TOPIC NETWORKS
Topic Networks
The goal of the Topic
Networks is to bring together SSEA members
who have common interests in a specific area
of emerging adulthood research or practice.
The activities of the Topic Networks will
depend on the ideas of the members, but may
include, for example, sharing draft
manuscripts for comments and suggestions;
collaborating on papers and grants; sharing
best practices for direct work with emerging
adults; letting members know about important
recent articles; collaborating on symposia
to submit to an SSEA conference; or working
together to organize a preconference
session.
If you would like to join any of the Topic
Networks below, please contact the SSEA
Coordinator,
coordinator@ssea.org. You may join as
many as you like. We also welcome your ideas
for more Topic Networks. Please note that
YOU MUST BE AN SSEA MEMBER
to join a Topic Network.
| Topic Network | Chair | Affiliation | Emerging Scholar Co-Chair | Affiliation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anti-Racism and Social Justice | Shirley Leyro | CUNY | Kameelah M. Mu'Min | Muslim Wellness Foundation |
| Identity Issues | Margarita Azmitia | University of California at Santa Cruz | TBD | TBD |
| Parents and Family | Cliff McKinney | Mississippi State University | Melanie Stearns | Mississippi State University |
| Mental Health | Larry Forthun | University of Florida | Andrew Hunt | Case Western Reserve U |
| Finance | Jinhee Kim | University of Maryland | Ashley LeBaron | University of Arizona |
| Study Abroad | Claire Lyons | James Madison University | Itzel Eguiliz | TBD |
| Work and Career | Jose Domene | University of Calgary | Jennifer Symonds | University College Dublin |
| Media Uses | Samuel Ehrenreich | University of Nevada | Kaitlyn Burnell | University of Nevada |
| Substance Use and Abuse | Laura Holt; Adam Rogers | Trinity College; BYU | Olivia Diggs | Iowa State University |
| Sexuality | Spencer Olmstead | University at Tennessee, Knoxville | Kristin Anders | Kansas State University |
| Prevention and Intervention | Filomena Sabatella | ZHAW, Switzerland | Ina Koning | Utrecht University, Netherlands |
| Romantic Relationships | Brian Willoughby | Brigham Young University | Scott Sibley | Northern Illinois University |
| Aging Out of Care | Varda Mann-Feder | Concordia University | TBD | TBD |
| Religion and Spirituality | Ofra Mayseless | University of Haifa |
Meredith Hope | University of Michigan |
| Student Affairs/College Student Development | Joseph Murray | Bucknell University | Jarrett Warshaw | University of Georgia |
| Health Promotion | Joe Malone | Middle Tennessee State University | Amber Dorsey | Middle Tennessee State University |
| Emerging Scholar | Shannon Claxton | Morningside College | Angela Sorgente | Catholic University |
| Friendships | Meliksah Demir | Northern Arizona University | Ayça Özen | TOBB Ekonomi ve Teknoloji Universitesi, Ankara, Turkey |
| Emerging Adulthood among Latin Americans | Itzel Eguiluz | Instituto Universitario de Investigacion Ortega y Gasset | Luciana Dutra-Thomé | Federal University of Bahia |
Topic Network News
November 2020
New Anti-Racism and Social Justice TN
The murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd have marked
2020 as the year when social injustices, inequities, white supremacy, and racism
can no longer be denied or ignored. The disproportionate deaths of Blacks and
other people of color due to the COVID-19 pandemic crisis have underscored that
our society is founded on oppressive systems that lead to discrimination,
marginalization, repression, and death. For those of us who have studied these
issues and advocated on behalf of the communities that have been historically
subjected to - and harmed by - systemic injustice, we welcome all members of the
SSEA to join us in the fight for equity and social justice. As Chairs of this
newly created Anti-Racism and Social Justice Topic Network, we are thrilled to
help the SSEA launch this working group.
Our objective is to increase the awareness, knowledge and skill-set of the
membership on matters of race, social justice, and anti-racism. Specifically,
understanding the impact of white supremacy, systemic racism, and oppression on
both those who are privileged and those who are marginalized. One major goal as
it relates to the SSEA membership is to highlight the importance of cultural
competency - and cultural humility - of those who are working with emerging
adults. Cultural humility refers to recognizing our positionality in terms of
our personal identities and lived experiences (such as privilege) and how these
influence our perceptions and treatment of the communities with whom we
interact.
While we have ambitious aims, we also want to be realistic as to the objectives
we hope to achieve during our inaugural term. These objectives include the
following:
-Create a listserv to share news about meetings, webinars, and other relevant,
social
justice related events and tools
-Host a webinar on racism, social justice and emerging adulthood
-Organize a pre conference meeting for the 2021 Annual Meeting (hopefully we'll
all
meet in person in San Diego!)
-Develop a hub of relevant materials that can be shared group-wide
Via these activities, we hope to not only provide the membership with valuable
resources, but establish an open, nurturing community of scholars as well. We
understand that for some, speaking about white supremacy, racism, and the
oppressive systems that have been created to support these constructs is a very
uncomfortable endeavor. Further, we acknowledge that there might be a reticence
on behalf of some to engage in these dialectical exercises. We strongly
encourage everyone to embrace this discomfort - to push themselves to have
difficult conversations. We can do this together!
If you would like to join us in our fight for equity and social justice, and
you'd like to be part of the newly created Anti-Racism and Social Justice Topic
Network, please log into your membership portal and under your "Membership" tab,
click on "Group Participation" and check off the groups you'd like to be
involved in.
In solidarity,
Shirley Leyro, Ph.D., and Kameelah M. Mu'Min, Psy.D
Chair and Co-Chair, Anti-Racist and Social Justice Topic Network
Dr. Shirley Leyro is an Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice at Borough
of Manhattan Community College-CUNY (“BMCC”). She was awarded the 2020
Teaching Award by the American Society of Criminology's Division of People
of Color and Crime - the first time the award was given since 2016. A
critical criminologist, Dr. Leyro’s primary research focus is on immigration
enforcement and the effects of deportation on non-citizens and their
communities. In particular, she studies the impact of fear resulting from
the vulnerability to deportation. Her research interests include
immigration, deportation, social disorganization, crimmigration, and the
impact of all the above on mental health. Professor Leyro is currently
working on publishing the results from her (funded) research project
exploring the impact of deportability on belonging and membership of CUNY
noncitizen students (“CUNY Belonging Study”).
As a professor in the Criminal Justice Program at BMCC, Dr. Leyro has also
conducted scholarly research and published on the roles victimization and
contact with the criminal justice system plays as motivations for becoming a
criminal justice major and choosing criminal justice as a career. She has a
blog: The Accidental Académica: A Blog About This Latinx’s Struggles as I
Navigate the Halls of the Ivory Tower, and is also a member of the
Leadership Team for the Latina Researchers Network. Dr. Leyro is a certified
Mental Health First Aid instructor and is also part of the social media
campaign: #thisiswhataprofessorlookslike. She is a co-editor of the book,
“Outside Justice: Immigration and the Criminalizing Impact of Changing
Policy and Practice.”
Kameelah Mu’Min Rashad, PsyD, is the Founder and President of Muslim Wellness Foundation (MWF), which promotes healing and emotional well-being in the American Muslim community through dialogue, education and training; through it, she established the annual Black Muslim Psychology Conference and the Deeply Rooted Emerging Leaders Fellowship for Black Muslim young adults. She is the founding co-Director of the National Black Muslim COVID Coalition, an initiative launched in collaboration with Muslim Anti-Racism Collaborative to address need for effective planning, preparedness and organizing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Rashad, who previously served as University of Pennsylvania’s Muslim chaplain, now serves as the Fellow for Spirituality, Wellness and Social Justice and advises the Black Muslim student organization. Dr. Rashad’s clinical and research areas of interest include: diversity, religious identity and multicultural issues in counseling, healing justice and faith based activism, racial trauma and healing, psychological impact of anti-Muslim bigotry and anti-Blackness, and Black Muslim intersectional invisibility. Dr. Rashad earned her BA and MEd from the University of Pennsylvania, MRP in Restorative Practices & Youth Counseling from the International Institute for Restorative Practices, and earned her doctorate in Clinical Psychology at Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia, PA.
December 2017
Substance Use
The Substance Use network collaborated with the Prevention Network to
present a a pre-conference Prevention Intervention Workshop at SSEA and to
present a roundtable at SPR's annual meeting. Members of the topic network
presented a symposium at the 2017 meeting of the SSEA, and we got together in a
informal gathering at the meeting. The big news is that we have a new chair,
Laura Holt, who is an associate professor at Trinity College.
