About Dr. West
Background
After completing a predoctoral internship program at the University of Notre Dame Counseling Center and Oaklawn Hospital, Dr. West received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Missouri, St. Louis in 1994. She also has completed a clinical and teaching postdoctoral fellowship at the Illinois State University's Counseling Center and Psychology Department and a National Institute of Mental Health postdoctoral research fellowship at the University of New Hampshire's Family Research Laboratory.
Dr. West is Associate Professor of Psychology in the Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences Program at the University of Washington, Tacoma (UWT). She teaches courses on Family Violence, Human Sexuality, and the Psychology of Women. In recognition of her teaching excellence, Dr. West was nominated for the 2001 UWT Distinguished Teaching Award and her biography is included in the 2002 edition of Who's Who Among American Teachers. In 2005 she was honored as the first holder of the Bartley Dobb Professorship for the Study and Prevention of Violence. This endowed Professorship will support Dr. West's research for the next three years.
Interests and accomplishments
Dr. West is an award-winning scholar and author who uses her background in Psychology, Women's Studies, and Ethnic Studies to investigate interpersonal abuse and sexual assault, with a special focus on violence in the lives of African American women. She is author of numerous book chapters, journal articles, and is editor/contributor of Violence in the Lives of Black Women: Battered, Black, and Blue, which was published by Haworth Press in 2002 (winner of the 2004 Carolyn Payton Early Career Award). In recognition of her scholarship, the University of Minnesota's Institute on Domestic Violence in the African American Community presented Dr. West with the Outstanding Researcher Award in 2000. In 2004, she was elected to Fellow status in the American Psychological Association (Division 35-Society for the Psychology of Women). Fellow status is awarded based on evidence of unusual and outstanding contribution in the field of psychology. In 2005 she was honored as the first holder of the Bartley Dobb Professorship for the Study and Prevention of Violence.
Her research has reached a national audience. Her 2003 essay, Feminism is a Black thing?: Feminist contributions to Black family life, was published by the National Urban League and presented at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. Dr. West also has given television, radio, newspaper, and magazine interviews.
Dr. West has lectured nationally and conducted workshops and presented papers at numerous conferences, including those of the American Psychological Association and the Association for Women in Psychology. She has given invited presentations and keynote addresses at universities around the country, including Harvard University, Howard University School of Divinity, and Columbia University Law School.
Dr. West has developed culturally sensitive domestic violence training material for a variety of organizations, including the Supreme Court of Ohio, Saint Louis University, and various state Coalitions Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault (Washington, Oregon, and Maryland). Her dynamic workshop on the sexual objectification of Black women in Hip Hop has been well received.
As an active professional, Dr. West has served as a grant reviewer for the National Institute of Justice and the Centers for Disease Control and as a consulting editor for several well-respected psychology journals, including Sex Roles, Psychology of Women Quarterly, and Women and Therapy. For several years (1993-1996) she served on the Implementation Collective as Women of Color Coordinator for the Association for Women in Psychology. She is currently serving as a member of the American Psychological Association Professional Affairs' Committee on Professional Practice and Standards (COPPS).
Grants and awards
- Bartley Dobb Professorship for Study and Prevention of Violence ($400,000), Sept 2005-2008
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), Research Supplement for Underrepresented Minorities Program, Grant No: 3 R01 AA012219-04S1, 2003 ($63,443)
- University of Washington, Tacoma Founder's Endowment Grant, 1998 ($5,000) and 2001 ($1,500)
- Fellow, American Psychological Association, Society for the Psychology of Women (Division 35), 2004
- Carolyn Payton Early Career Award, sponsored by Section 1 (Psychology of Black Women) of the American Psychological Association's Society for the Psychology of Women (Division 35), 2004
- Who's Who of American Women, 2004
- Who's Who Among America's Teachers, 2002 and 2004
- Outstanding Research Award in the Field of Domestic Violence in the African American Community, Institute on Domestic Violence in the African American Community, University of Minnesota, 2000
- Outstanding Young Women of America Award, 1997