Former Student Returns as Keynote Speaker

LIZ DAVIS
THE SIGNAL

The Women’s Studies program will sponsor an event on “Instersectionality and the Psychology of Gender: Pitfalls, Pleasures and Promises” March 26 at 6 p.m. in the Forest Room.

UHCL alumna Ronni Greenwood is the keynote speaker and will be followed by a panel of UHCL graduates including Genesis Grandados, Jessica Narvaez Gonzalez and Valerie Jackson, who all have experience working locally with vulnerable populations.

In 1996, Greenwood earned a master’s degree in psychology from UHCL, and then attended the City University of New York where she earned a Ph.D in social and personality in psychology. Currently, Greenwood is a lecturer of psychology at the University of Limerick in Ireland where she examines how intersectionality can predict homelessness in the country.

“Intersectionality is an important area of study because the construct is a framework under which we can study racism, sexism and heterocentric bias,” said Sharon Hall, professor and chairwoman of psychology at UHCL.

“These variables overlap in complex ways that were not studied well only a decade ago in psychology.

“Today, because of a group of researchers like Dr. Greenwood, we are more apt to recognize risk factors for poor outcomes, and perhaps, be more savvy about how to ameliorate social ills related to bias.”