Fifteen professors across the nation have received $25,000 awards from the Gail McKnight Beckman Trust for inspiring their students to make a difference in their communities. The Trust was established in 2008 by the estate of Gail McKnight Beckman in honor of her mother, Elizabeth Hurlock Beckman, who was one of the first women professors of psychology at Columbia University.
Winners of the awards must be current or former faculty members at U.S. institutions of higher education. Preference is given to those who teach in the fields of psychology, medicine, or law.
Of the 15 winners this year, 10 are women.
Jessica Henderson Daniel is an associate professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School and adjunct associate professor of clinical psychology at Boston University. She also serves as director of training in psychology at Boston Children’s Hospital. She holds a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Illinois.
Michelle Fine is a Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. She has been on the faculty there since 2002. Dr. Fine is a graduate of Brandeis University. She holds two master’s degrees and a Ph.D. in social psychology at Teachers College of Columbia University.
Elizabeth Louise Glisky is a professor of psychology at the University of Arizona. Her research focuses on memory and cognitive functions of those with Alzheimer’s disease. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Arizona.
Janet E. Helms is the Augustus Long Professor of Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology at Boston College. She has been on the faculty there since 2000. Previously, she taught at the University of Maryland. Dr. Helms holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Missouri at Kansas City. She earned a Ph.D. in counseling psychology from Iowa State University.
Marsha Marie Linehan is a professor of psychology at the University of Washington. She has been on the faculty there since 1977. She previously taught at the Catholic University of America and Loyola University of Chicago. She holds bachelor’s, master’s, and Ph.D. degrees from Loyola University of Chicago.
Layli Phillips Maparyan is an associate professor and graduate director of Women’s Studies and African American Studies at Georgia State University. Dr. Maparyan is a graduate of Spelman College in Atlanta. She holds a master’s degree from Pennsylvania State University and a Ph.D. in psychology from Temple University.
Susan H. McDaniel is the Dr. Laurie Sands Distinguished Professor of Families & Health in the departments of family medicine and psychiatry at the University of Rochester. She holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Alicia Medalia is a professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University and director of psychiatric rehabilitation at the Columbia University Medical Center. Dr. Medalia is a graduate of Tufts University. She holds a Ph.D. from the City University of New York.
Frances V. Mervyn is a professor at the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology. She has been on the faculty there since 1978. She holds a Ph.D. in psychology from Boston College
Bonnie Ruth Strickland is a professor emerita of psychology at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. A graduate of the Alabama College for Women, she earned a Ph.D. in psychology at Ohio State University. She taught at Emory University before joining the faculty at UMass. She is the former president of the American Psychological Association.