Janis Sanchez-Hucles is an American psychologist and professor emerita at Old Dominion University. She was appointed chair of its psychology department in 2006.

Biography

The eldest of six children, Janis Sanchez-Hucles was born 1951 in New York state. Her father's side of the family is Cuban-Caribbean American, her mother's from the Southern United States. She is married to Michael Hucles, grandson of coach

Henry B. Hucles Henry Boyd Hucles Jr. (November 11, 1897 – September 11, 1979) was an American football, basketball, and baseball coach and college Sport management, athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Virginia Union University from ...

. While pursuing her doctorate at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Sanchez-Hucles developed a curiosity for and awareness about different racial groups' relationships with the field of psychology. This would later serve to inform her dedication to making the field of psychology more available to and more able to serve ethnic minorities. As a professor of psychology at Old Dominion University, she also served as department chair until she retired.

Education

Sanchez-Hucles earned her BA in psychology from

Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the earliest coeduca ...

in 1973 and her MS at Purdue University in 1975. She went on to earn her PhD in

clinical psychology Clinical psychology is an integration of social science, theory, and clinical knowledge for the purpose of understanding, preventing, and relieving psychologically based distress or dysfunction and to promote subjective well-being and persona ...

at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she was the second person of color to do so.

Academic work

Apart from her work as a professor emerita and chairperson at Old Dominion, Sanchez-Hucles has been committed in her work to making psychology more accessible to ethnic minorities. In doing so she served on a Task Force of Division 35 at the American Psychological Association, the Task Force on Women, Poverty, and Public Assistance. It explored the needs of women who are ethnic minorities. Though she has said she was at first intimidated, she credits

Pamela Trotman Reid Pamela Trotman Reid is an American developmental psychologist, former professor, and president emerita of the University of Saint Joseph. Biography Pamela Trotman Reid grew up in Brooklyn and Queens, New York. She has said what she loved most w ...

with pushing her to start a task force. In 2003 the APA gave Sanchez-Hucles a Distinguished Contributions to Service Award for her dedication to her work representing and serving Division 45 (Society for the psychology study of ethnic minority issues).

Research and publications

The topics of Sanchez-Hucles's research broadly involve women, especially women of color, and the subject of race. In her article, ''Women and women of color in leadership: complexity, identity, and intersectionality'', Sanchez-Hucles explores ways in which gender and race impact women in leadership positions. Though different in the challenges they face, the article notes that white women and women of color face stereotypes and other challenges that have to do with the intersection of their identities. Sanchez-Hucles also wrote ''First Sessions with African-American Clients: A Step by Step Guide'', a guide for therapists to help them practice strategies, such as cultural competence and being aware of their own biases, to retain African American clientele. The book somewhat mirrors some ideas from many of her other works, such as ''Staying The Course: Psychotherapy In The African-American Community''. It seeks to address some of the important strategies that will allow therapists to better serve Black clients with culturally sensitivity and awareness.

Selected works

*Sanchez-Hucles, J. V. & Davis, D. D. (2010). Women and women of color in leadership: Complexity, identity, and intersectionality. American Psychologist, 65, 171–181. *Sanchez-Hucles, J. (2008). Trauma and recovery in its cultural context. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 32, 223–224. *Sanchez-Hucles, J. & Gamble, K. K. (2006). Trauma in the lives of girls and women. In C. Goodheart & J. Worell (Eds.), Handbook of girl's and women's psychological health (pp. 103–112). New York: Oxford University Press. *Chin, J. L., Lott, B., Rice, J. & Sanchez-Hucles, J. (Eds.).(2007). Women and leadership:Transforming visions and diverse voices. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers. *Sanchez-Hucles, J. & Jones, N. (2005). Breaking the silence around race in training, practice, and research. The Counseling Psychologist, 33, 547–558. *Sanchez-Hucles, J. V. (2000). The first session with African-Americans: A step-by-step guide. San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass.

References

External links

PSU Vanguard reference to Black therapists
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanchez-Hucles, Janis 1951 births 21st-century American psychologists Swarthmore College alumni University of North Carolina alumni Old Dominion University faculty Living people 20th-century American psychologists