About Us
History
Psychology’s Feminist Voices is a project directed by Alexandra Rutherford at York University in Toronto, Canada. She is joined on the project by Wade Pickren, at Pace University, and a dynamic group of undergraduate and graduate students who use historical, feminist, critical, and constructionist approaches to analyze the past and present experiences of women and minorities in psychology and society.
Members of the Psychology's Feminist Voices team have contributed in a wide variety of ways to the development of this website and related projects. One of our major ongoing initiatives is an oral history program, begun in 2004, to collect, preserve, and share the narratives of feminist psychologists from all over the world. Many of the psychologists featured in the Feminist Presence section of this site contributed interviews to this project. In many cases you can find their interviews at their Profile page. The Feminist Voices team also contributed to the production of the documentary The Changing Face of Feminist Psychology.
The site was launched in August of 2010 and has been officially endorsed by the Society for the Psychology of Women, Division 35 of the American Psychological Association (APA), the Society for the History of Psychology, Division 26 of the APA, and the Section on Women and Psychology of the Canadian Psychological Association.
Members
Project Directors
Alexandra Rutherford
Alexandra Rutherford is an associate professor in the History and Theory of Psychology graduate program at York University. She is also affiliated with the Women's Studies and Science and Technology Studies graduate programs. The Psychology's Feminist Voices project grew out of her interest in the women of psychology's past and the relationship between feminism and psychology over the course of the late 19th and 20th centuries. She is a fellow of the Society for the History of Psychology, the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, and the Society for the Psychology of Women, and she received the 2011 Award of Distinction from the Section on Woman and Psychology of the Canadian Psychological Association for her contributions to feminist psychology. She is the lead editor of the Handbook of International Feminisms: Perspectives on Psychology, Women, Culture, and Rights (2011; New York: Springer) which features chapters on the emergence and development of feminist psychologies in diverse geopolitical contexts.
Wade Pickren
Wade Pickren is a professor of psychology at Pace University in New York City. His research interests include the history of ethnic minorities in psychology, the role of culture and ethnicity in the shaping of psychological science and its history, and the development of indigenous psychologies. He is the historian of the American Psychological Association, the editor of History of Psychology, and was the 2010 President of the Society for the History of Psychology. He is also a feminist.
Current Project Members
Laura Ball
Laura C. Ball is a doctoral student in History and Theory of Psychology program at York University. Her primary research areas include the historical and contemporary construction of high ability (genius, giftedness), history of women in psychology, feminist psychology, history of behavioural genetics, and forensic psychology. Laura is the co-editor of the Making Herstory column in the Section for Women and Psychology newsletter, on the student editorial board for the Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, and is the treasurer/secretary for the Historical and Philosophical Psychology section of the Canadian Psychological Association.
Marissa Barnes
Marissa Barnes specializes in the history and theory of psychology. Her program of research focuses on an historical reconstruction of the concept of empathy. Additionally, Marissa is interested in the concepts of relationality, mutuality, and in the possibilities emergent in connection (or in the 'between' of interpersonal encounters). Marissa is also the current editorial assistant to the Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology and co-treasurer/secretary for the Historical and Philosophical Psychology section of the Canadian Psychological Association.
Jennifer Bazar
Jennifer Bazar is a doctoral student in the History and Theory of Psychology program at York University. Her primary research interests include the history of asylums and asylum patients in the nineteenth century, archival theory, and the history of psychological laboratories.
Teresa Beaulieu
Teresa (Tera) Beaulieu is a graduate student in the Adult Education and Counselling Psychology Program at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. Her research and academic interests include Indigenous and women's mental health, feminist identity, and feminist and Indigenous approaches to counselling and healing. Tera is the former coordinator of the Psychology's Feminist Voices oral history project.
Lori Caplan
Lori Caplan is a graduate of the Specialized Honours Psychology Program at York University. She has an active interest in the female perspective within psychology and has enjoyed studying issues related to feminist identity, gender roles, health psychology, and evolutionary psychology.
Meghan George
Meghan George received her BA in psychology from Ryerson University and is interested in pursuing graduate studies. Her research interests broadly include social psychology and the history of psychology. Meghan is new to the Psychology's Feminist Voices team and is eager to contribute to this fascinating project.
Leeat Granek
Leeat Granek earned her PhD in the History and Theory of Psychology program at York University. Her areas of expertise are in feminist critical psychology, grief and mourning, and psycho-oncology. Leeat has been involved in the Psychology's Feminist Voices project since 2005 and has conducted dozens of interviews with feminist psychologists from Canada, the United States, and Europe.
Pelin Gul
Pelin Gul is a graduate of York University, where she earned a BA Honours Psychology degree with a double major in Computer Science. She is passionate about social psychology, feminism, activist research and cross-cultural psychology. Her interests include women in science, gender equity in science and technology, women's rights, gender roles and stereotypes and violence against women.
Lisa Held
Lisa Held is a PhD student in the History and Theory area of Psychology at York University in Toronto. Her research interests include the relationship between academic psychology and popular culture, the history of women in psychology, and the social construction of psychiatric categories.
Anastasia Korostoliev
Anastasia Korostoliev earned her Bachelor's degree in psychology at York University. She is interested in gender roles, feminist identity, and psychological well-being.
Jenna MacKay
Jenna MacKay is a graduate student in applied social psychology at Carleton University. She has been interested in personal narratives for as long as she can remember. Merging her interest in feminism and psychology, the Feminist Voices project has been an exciting opportunity for Jenna to realize that history can be fun! Jenna has had particular fun transcribing interviews, writing Profiles, and interviewing feminist psychologists for the project.
Sarah Radtke
Sarah Radtke is a PhD student at Ryerson University. Her broad research interests are in the field of Evolutionary Psychology. She specializes in researching mating strategies and sexual orientation from an evolutionary perspective. She also has a major interest in primatology. Sarah is interested in the bridging the gap between evolutionary and feminist psychology and is excited to be working with the Psychology's Feminist Voices project.
Elissa Rodkey
Elissa Rodkey is a PhD candidate in York University's History and Theory of Psychology program. Her Master's thesis research was on Eleanor Gibson and the famous Visual Cliff experiment. She is interested in psychology's pre-history and philosophical origins, ecological psychology, psychology of religion, and the psychology of suffering. More specifically, her historical interests are in Ancient and Medieval psychology and the Scottish Realist-influenced mental philosophy common in early 19th century America. Elissa is the current coordinator of the Psychology's Feminist Voices project.
Kate Sheese
Kate Sheese holds a BA in Individualized Studies with a focus on women's health and an MA in the History & Theory of Psychology, both from York University. Her master's thesis explored issues of gender, community, and identity in transnational labour migration. Kate's interests include feminist and critical psychologies, sexual and reproductive health/rights, participatory action research, and fine cheeses. Kate is currently pursuing a PhD in Social/Personality psychology at The Graduate Center, City University of New York.
Florence Truong
Florence Truong
Florence Truong is a graduate of the Specialized Honours Psychology program at York University. Her interests include gender norms/identity, mathematics, neurological, and forensic psychology. She intends to pursue a postgraduate degree.
Kelli Vaughn is a doctoral student in the History and Theory of Psychology program at York University in Toronto. Her primary research areas include the history of women in psychological science, feminist psychology, social support of bereavement, and the teaching of psychology. Kelli is the past News, Notes, and Sources Editor for the History of Psychology journal and publisher of the web based Journal of Scientific Psychology as well as the former Student Notebook Editor for the APS Observer. Kelli has been and continues to be an ardent advocate for the inclusion of the history of psychology, with an accurate portrayal of the history of women, by trained psychologist-historians at all levels of psychological science education. Kelli has overseen all stages of the design, implementation, and development of this website.
Isuri Weerakkody
Isuri Weerakkody is a graduate of York University where she earned a BSc Honours Biology degree. She hopes to pursue a career in medicine and her primary research interests include women's health, psychological testing, cross-cultural psychology and mental health. Isuri is very excited to be working on the Psychology's Feminist Voices project.
Jacy Young
Jacy Young is a doctoral student in the History and Theory of Psychology Program at York University. She received her B. A. (Hons.) degree from the University of Winnipeg in 2007 for a thesis titled, "Evolutionary reductionism in historical context: Donald T. Campbell and hierarchical evolutionary theory." Her master's thesis was completed at York University under the supervision of Christopher Green in 2009. In this thesis, "Evolution, education, and eugenics: Organic selection in Progressive Era America," she investigated the historical context in which organic selection, now better known as the "Baldwin Effect," was developed and received. Her current research is on the initial use of the questionnaire in early American psychology.
Past Project Members
Max Chewinski, Sara Crann, Axelle Karera, Michelle Leve, Rokisha Lewis, Christina Maclean, Dilraj Pama, Sukhjeet Sohi, Alina Sotskova, Rachel Shour, Cynthia Shih, Tenzing Tsering
Sponsors
Psychology's Feminist Voices has been made possible by funding from the following sources:
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
Society for the Psychology of Women of the American Psychological Association (APA)
Committee on Division/APA Relations (CODAPAR) Small Grants Program
Contact Us
Inquiries about the site should be directed to Alexandra Rutherford at alexr[at]yorku.ca