Dr. Alberta M. Gloria to Join College of Education Faculty as AMUW Chair

Released: 8/7/08

[Other College of Education News]

The College of Education is pleased to welcome Dr. Alberta M. Gloria to the Counseling and Educational Psychology faculty. Dr. Gloria will serve as AMUW Women’s Chair in Humanistic Studies for 2008-2009.

Alberta M. Gloria received her doctorate in Counseling Psychology from Arizona State University. She interned at the University of California-Irvine and began her academic career at the University of Utah. Dr. Gloria joined the Department of Counseling Psychology at UW-Madison in 1996. She received tenure in 2000, was promoted to Full Professor in 2004, and is currently the Director of Training for the doctoral program. She is also an affiliate faculty member of the Chicana/o Studies Program at UW-Madison.  Dr. Gloria’s primary research interests include psychosociocultural factors for Chicanas and Chicanos and other racial and ethnic minority students in higher education.

Dr. Gloria is the Past Chair of the Section on Ethnic and Racial Diversity for Division 17 and past Latina/o Member-at-Large for Division 45 (Society for the Psychological Study of Ethnic Minority Issues). She is the Past President of Section III (Latina/Hispanic Women's Concerns) for Division 35 (Society for the Psychology of Women). She is also the past Chair of Section Chairs for Division 17 (Society for Counseling Psychology) (2005-2007). In March of 2008 she received the Outstanding Latina/o Faculty in Research/Teaching in Higher Education (Research (Institutions) from the American Assocation of Hispanics in Higher Education.

During her tenure as Chair, Dr. Gloria will have two primary responsibilities: teaching one course per term and delivering The Eleanor H. Boheim Distinguished Lecture in the Humanities. The Chair serves as a role model for the University community and is a visible presence on campus, interacting with students and colleagues outside the classroom.

During the fall 2008 term, Dr. Gloria will lead a seminar entitled

Latin@s in Higher Education Research. The seminar will examine psychosociocultural issues and considerations of Latin@s in higher education. Students will engage in discussion about theory, research, and practice issues related to Latin@ students' educational adjustment and persistence. Students will co-develop a mixed-method research project exploring aspects of coping, social support, and ethnic identity and/or participate on an ongoing research project for Latin@ students in higher education.

The AMUW Chair was initially established in 1963 as a lectureship by the Association of Marquette University Women and fully endowed in 1989 to support a semester or academic year appointment. The purpose of the Chair is to “help the University celebrate the humanities and the role of women in higher education” by bringing to campus “outstanding women scholars” who are distinguished teachers and researchers.

Previous Chairs have included Mary Burgan, formerly chair of the English Department at Indiana University who recently retired as Executive Secretary of the AAUP, A. Manette Ansay, a prominent author and professor of creative writing, Janine Geske, a former justice on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, and Judith Mayotte, an internationally renowned peace activist. Dr. Gloria will replace the 2007-2008 Chair, Dr. Ruth Lorand of the university of Haifia, a philosopher who specializes in aesthetics.