Vandiver honored for research relating to ethnic minorities

KALAMAZOO, Mich.—A Western Michigan University professor was recently honored for her significant contributions in research related to ethnic minorities.

Dr. Beverly Vandiver, professor of counselor education and counseling psychology, was awarded the 2017 Distinguished Career Contribution to Research award from Division 45, Society for the Psychological Study of Culture, Ethnicity and Race of the American Psychological Association. The award honors a senior person in the field of psychology who has made significant contributions in research related to ethnic minority populations. Vandiver was presented with the award at the APA Convention Aug. 3-6 in Washington, D.C.

Prominent scholar

The primary focus of Vandiver's research is on cultural issues, with a specific emphasis on skill development, black racial identity, gender issues, and special issues of black populations. She is one of the most prominent scholars in the country on the important issues of culturally appropriate scale development and validation, race and gender identity development, and multicultural theory.

For more than 20 years, Vandiver has been the primary researcher and statistician in the creation and validation of the Cross Racial Identity Scale. Dr. William Cross originally developed the theory behind the CRIS, Nigrescence Model, in 1971. The CRIS has become one of the most widely used social identity measures employed by Division 45 scholars.

Vandiver worked extensively with Cross, who is regarded as the initial racial identity development theoretician. The model used to examine racial identity development pioneered by Cross and furthered by Vandiver is the most widely cited racial identity approach and is utilized as a framework for understanding other issues of diversity, including gender.

Vandiver's professional contributions previously have been recognized nationally. She is a founding Fellow of Division 5, Evaluation, Measurement, & Statistics of the American Psychological Association. She is also Fellow of Division 17, The Society of Counseling Psychology of the American Psychological Association. Fellow status in a division of APA recognizes outstanding and unusual contributions to the science and profession of psychology and that an individual's work has had a national impact on psychology.

For more WMU news, arts and events, visit wmich.edu/news.