporates a strengths-based focus on the role cultural pride and cultural engagement play in shaping cognitive development and well-being in American Indian children. Her latest project examined the development of mental health and executive functions among urban American Indian children in relation to stress (measured by parental report and cortisol levels in children’s hair). She also contributes to research on a culturally grounded parenting intervention for urban American Indian families. Dr. Tsethlikai received her undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame. She earned her doctoral degree at the University of Kansas in Psychology. She received a William T. Grant Scholars Award and Ford Foundation pre-and post-doctoral Fellowships.

Dr. Fantasy T. Lozada is an assistant professor of Developmental Psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University where she is the director of the School, Home, and Internet contexts of EmotionaL Development (SHIELD) Lab. After completing her Ph.D. in Lifespan Developmental Psychology from North Carolina State University as an Initiative for Maximizing Student Diversity Scholar and a Center for Developmental Science Predoctoral Fellow, Dr. Lozada completed her postdoctoral training at the University of Michigan as a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the Center for the Study of Black Youth in Context. Her work explores the interplay of culture, race, and emotions and predictors of the social and emotional development of Black and Brown children across contexts. Her work is published in Child Development, Journal of Child and Family Studies, Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, Emotion Review, Journal of Black Psychology, and Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology.

Website: www.shieldlabresearch.org
Twitter: @DrFantasyLozada

Richard M Lee, PhD is a Distinguished McKnight University Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Minnesota. He is the Chair of the SRCD Asian Caucus and a Past President of the Asian American Psychological Association. Dr. Lee conducts research on the development, well-being, and mental health of youth and families of color with a specific focus on Asian American populations. He is interested in culture-specific risk and protective factors, such as discrimination, acculturation, ethnic identity, and cultural socialization. He is currently conducting a mixed-method 12-year longitudinal study of Korean adoptees who were raised in White families and are now young adults, many of whom are raising multiracial children.

Website: https://famileelab.wordpress.com/
Twitter: @RichLeePhD

The Elephant in the Room: Cultural Practices and Children’s Development

Session Type: Invited Salon

Abstract

This session brings leaders in the field to grapple with the problem of having a normative Child Development science based primarily on studying WEIRD and predominantly White populations and using theoretical frameworks and measurements that do not capture the diversity of experiences in the world. This science has not only developed norms for children and micro-contexts based on these populations but has promoted an othering and a deficit view of minoritized populations. These practices have implications not only for our scientific knowledge base, but also for real life applications in families, schools, and other settings and for policy and interventions targeting populations from diverse cultural backgrounds mired by poverty, oppression, and/or racism. As we acknowledge this historical legacy, how do we bring the necessary change in our scholarship? From measurement issues, to publishing in top journals, to tenure decisions, we will draw from our own work and experiences and that of our students and colleagues to shed light on how these issues are both academic and personal. How do we rectify the past? Where do we go, individually and collectively, from here?

Sub Unit

• Invited Program

Moderator

• Cynthia Teresa García Coll, University of Puerto Rico

Panelists

• Monica M. Tsethlikai, Arizona State University

• Fantasy T. Lozada, Virginia Commonwealth University

• Richard M Lee, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

Introducer

• Jessica P. Montoro, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor