The College of Arts and Sciences is investing in its Latinx studies courses by hiring nine new tenure-track faculty members. The new hires will offer courses to meet the demands of a growing Latinx Studies Minor Program, mentor undergraduate and graduate students, provide fresh perspectives in their disciplines—and more.
The US academic system only has about 2% of Latinx professors in psychology. And Blanche Wright—a new hire in the Department of Psychology—wants to change that by inspiring Latinx students in the classroom and through mentorship to hopefully become professors.
“I'm really motivated because I want to create an inclusive and supportive space for minoritized students within this ivory tower as a mentor, but also as an instructor,” Wright says. “And I think that representation is super important.”
What is your research on?
I'm interested in how to increase access and the quality of mental health services for minoritized communities, especially Latiné or Latinx children and adolescents. Some of my specialized foci are on the delivery of evidence-based therapy and increasing Latine parent participation in their child's therapy, but I'm also interested in macro-level factors, such as mental health policy and funding for evidence-based therapy.
How does your research and expertise contribute to a student’s liberal arts education?
My expertise on mental health within diverse populations and also my focus on multiculturalism can help students develop critical thinking skills about differences that may occur, or be evident in patterns between groups, especially different racial and ethnic groups and different groups that are coming from different income levels, as I tend to focus on communities from low-income backgrounds but also in differences within groups.
How do you work with students in the classroom?
Psychology is widely recognized as the study of mind and behavior, where the focus tends to be on an individual's experience or individual differences, sometimes interpersonal.
My teaching incorporates a major focus on contextual and systemic factors that influence mental health experiences. For example, structural racism is oftentimes not something discussed within clinical psychology. I try to introduce theories, models and frameworks and texts that touch upon issues like social determinants of health, organizational and system-level influences, and social-political drivers of mental health experiences.
For example, research that I would share in classes would be about how anti-immigrant policies and how that can impact access to mental health if someone doesn't feel comfortable or they feel unsafe going to systems to help them because of their documentation status. That's what I hope I would bring than other psychology professors. It's really taking more of a macro lens to the mental health experience.
Desert Island Book
It’s kind of sad and deep but Solito by Javier Zamora. It's a memoir about Javier, who immigrated from El Salvador when he was young, by himself, without his parents. And it has personal significance because I'm also Salvadorian.