Asia A. Eaton, Associate Professor of Psychology, Florida International University 

Dear SPSSI family, 

It is my great pleasure to announce that the Communications Committee, composed of Kristan Russell, Dionne Stephens, Ashley Votruba, and I, will be running a series of free social justice-themed webinars for the 2020-2021 academic year! The topics for these webinars coincide with timely SPSSI involvements, including SPSSI collaborations and publications, and with national and international political and social events.  

Webinar Series: Our first webinar, on Monday, October 19, 2020, at 7pm ET, will be on Reproductive Justice Research Methods: Challenges and Opportunities. It will feature a panel of psychological researchers and activists who contributed to the reproductive justice-themed issue of the Journal of Social Issues, including Patrick Grzanka, Yanshu Huang, and Shelly Grabe. Each scholar used different methods and samples in their empirical articles in the issue, from large, national correlational research in New Zealand (Huang) to purposeful focus groups in?the U.S.?(Grzanka) to quasi-experimental methods?in rural Nicaragua?(Grabe), all of which were directed by reproductive justice principles. Join us to learn more about what reproductive justice is and how it can guide your research questions, methods, and analyses to create bodily and health autonomy for all.   

Our second webinar, also in Fall 2020, is titled Honoring Black Women: Remembering Breonna Taylor with Social Justice Research, Activism, and Teaching. Inspired by the BLM movement and the racism pandemic, this session will focus on black women's unique experiences with police brutality, where it occurs, and how to address it. The goal is to highlight the ways in which police brutality affects Black women's well-being, and provide solutions for academicians to develop strategies that support Black women and Black Lives Matter movement overall.  

In early Spring 2021 we have the honor of coordinating a webinar on Anti-Fat and Weight Bias: Addressing Myths and Creating Justice Through Research and Policy. This webinar features a diverse panel of weight discrimination scholars, including Paula Brochu, Stephanie Campbell, Jeffrey Hunger, and Andrea LaMarre. These scholars have decades of combined experience examining the nature and effects of weight stigma, body-focused gratitude, and body diversity policies and practices. This webinar coincides with SPSSI’s founding membership in a new national coalition to end weight- and height-based discrimination. Join this webinar to better understand the devastating effects of weight and anti-fat bias on the well-being of children and adults, and learn how you can enact and advocate for weight-inclusive practices. 

Finally, in late Spring 2021 we will host our fourth webinar on Mis- and Disinformation During the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election (Spring 2020). This panel is connected to SPSSI’s Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy (ASAP) issue on the 2020 U.S. Presidential election, which will be the fifth collection in ASAP's series on U. S. Presidential elections.  

Psychology Today Blog: In addition to our webinar series, we are continuing to create awareness of social issues research, teaching, and activism through our Psychology Today blog. Are you a SPSSI member whose research, teaching, and/or interests overlap with one or more policy issues? Are you interested in expanding your repertoire and learning how to write for a non-academic audience? Please consider contributing to SPSSI's blog, Sound Science, Sound Policy, published online by Psychology Today. Recent features have focused on legal responses to nonconsensual pornography, red flag laws to restrict gun possession, and the effect of positive social relationships on financial planning for retirement. 

YouTube Series: Finally, we are continuing to produce SPSSI YouTube videos. SPSSI?invites scholars on the cutting edge of social issues research to join us in making their research broadly accessible. As part of that aim, a few carefully selected publications in?SPSSI?journals, or by SPSSI members, are being transformed into accessible and professional 2-minute YouTube videos.? 

If you are interested in making a SPSSI YouTube video or creating a blog post on the SPSSI Psychology Today blog, email the Communications Committee Chair, Dr. Asia Eaton at aeaton@fiu.edu. We especially welcome BIPOC and other underrepresented scholars to participate in these series. 

Thank you for reading, and we look forward to working with and for you this year!  

Asia Eaton (Chair) 
Kristan Russell 
Dionne Stephens 
Ashley Votruba