WAC Highlight: Psychology Professor & Grad Student Win with Writing Collaboration

Dr. Jeannie Golden and Sarah Hayes pose for a photo celebrating their Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) award.

Congratulations to Dr. Jeannie Golden, Psychology professor and WAG participant, and her student Sarah Hayes for their recent award from the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Board of the Association for Behavior Analysis International (ABAI). Their paper “School Psychologists Improving Equity for Students of Color: Is Applied Behavior Analysis the Answer?” won the Scholarly Contributions to DEI Paper Competition in the professional category and an invitation to present their work at the 2024 ABAI Annual Convention in Philadelphia on May 23-27!

When asked about the writing experience, Dr. Golden explained, “I feel that Ms. Hayes and I have written a paper that could act as a catalyst for making changes in the role of school psychologists in public schools. We modified the article somewhat from the one we submitted for the paper competition and titled it ‘A New Model for School Psychologists: Promoting Equity for Students of Color’ and submitted the article to School Psychology Training and Pedagogy, a journal for the training of school psychologists with the hope of encouraging school psychology programs to use this model in their training.”

Sarah Hayes was a graduate student in the School Psychology MA/SSP program at East Carolina University (ECU) who is currently working as a full-time school psychologist for Durham County Public Schools. While reflecting on writing with graduate students, Dr. Golden said, “I love writing with graduate students who are working as professionals in the field of school psychology because they inspire me and keep me motivated to continue to create and disseminate new ideas that are meaningful and important for making a difference for students in schools. Ms. Hayes plans to return to ECU in June of 2024 to pursue her PhD as a Pediatric School Psychology doctoral student.