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GSEP Appoints Director of Urban Initiative 

Rhonda Brinkley-Kennedy

Rhonda Brinkley-Kennedy has been named director of the Urban Initiative at the Graduate School of Education and Psychology (GSEP). Brinkley-Kennedy will begin her work at GSEP in July 2008.

Brinkley-Kennedy is currently the department chair of the doctor of clinical psychology and school psychology programs at Phillips Graduate Institute and was previously program director of the school psychology and clinical psychology programs at Alliant University.

She has worked as an advocate for the underserved populations in South Los Angeles for many years and created the South Central Training Consortium to bridge the gap between graduate level psychology programs, their students, and the needs of the community.

"It is my belief that if the education and psychology professions cannot educate the undereducated, nor facilitate the emotional, psychological, and spiritual needs of those who need it the most, then these two professions are of little use to our society," Brinkley-Kennedy comments.

Brinkley-Kennedy received her master of arts in psychology from GSEP and was honored as the Distinguished Alumna at the 2004 psychology commencement ceremony. She holds a doctorate from the California School of Professional Psychology.

"It is exciting to have Rhonda return to GSEP and join with us in this opportunity to inspire change and transform lives," says GSEP dean Margaret J. Weber.

The Urban Initiative of the Graduate School of Education and Psychology seeks to develop a national model for how to prepare professionals to work in underserved urban communities. Through the Urban Initiative GSEP will build sustainability models for partnerships between universities and urban communities, develop the necessary processes and structures for community network building, and design participatory action research methodologies that respond to community needs. As such, the initiative has the potential to redefine the relationship between universities and their urban neighbors.