Bonnie Ruth Strickland (born 1936) is known for her contributions to the psychology community. From her decades long career at

Emory University Emory University is a private research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1836 as "Emory College" by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory, Emory is the second-oldest private institution of ...

and

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, it ...

to her time as the president of the

American Psychological Association The American Psychological Association (APA) is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States, with over 133,000 members, including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants, and students. It ha ...

(APA) she has contributed a great deal to

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 ...

social psychology Social psychology is the scientific study of how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people or by social norms. Social psychologists typically explain human behavior as a result of the r ...

, and

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

. Strickland was born in 1936 in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

and spent much of her early life in the south. She later went on to graduate school in Ohio to pursue a doctorate degree in psychology. As a closeted gay woman in the 1950s and 60s, she became very interested in learning about marginalized people through research. Strickland has become an important figure for psychologists and feminists alike and continues to contribute to academia as a professor at the University of Massachusetts to this day.

Early life

Strickland was born on November 24, 1936, to Willie Whitfield and Roy Strickland in

. She later moved to

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

with her mother and brother after her parents’ separation and spent much of her childhood there. Strickland believes that growing up in the South had a major impact on her development in adolescence, and it could be considered a key inspiration for the research she has conducted during her career and her dedication to

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of ...

. At age 14, Strickland joined a softball team that played an important role in her discovery of her identity. She met other girls that reminded her of herself, and through her team members’ support, she came to terms with her lesbian identity. Following the discovery of her sexual orientation, she spent time reading the Bible and other literature on the subject which led her to believe homosexuality was a bad thing, and she resorted to remaining closeted for a long time. Strickland's high school gym teacher helped her apply to Alabama College where she was accepted. As an undergraduate at Alabama College Strickland studied and received a degree in physical education but was introduced and took interest in psychology by a professor of hers named Herbert Eber. She then went on to get a psychology doctorate degree at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

in 1962.

Psychology career

In 1965 she started the positions of psychology faculty member and active Dean of Women at

. During this time, she remained closeted, but she took part in an important psychology study that compared the mental health of homosexual and heterosexuals at the college. The data from this research showed that there wasn’t an abundance of mental illness among homosexuals. In fact, the lesbians were found to have better mental health levels than heterosexual women. Following her time at Emory, she moved on to the

University of Massachusetts, Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, i ...

in 1973. While at Emory, she created a course on lesbian psychology which attracted many students’ interests. In 1973 Strickland was a chair of the APA committee that pushed for more research on discrimination of marginalized groups. In 1987 Strickland became the seventh woman president of the APA. Additionally, she was the third ever woman president of the APA’s clinical division and has served as president of the APA's Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual division Strickland has been teaching at the

for 46 years and is now a

professor emerita ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

Accomplishments

Strickland is known for her time as president of the APA in 1987, but she has many other accomplishments of note. The APA Division 35 (Society for the Psychology of Women) issues the Strickland-Daniel Mentoring Award to recognize feminist mentoring in psychology. The award was originally known as the Bonnie Strickland Distinguished Mentoring Award but was later renamed to co-honor the award's first recipient, Jessica Henderson Daniel. In 2014, Strickland was awarded the Gold Medal Award for Life Achievement in Psychology in the Public Interest by the APA. Strickland has also written many pieces of literature related to her psychology passion. These works include The Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology, Including the Other in Psychology, and Misassumptions, Misadventures, and the Misuse of Psychology.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Strickland, Bonnie Ruth American women psychologists Emory University faculty University of Massachusetts Amherst faculty People from Louisville, Kentucky Presidents of the American Psychological Association Living people 1936 births American women academics 21st-century American women