Apryl Alexander

Profile

I am the Metrolina Medical Foundation Distinguished Scholar and an Associate Professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. My research interests center on interpersonal violence, trauma, poly-victimization, trauma-informed practice, psychological and forensic assessment, sexual offending, human sexuality, cultural humility, advocacy and social justice, and popular culture.

I am actively involved in several professional organizations within psychology and related disciplines. Within the American Psychological Association (APA), I previously served on the the Police and Citizen Working Group and the Task Force on Strategies to Eradicate Racism, Discrimination, and Hate. Currently, I serve as Chair-Elect for the Board for the Advancement of Psychology in the Public Interest (BAPPI). In 2020, I was appointed as the inaugural Chair of the Racial Justice Task Force for the Colorado Psychological Association (CPA). Also, I am a fellow of the APA Minority Fellowship Program (MFP) and graduate of the APA Leadership Institute for Women in Psychology (LIWP).

Disseminating scholarship to the public is also important in my work. Much of psychological research is maintained in scholarly journals that is often behind a paywall. I have over 100 media appearances (i.e., tv, radio, podcasts) and been interviewed by several major media outlets, including The New York Times, USA Today, and NBC Nightly News, about my research and advocacy work (see below for selected media appearances). I also engage in pop culture research, which allows me to bring psychological science to broader audiences. I have presented at Denver Pop Culture Con and the Popular Culture Association conference and have previously contributed chapters in The Joker Psychology: Evil Clowns and the Women Who Love Them and Black Panther Psychology: Hidden Kingdoms.

I have also collaborated with a number of community organizations and nonprofits. I have served as a board member the Colorado Juvenile Defender Center (CJDC), the Colorado Criminal Defense Institute (CCDI), the Transformational Community Engagement and Collaboration (TCEC) Advisory Board for the Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault (CCASA) (a statewide organization providing advocacy and support to address and prevent sexual violence), and the Wisdom Keeper Advisory Committee for the WINGS Foundation (a nonprofit dedicated to assisting adult survivors of sexual abuse). In 2020, I was unanimously appointed to the Denver Citizen Oversight Board (COB) by the Denver City Council and served a two-year term. Currently, I serve on the board for Breaking Code Silence, an organization dedicated to ending the troubled teen industry. In my free time (ha!), I am working towards my master’s in nonprofit leadership (with a concentration in mission-drive operations and management) at the University of Denver.

For more information:

A. Alexander CV | Google Scholar | Personal Website

Education

• B.S. in Psychology, Virginia Tech, 2005
• M.S. in Clinical Psychology, Radford University, 2007
• M.S. in Clinical Psychology, Florida Institute of Technology, 2009
• Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology, Florida Institute of Technology, 2012

Awards & Honors

• Fellow, Association for the Prevention and Treatment of Sexual Abuse (ATSA), 2022
• 2021 Marion Langer Award, Global Alliance for Behavioral Health and Social Justice, 2022
• Distinguished Scholar Lecture for Teaching (formerly known as the G. Stanley Hall Lecture), Society for the Teaching of Psychology (STP; APA Division 2), 2022
• Dr. Sarah Burgamy APA Citizen Psychologist Award, Colorado Psychological Association, 2022
• Outstanding Teaching and Mentoring Award, The Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI), 2022
• Robin Morgan Outstanding Woman Faculty Award, DU Women’s Coalition and HerDU Conference, University of Denver, 2022
• Early Career Award for Teaching and Mentorship in the Field of Psychology and Law, American Psychology-Law Society (AP-LS), 2022
• Lorraine Williams Greene Award for Social Justice, Division 18 (Psychologists in Public Service), American Psychological Association (APA), 2021
• Michele Alexander Early Career Award for Scholarship and Service, The Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI), 2019
• Early Career Award for Outstanding Contributions to Benefit Children, Youth, and Families, Committee on Children, Youth, and Families (CYF), American Psychological Association (APA), 2019
• The Early Career Award for Outstanding Contributions to Research/Practice in the Field of Child Maltreatment, Division 37 Society for Child and Family Policy and Practice, American Psychological Association (APA), 2017
• APA Achievement Award for Early Career Psychologists, Committee on Early Career Psychologists (CECP), American Psychological Association (APA), 2017

Courses

• Social Determinants of Health (HLTH 6228)
• Health Policy & Leadership (HLTH 6213)

Recent Publications

1. Dixon, J., Caddell, T. M., Alexander, A. A., Burchett, D., Anderson, J. L., Marek, R. J., & Glassmire, D. M. (in press). Adapting assessment processes to consider cultural mistrust in forensic practices: An example with the MMPI instruments. Law and Human Behavior.
2. DePrince, A. P., Alexander, A. A., Cook, J. M., & Gudiño, O. G. (2022). A roadmap for preventing and responding to trauma: Advancing community-engaged methods. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 14(6), 948-955. https://doi.org/10.1037/tra0001159
3. Alexander, A. A., & Allo, H.⁺ (2021). Building a climate for advocacy training in professional psychology. The Counseling Psychologist, 49(7), 1070-1089. https://doi.org/10.1177/00110000211027973
4. Sower, E.⁺, & Alexander, A. A. (2021). The same dynamics, different tactics: Domestic violence during COVID-19. Violence and Gender, 8(3), 154-156. https://doi.org/10.1089/vio.2020.0066
5. Klukoff, H.⁺, Kanani, H.⁺, Gaglione, C.⁺, & Alexander, A. A. (2021). Toward an abolitionist practice of psychology: Reimagining psychology’s relationship with the criminal justice system. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 61(4), 451-469. https://doi.org/10.1177/00221678211015755
6. Alexander, A. A., McCallum, K. E., & Thompson, K. (2021). Poly-victimization among adolescents adjudicated for illegal sexual behavior: A latent class analysis. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 30(3), 347-367. https://doi.org/10.1080/10926771.2020.1774692
7. Alexander, A. A., Allo, H. ⁺, & Klukoff, H. ⁺ (2020). Sick and shut in: Incarceration during a public health crisis. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 60(5), 647-656. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022167820930556
8. Alexander, A. (2020). The politics of respectability in Luce. PopMeC Research Blog. https://popmec.hypotheses.org/2427
9. Fix, R. L. ⁺, Falligant, J. M. ⁺, & Alexander, A. A. (2020). Simulated judicial decision-making for African and European American adolescents with illegal sexual behavior: The impact of medical data and victim race/ethnicity. Behavioral Sciences & the Law, 38(1), 51-65. https://doi.org/10.1002/bsl.2431
10. Alexander, A. A. (2019). “We Don’t Do That!” Consensual non-monogamy in HBO’s Insecure. Journal of Black Sexuality and Relationships, 6(2), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1353/bsr.2019.0018
11. Alexander, A. A. (2019). Sex for all: Sex positivity and intersectionality in clinical and counseling psychology. Journal of Black Sexuality and Relationships, 6(1), 49-72. https://doi.org/10.1353/bsr.2019.0015
12. Alexander, A. A. (2019). Confluence model of sexual aggression in college males: Examining polyvictimization. Violence and Gender, 6(2), 139-141. https://doi.org/10.1089/vio.2018.0025
13. Wood, M. E., Anderson, J. L., Gillespie, M. L., Alexander, A. A., Backstrom-Sieh, T., & Glassmire, D. M. (2019). The association between specific competence-related abilities & competence treatment. The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology, 30(2), 250-269. https://doi.org/10.1080/14789949.2018.1542448
14. Danzer, G. S., Wheeler, E. M. A., Alexander, A. A., & Wasser, T. D. (2019). Competency restoration for adult defendants in different treatment environments. The Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 47(1), 68-81. https://doi.org/10.29158/JAAPL.003819-19
15. Fix, R. L. ⁺, Falligant, J. M. ⁺, Alexander, A. A., & Burkhart, B. R. (2019). Race and victim age matter: Sexual behaviors and experiences among confined African American and European American youth with sexual and nonsexual offenses. Sexual Abuse, 31(1), 50-72. https://doi.org/10.1177/1079063217720926

Selected Public Scholarship

Op-Ed:

1. Opinion: Why too few Black women and girls report sexual violence. The Colorado Sun.
2. If Black lives matter to him, Polis needs to reduce prison population. The Denver Post.
3. Opinion: Let’s find ways to protect students without placing them at additional risk. The Colorado Sun.
4. The murder of Jordan Vong and why teens shouldn’t be tried as adults. The Denver Post.
5. Legislature must ban use of ‘conversion therapy’ on our youth. Colorado Politics.

Selected Media Appearances:

• The Washington Post: Why a single slap struck so many.
• A&E True Crime Blog: Are violent juveniles doomed to become violent adults?
• The 19: ‘It’s like no one is looking for us’: How states can when women of color go missing
• Colorado Public Radio: Colorado’s criminal justice reformers say Chauvin verdict is a ‘single small step for equality.’
• NBC News: How ‘sex addiction’ has historically been used to absolve white men
• Vox.com: What you’re feeling is grief
• The Associated Press: After Trump, will the presidency recede a bit for Americans?
• USA Today: Has Twitter’s cancel culture gone too far?
• The Wall Street Journal: Joe Biden gains support with young voters amid protests
• The Pew Charitable Trust: Protests prompt policing changes, but skeptics doubt they will be enough
• The Washington Examiner: Family member abuse spikes amid coronavirus lockdown
• The New York Times: Who’s Wearing a Mask? Women, Democrats and City Dwellers
• The Associated Press: Mid-April in America is an unforgiving time, and now this
• The New York Times: When are you really an adult?