Election 2021 Candidates
PRESIDENT (vote for 1)
Byron G. Adams, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands and
University of Johannesburg, South Africa
I am an interdisciplinary identity psychologist working at the intersection of
organizational, (cross-) cultural, social, and developmental psychology. I
examine identity primarily in non-Western contexts, cultures, and groups to
evaluate the validity and applicability of theoretical perspectives developed in
Western contexts.
I am a long-standing active member of the SSEA since 2015. I am currently
serving on the Societies Governing Council (2017 – present) and as Conference
Committee Chair (2018 – present), having served as a conference committee member
since 2016. I have also been the Africa Topic Network Co-Chair (2015 - 2017) and
Chair (2017 – 2018) and served on the Editorial Board of Emerging Adulthood
(2018 -2020).
During my term as president of the SSEA, I intend to focus on two objectives.
First, promoting and developing more cross-cultural, interdisciplinary research
collaborations between scholars of different (particularly underrepresented)
localities. Where these links already exist, it is important to highlight them
and their impact on advancing inclusive theoretical and methodological
approaches. Second, it is important to balance the society’s growth and
recognition ambitions and sustain its culture of inclusivity, egalitarianism,
and approachability. This objective could be accomplished by continually
creating opportunities for emerging scholars to develop and encouraging scholars
across different generations to engage and work together.
Carolyn McNamara Barry, Loyola University Maryland, USA
Dr. Carolyn Barry, Professor of Psychology at Loyola University Maryland, is
eager to serve as the President of the SSEA Governing Council given her
longstanding membership in SSEA since its inception. She served on the Executive
Board as Chair of the Finance Committee (2014-2015). She has attended every CEA
conference, and chaired a conference review panel on close relationships (2013).
She gave a master lecture on her meaning-making work (2015 CEA). She co-chaired
the 2017 CEA Conference. Since 2015 she has served on the Editorial Board for
Emerging Adulthood. More recently, she co-chaired the SSEA Topic Network on
Religion and Spirituality (2015-2019). In addition to her contributions to SSEA,
she is a prolific scholar on emerging adulthood (31 articles, 11 chapters, and a
co-edited book with Mona Abo-Zena on meaning-making within the OUP Series on
Emerging Adulthood), with 71 total publications to date. She also brings
university administrative and leadership expertise having chaired Loyola’s
Psychology Department, Academic Senate, Faculty Affairs Committee, and served on
Loyola’s strategic planning committee. Currently she serves as Associate Dean
for Social Sciences and Graduate Programs, where she has, among other tasks,
coordinated funding for social science undergraduate students’ research
pursuits. Utilizing her scholarly expertise, she is the lead PI on a NetVUE
grant that supports vocational development in first-year students in Loyola’s
Messina program. As President, Barry would work to strengthen SSEA’s visibility,
and bring scholars and practitioners together to increase outreach efforts that
holistically supports emerging adults around the globe.
GOVERNING COUNCIL (vote for 2)
Itzel Eguiluz, UNAM, Mexico
Since 2013 I have been involved as a reviewer and presenter for the SSEA
Conferences. In that same year, I had the opportunity of being a visiting
student with Dr Jeffrey Arnett at Clark University. I am part of the Journal
editorial board and a regular reviewer.
Regarding the SSEA, so far I have been involved in different roles. I have been
contributing to the development of the Study Abroad topic network since 2017 as
Co-chair and Chair, and during the last months relaunching the Latin American
studies network as Chair.
Today, I am a Postdoctoral Researcher at the IIEc, UNAM, the National University
in
Mexico. My research is about the health access of Venezuelan women emerging
adults in
Mexico City. Most of my work is on migration and health, and last year I
participated in an international COVID-19 project with Healthcare Workers in
which more than 22 countries convey.
I see myself contributing to the SSEA in this role through a Latin American
perspective, integrating researchers from diverse countries that usually do not
have an important representation in society. I also will be contributing from
migration studies and health perspectives to enhance qualitative studies.
I am very willing to be part of the SSEA Governing Council and will be honored
to keep working on behalf of a diverse and multidisciplinary SSEA.
Shagufa Kapadia, the M.S. University of Baroda, India
I am keenly interested in participating as a member of the SSEA Governing
Council.
SSEA has an interdisciplinary and inclusive orientation, and its encouragement
and support for non-Western scholars is particularly noteworthy.
SSEA has offered me significant opportunities to participate in its different
facets, for example, serving as a member of the editorial board of the journal
Emerging Adulthood (2016 -2019) and Founding Board membership. Recently (2021) I
received the SSEA small grants award for a study on understanding the lives of
emerging adults from an Indic cultural-developmental perspective.
I am enthusiastic to participate in the Governing Council as this would offer an
opportunity to contribute to the advancement of SSEA, particularly from an
international perspective. Although the SSEA Biennial Meetings have a fairly
good international representation, I think the reach needs to be expanded and
strengthened, especially to South and South East Asia. This will facilitate
dissemination of much good work that is underway, including action research that
is culturally grounded in the lived realities of emerging adults. I am keen on
garnering more membership from non-Western contexts and initiating
cross-cultural networks of emerging adults interested in research, teaching and
practice focusing on self and societal development.
The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for global dialogue and
collaboration across board. I would like to see SSEA as a forerunner in
initiating and fostering international collaborations among scholars with the
goal of deepening our understanding of emerging adulthood and contributing
toward enhancement of everyday lives of emerging adults across the globe.
Dalal Katsiaficas, University of Illinois Chicago, USA
I am humbled by the nomination for a potential role on the Governing
Council. I began working with the SSEA in 2014, when I served as the chair of
the Membership Committee. During my three years in this role, we were successful
in meeting our goal of sustaining and growing the society membership. In 2015, I
simultaneously held the position of North American representative to the
Emerging Scholar Committee, where for two years I helped to coordinate emerging
scholar events and communicated emerging scholar needs to the Governing Council.
Most recently I served as the Conference Chair for the 2019 Biennial Conference.
The 2019 conference program embraced the diversity of experiences of emerging
adulthood with the invited program, highlighting the voices of often
marginalized populations of emerging adults. Throughout these various roles in
the organization, my focus has been to work towards equity and social justice in
our field. As a potential member of the Governing Council, I hope to bring a
greater focus onto the centering issues of power, privilege and oppression in
our work and as a society. We are at a historical moment where emerging adults
are grappling with these pressing issues through their political discourses,
their educational pursuits as well as through their relationships, identities
and commitments to others. The SSEA holds the potential to significantly meet
this moment and I look forward to contributing to this end in meaningful ways.
Luzelle Naudé, University of the Free State, South Africa
Luzelle Naudé is a professor at the Department of Psychology, University of the
Free State, South Africa. Being committed to support young people towards
flourishing, as well as making a contribution to a diverse and humane society,
both her teaching and research endeavors are focused on late adolescent and
emerging adult development. She has a strong appreciation for the dynamics of
diversity in the multicultural milieu of South Africa and, in her research, she
explores topics such as the youth’s transformational journeys regarding self and
society and the challenges of forming an integrated identity in contexts of
change and transition.
During the past few years, my involvement in SSEA has provided me with the
opportunity to be part of a community of enthusiastic and eminent researchers,
educators, and practitioners who dedicate their leadership, time, and expertise
to advance the field of emerging adulthood. I am currently an Associate Editor
for the Journal of Emerging Adulthood, Chair of the SSEA Membership Committee,
and also serve on the 2021 Virtual Conference Programme Committee. By
participating in SSEA’s international conferences, topic networks, and scholarly
journal, I have experienced how SSEA is ideally positioned to engage with
challenges and opportunities in the lives of young people.
I support the society’s vision and, if given the opportunity, I look forward to
collaborate with the existing SSEA structures in finding ways to promote SSEA as
a multidisciplinary, truly diverse, international organization dedicated to
emerging adults across the world - a society where engaged scholars can
collaborate across disciplines and continents, to find a professional home and a
sense of community.
EMERGING SCHOLAR 2-YEAR (vote for 1)
Perry Leviss, UMASS Boston, USA
My name is Perri Leviss and I am interested in serving as an emerging scholar
representative on the SSEA Governing Council. I first joined SSEA about four
years ago when I was beginning my dissertation research about opportunity youth
and college students in Rhode Island. I was interested in better understanding
the trajectory to adulthood for marginalized young people and how an emerging
adult’s agency and other factors may help to explain their educational and
career pathways. When I found the
Society for the Study of Emerging Adulthood, I was very happy to discover a
unique space that embraced scholars from different disciplines with a focus on
this critical time period. At the fall 2019 SSEA Conference, I presented my
preliminary research and was given the Innovative Research Award for my
community engaged research that included emerging adults as a core part of my
research design, data collection, and data analysis. I would like to serve as
one of the emerging scholar representatives on the
SSEA Governing Council because I believe that my research and practice in youth
development and public policy would help strengthen SSEA’s role in national and
state policy making around education, employment, national service,
health/mental health, and other areas. Additionally, from my work with local and
national community based organizations, I would like to identify new ways to
partner with
practitioners serving emerging adults and share the scholarship of SSEA members
to improve programs.
Samuel McKay, Bordeaux France
I am very enthusiastic about the possibility of becoming the emerging scholar
representative on the SSEA council. I have been an active member of the SSEA
community since commencing my PhD in 2017. This has included presenting my
research at the last 2 SSEA international conferences, telling my counter-story
during the Toronto conference dinner, joining and leading an international
project with the study abroad topic network, along with both publishing and
reviewing papers in the Emerging Adulthood Journal. Through this experience, I
have developed a strong appreciation for both the quality of the work and the
wonderful people that make up the SSEA group, and I would relish the opportunity
to become an even more engaged member of the community. If I were to become a
member of the council, I would like to use my skills to revamp the website and
strengthen online communications, support the development of a conference in
Australia or France, and drive the creation of an SSEA summer school that
supports emerging scholars to further their skills and create strong networks
for future collaborative research. These ideas are limited by the current COVID
situation, but a revamped and streamlined online system could support the
development of such ideas in an online context until we can move back to a more
open and international world.
EMERGING SCHOLAR 4-YEAR (vote for 1)
Melissa Fenton, University of Florida, USA
I am interested in serving as an Emerging Scholar Representative for the SSEA
Governing
Council to increase my involvement in SSEA and learn about governance in
professional societies. I began my SSEA membership at the beginning of my
doctoral program in 2018. As a member, I presented at the 2019 Biennial
Conference, served as a peer reviewer for the 2019 and
2021 conferences, and hope to present at this fall’s virtual conference. I’m
looking forward to engaging with the innovative scholars in this society
virtually! I am a member of the Emerging Scholars Topic Network and benefitted
from their professional development opportunities. As a member of the governing
council, I would continue to support these opportunities for emerging scholars.
My research focuses on the transition to adulthood in the rural context with a
specific interest in substance use and mental health outcomes. I grew up in a
very rural area and recognize how my upbringing and geographic location both
provided and constrained opportunities for my development. The disparities in
access to mental health treatment and prevention and intervention programs in
rural communities is of great concern. Thus, I hope to promote scholarship
focused on contextual factors that shape emerging adult development. As the
Emerging Scholar Representative, I would recruit new scholars, support new
research paths in the applicability of emerging adulthood to different
subpopulations (e.g. rural emerging adults), and promote increasing prevention
and intervention activities tailored to emerging adult populations.
Tracy Walters, University of Connecticut, USA
I joined SSEA in 2019, shortly before beginning my PhD program. I research
sexual health among emerging adults, making the society and conference an
excellent fit. Thus far, my involvement with SSEA has been minimal and includes
submitting abstract proposals for the 2019 and 2021 conferences, attending the
2019 conference, and submitting a proposal to the 2021 Small Grants Program. I
want to be more involved, though, which is why I asked to be nominated for the
Emerging Scholar Representative position. Regarding this position, I am most
excited about the prospect of aiding in shaping new and current SSEA
initiatives, as well as assisting with planning future thematic and biennial
conferences, including selection of influential and diverse speakers. As a
developing scholar, I also look forward to possible networking and collaboration
opportunities with other emerging adulthood scholars and learning more about how
societies work. This position would provide knowledge and experience that would
benefit me in potential future positions within SSEA, such as reviewing for
conferences and (co)chairing one of the topic networks. Not only would serving
in this position benefit me, but I can also make useful contributions to SSEA.
Before returning to graduate school, I worked as a college instructor and served
on both department- and college-level recruitment committees where I helped grow
our recruitment efforts. Knowledge gained in these positions would allow me to
contribute to SSEA by helping to increase both membership and conference
attendance and, ultimately, further interest in and research of emerging adults.