From Our President

Linda Silka, Senior Fellow, Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions; Professor Emerita, School of Economics, University of Maine

Dear SPSSI Colleague:

I hope you are looking forward to our June conference “Reenergizing Ourselves and Our Communities: Connections Across Borders and Barriers.”  Few titles could better capture what SPSSI represents in these difficult times. We are about finding connections across our differences. We are about working across borders and barriers. We are about doing research that will make a difference and ensuring that this research overcomes the barriers that often stand in the way of research leading to the changes that are needed.

It has been my great fortune in being SPSSI president this year to meet with SPSSI members doing great research, outreach, and application intended to overcome differences. This work is very inspiring. Consider just a few of the titles of sessions that will report at the conference on such work: “Whose Justice? Our Justice! Weaving Liberation Psychology with Transformative Justice”, “School-Based Participatory Action Research that Puts People and Relationships First”, “Critical Connections: Reenergizing Transformative Research Toward Liberatory Praxis”, and “Equity-Focused Approaches to Success in Research, Service, and Leadership.” So exciting.

And there are so many more! So many great sessions and discussions will be taking place. We have a responsibility as an association to spread the word about the good work that our colleagues are carrying out. I encourage you to think about all of these planned sessions as well as the work being published in our journals by your colleagues and consider how together we can get the word out about this research and application that has the potential to address important problems.

Repeatedly I hear from colleagues, friends, and family members about how discouraged they have become about the news they hear on radio, television, and on the web. Our work in SPSSI points to ways that we can address these problems and bring some possibilities of change to the forefront! I look forward to working with all of you.

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