Honoring the Past: Psychology of Black Women Foremothers
Friday, October 2nd
12:15 PM - 1:15 PM EST
Martha E. Banks, Ph.D.
Martha E. Banks, Ph.D., is a retired clinical and research neuropsychologist and a former professor at The College of Wooster and Kent State University. She is a graduate of Brown University and the University of Rhode Island. Dr. Banks’ primary research is on traumatic brain injuries sustained by victims of intimate partner violence. She is known internationally as an expert on Women with Disabilities and has edited professional books that give voice to marginalized people who have been silenced. Dr. Banks was the 2008-2009 President of the Society for the Psychology of Women. She was the recipient of an American Psychological Association (APA) Presidential Citation in 2008 and two Presidential Citations from the Society for the Psychology of Women. She was honored with an Elder Award at the 2019 National Multicultural Conference and Summit and the 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award from the APA Division of Rehabilitation Psychology. Dr. Banks’ scholarly activities include over 300 presentations, and 125 professional publications on women, trauma, and health care. In addition to her scholarship, Dr. Banks has been recognized for her leadership and mentorship of others, receiving two alumni awards from the University of Rhode Island, a Distinguished Leadership Award from the APA Committee on Women in Psychology, and a Heritage Award from the Society for the Psychology of Women. More recently, Dr. Banks’ commitment to healing in church-based communities has resulted in her engaging in many roles within the United Methodist Church organizational structure. As a Certified Lay Speaker, she preaches about domestic violence and, since 2017, has led BeADisciple courses on faith communities’ responses to intimate partner violence. Her disability advocacy continues as she is a resource person for the United Methodist Disability Committee and a member of the Ohio Disability & Ministry Collaborative. She is the current chair of the East Ohio Commission on Religion and Race, and has served as a member of the East Ohio Strengthening the Black Church for the 21st Century Implementation Team, Canal and Northern Waters District Committees on Ordained Ministry, and as Social Action Chair for the Canal District United Methodist Women. Through her church-based affiliations, Dr. Banks’ social justice advocacy has extended to other parts of the world. She currently serves as a Board of Directors member of the United Methodist General Board of Church and Society and member of the United Methodists for Kairos Response steering committee. In 2012, she participated in an international African Heritage delegation to provide witness to the oppression of Palestine. Dr Banks served as the 2020-2021 Dean of the East Ohio United Methodist Women’s Mission u and as elected delegate to the 2016, 2019, and 2024 General and North Central Jurisdictional UMC Conferences. Her service to the East Ohio Annual Conference of the UMC was recognized with the 2014 CORR-ageous Leadership Laity Award, the 2016 Bishop James S. Thomas Leadership Award, and as the 2017 Black Methodists for Church Renewal Chairman’s Honoree.
Dr. Banks is instructed by Isaiah 42 and assigned by Matthew 25.
Vickie Mays, Ph.D.
Vickie Mays is a Professor in the Department of Psychology in the College of Letters and Sciences, as well as a Professor in the Department of Health Services. Professor Mays is also the Director of the UCLA Center on Research, Education, Training and Strategic Communication on Minority Health Disparities (www.MinorityHealthDisparities.org). She teaches courses on health status and health behaviors of racial and ethnic minority groups, research ethics in biomedical and behavioral research in racial/ethnic minority populations, research methods in minority research, as well as courses on social determinants of mental disorders and psychopathology. She holds a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology and an M.S.P.H. in Health Services, with postdoctoral training in psychiatric epidemiology, survey research as it applies to ethnic minorities (University of Michigan) and health policy (RAND).
Professor Mays' research primarily focuses on the mental and physical health disparities affecting racial and ethnic minority populations. She has a long history of research and policy development in the area of contextual factors that surrounding HIV/AIDS in racial and ethnic minorities. This work ranges from looking at barriers to education and services to understanding racial-based immunological differences that may contribute to health outcome disparities. Other areas of research include looking at the role of perceived and actual discrimination on mental and physical health outcomes, particularly as these factors impact downstream disease outcomes. Her mental health research examines availability, access and quality of mental health services for racial, ethnic and sexual minorities. She is the Co-PI of the California Quality of Life Survey, a population based study of over 2,200 Californians on the prevalence of mental health disorders and the contextual factors associated with those disorders.
Dr. Mays has provided testimony to a number of Congressional committees on her HIV, mental health and health disparities research findings. She recently completed a term as the Chair of the Subcommittee on Populations of the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics. There she helped develop a report on the role of data collection in the reducing health disparities associated with race, ethnicity, and primary language. She has received a number of awards including one for her lifetime research on women and HIV from AMFAR, a Women and Leadership Award from the American Psychological Association and several Distinguished Contributions for Research awards.
Pamela Trotman Reid, Ph.D.
Pamela Trotman Reid, Ph.D., Senior Scholar for the Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute for Child and Family Development at Wayne State University, is also President Emerita of University of Saint Joseph (USJ) in Connecticut where she served as president for nearly eight years. She has a broad and successful background in higher education with more than thirty years of progressively responsible management assignments, experience as a professor and researcher, in addition to community service, and engagement in organizations devoted to the advancement of psychology, women and girls.
Dr. Reid has served at a variety of public and private institutions progressing from assistant to full professor. She held faculty positions in psychology, education, and women’s studies at the University of Michigan, City University of New York's Graduate School, Howard University, among others. Her administrative positions included department chairperson at UT Chattanooga, associate provost at CUNY, executive vice president and provost at Roosevelt University, and president at the University of Saint Joseph.
After assuming the presidency in January 2008, Dr. Reid built upon the College of Saint Joseph’s academic excellence and its commitment to integrity, women’s leadership, and service, graduatlly establishing its university status. Her 8 years of administrative successes included record setting fundraising efforts and enhanced statewide recognition in media and government venues. She initiated and successfully launched the University’s first professional doctoral program by creating a School of Pharmacy, Connecticut’s first private school of pharmacy. A doctoral program in Nursing Practice and the Master of Social Work were begun under her leadership, as well as undergraduate programs in Public Health, Public Policy and Advocacy.
Dr. Reid’s commitment to the community earned numerous honors, including being named Northeastern Economic Development Association’s Higher Education Person of the Year. Her service on multiple civic and cultural boards in the Greater Hartford area included an appointment by CT Governor Malloy to the Capital Region Development Authority, and chairmanship of the executive committees of the Connecticut Conference of Independent Colleges and the Hartford Consortium for Higher Education. At the national level she served on the board of National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU), the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) Presidents Council for Division III. She most recently served on the American Psychological Association’s Publications and Communications Board and is actively engaged in the Michigan chapter of the International Women’s Forum (IWF).
A developmental psychologist, Pam Reid is nationally-known as a scholar in the area of gender and racial socialization. A Fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA), a past President of the APA Society for the Psychology of Women. Named among the 100 Distinguished Women in Psychology, she has received national awards for leadership, scholarship, and publications. Dr. Reid holds a B.S. from Howard University, an M.A. from Temple University, and a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. She is married to Dr. Irvin D. Reid, Distinguished Professor and President Emeritus of Wayne State University in Detroit.
They have two adult children and three grandchildren.
Veronica G. Thomas, Ph.D.
Veronica G. Thomas, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Department of Human Development and Psychoeducational Studies at Howard University. She also serves as Director of Evaluation and Continuous Improvement for the Georgetown-Howard Universities Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences (GHUCCTS). Dr. Thomas’s research interests include positive aging in adulthood and later life, culturally responsive evaluation, and the physical and psychological well-being of Black families, with particular emphasis on women and girls. Her work has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Department of Education, and the Women’s College Coalition, among others. She is co-author of two graduate textbooks: the award-winning Evaluation in Today’s World: Respecting Diversity, Improving Quality, and Promoting Usability (SAGE, 2021) and Health Program Evaluation: Using a Culturally Responsive, Racialized, and Equity Perspective (SAGE, 2027). She is also the author or co-author of numerous journal articles, book chapters, and other scholarly and public-facing works.
