St. John’s Psychology Professor Recognized by APA for Distinguished Contributions to Psychology in the Public Interest

St. John’s Psychology Professor Recognized by APA for Distinguished Contributions to Psychology in the Public Interest

Beverly Greene, Ph.D., recently received one of the American Psychological Association’s (APA) highest awards for Distinguished Contributions to Psychology in the Public Interest (Senior Career), at the organization’s 2009 annual convention. The award recognizes the ways her work through teaching/training, mentoring, research and publications has given voice to significantly overlooked populations in society and in psychology.

With nearly 100 publications, hundreds of presentations and over 27 national awards for remarkable work and professional papers, it’s no wonder the APA granted the dynamic 20-year veteran this prestigious award.

When asked how it feels to receive this extraordinary recognition, Dr. Greene responds: “In all honesty, it comes as a surprise.  I love my work and I am fortunate to be in this profession--the award is just icing on the cake.” Like any devoted educator, she strives to pass down her knowledge and zeal for the field to the next generation of growing clinicians.

The Senior Career honor is presented annually to a psychologist who has made remarkable contributions to the discipline that advances human welfare, shows dedication to the profession of psychology, and demonstrates excellence in identifying solutions for significant social problems in teaching, research and scholarly productions. She teaches numerous undergraduate through doctoral-level courses that emphasize cultural diversity and feminist psychology.

A Career of Service
Prior to joining the faculty at St. John’s University in 1991, Dr. Greene spent most of her years as a psychologist and Director of Inpatient Psychology at Kings County Hospital’s Child Psychiatry Division in Brooklyn, and in independent practice. It was at Kings County that she was first required to design and implement training courses for white-majority mental health professionals to understand the clinical needs of large numbers of ethnic minority clients. The increase in research and writing opportunities incited her to change gears and reconsider her work in Public Health for a career shift into the academic world.

“When I began writing for publication, I had never considered doing so and in the aftermath of completing my dissertation, it was the last thing I ever wanted to do,” reflects Dr. Greene. “It was not so much that I didn’t have the skill, I just saw it in the context of my experience doing my dissertation and thought, ‘never again’!”

According to the Psychology professor, her director at that time insisted she develop courses for the training programs and then kept urging her to write about those issues for journal publication. Her first submission was accepted in an APA journal, is an unusual occurrence.

Steadfast in her goals to narrow the bridge for minorities in the Psychology profession, Dr. Greene encourages her students to consider graduate careers in the field.  By inviting former alumni from the St. John’s doctoral program who are doing outstanding work to speak with current undergraduates, she provides a platform of engagement to discuss future research and vocational paths for interested students.

“I became more active in making professional presentations at meetings and conferences,” explains Dr. Greene. The more I presented papers, the more I was asked to write about those topics for the psychological literature. The more I wrote, the more I realized I couldn’t sustain that level of academic activity without being in a college setting.”

Since her arrival at St. John’s, the McNair Scholars mentor has received numerous University accolades including the Faculty Outstanding Achievement award. She continues to credit the University, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Dean Jeffrey Fagen and the Psychology department for their unfaltering support.
 
A Fellow of the American Psychological Association (less than four percent of APA’s 150,000 members are fellows), the Academy of Clinical Psychology and the American Orthopsychiatric Association, she also serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Feminist Family Therapy and the Journal of Women and Therapy, and is a Distinguished Reviewer for the APA’s Society for the Psychology of Women’s official journal, Psychology of Women Quarterly. She is a member of the Publications Board of the APA Division of Psychotherapy, and the Policy and Planning Board of the Association.

“It still surprises me when I go places and significant numbers of people have read my work and are affected by it,” she exclaims. “When I write I’m not aware of people in the same way they are aware of me. Of course you know some people have read what you have written but you really don’t know the impact your work has on someone else until they tell you.” 

Dr. Greene’ s latest book, What Therapists Don’t Talk about and Why: Understanding Taboos that Hurt Us and Our Clients, was  published in 2006 by the APA press and co-authored with psychologists Kenneth S. Pope and Janet L. Sonne. Her forthcoming book: A Minyan of Women: Family Dynamics, Jewish Identity and Psychotherapy Practice, co-edited with Dr. Dorith Brodbar, will be published by Routledge Press in the late spring.