Apryl Alexander

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Profile

I am the Metrolina Distinguished Scholar in Health and Policy 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, culturally responsive practice, 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 Police and Citizen Working Group and the Task Force on Strategies to Eradicate Racism, Discrimination, and Hate. I serve as Chair of the Board for the Advancement of Psychology in the Public Interest (BAPPI). In 2020, I was appointed 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 a graduate of the APA Leadership Institute for Women in Psychology (LIWP).

Disseminating scholarship to the public is also important in my work. Much psychological research is maintained in scholarly journals often behind a paywall. I have over 100 media appearances (i.e., tv, radio, podcasts) and have been interviewed by several major media outlets, including Essence, 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 previously contributed chapters to Spider-Man Psychology: Untangling Webs, After Midnight: Watchmen after Watchmen, 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 of 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. I serve on the board for Psychology for All, a nonprofit dedicated to eliminating barriers to mental health care in the Charlotte metro region, and Envision: You, a nonprofit dedicated to eliminating mental health disparities for LGBTQ+ Coloradans. In my free time (ha!), I am working towards my master’s in nonprofit leadership (with a concentration in mission-driven 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

  • Dalmas A. Taylor Distinguished Contributions Award, APA Minority Fellowship Program, 2023
  • Evelyn Hooker Award for Distinguished Contribution by an Ally, Society for the Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity (APA Division 44), 2023
  • Presidential Citation, American Psychological Association (APA), 2022
  • 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)
  • Health Policy Development (HADM 6142/PPOL 8000)

Recent Publications

  1. Alexander, A. A., Sower, E., Klukoff, H., Allo, H., & Mendoza, S. (in press). Childhood polyvictimization as a predictor of psychopathic personality traits in women. Violence and Gender.
  2. Alexander, A. A., Falligant, J., Marchi, C., Floding, E., & Jennings, M. (2023). Sex offender registration and notification act with adolescents adjudicated for illegal sexual behavior: A therapeutic jurisprudence perspective. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 14. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1160922
  3. Sower, E., Alexander, A. A., & Klukoff, H. (2023). Public perceptions of castle doctrine and stand your ground cases: Effects of defendant gender. Social Sciences Quarterly, 104(2), 69-80. https://doi.org/10.1111/ssqu.13258
  4. Dixon, J., Caddell, T. M., Alexander, A. A., Burchett, D., Anderson, J. L., Marek, R. J., & Glassmire, D. M. (2023). Adapting assessment processes to consider cultural mistrust in forensic practices: An example with the MMPI instruments. Law and Human Behavior, 47(1), 292-306. https://doi.org/10.1037/lhb0000504
  5. 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
  6. 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
  7. 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
  8. 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
  9. 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
  10. 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
  11. Alexander, A. (2020). The politics of respectability in Luce. PopMeC Research Blog. https://popmec.hypotheses.org/2427
  12. 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
  13. 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
  14. 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
  15. 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
  16. 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
  17. 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
  18. 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: