Mass. Psychological Association Awards Professor Emeritus Steven Broder, Doctoral Student Katie Parodi
This year’s annual meeting of the Massachusetts Psychological Association (MPA) included posters, presentations, and awards for BU Wheelock faculty members and doctoral students. The MPA presented its Teacher of the Year award to Dr. Steven Broder, Clinical Associate Professor Emeritus; and awarded a poster by doctoral student Katie Parodi and Associate Professor Melissa Holt.
Also attending the conference was BU Wheelock doctoral student Anna Yerang Lee, who presented a research poster co-authored with Shinyoung Suh, Hojin Han, Seungmi Lee, and Associate Professor Kimberly Howard, titled “Mental Health Literacy Scale – Revised: What do people know about mental health?”
Dr. Broder taught at BU for 37 years before retiring in 2017. MPA’s Teacher of the Year award recognizes his outstanding service to students, to the field of psychological education and training, and to the organization itself.
Introducing Dr. Broder, MPA Conference Co-Chair Dr. Loraine Mangione cited Dr. Broder’s role in revitalizing the counseling psychology doctoral program at BU Wheelock (then Boston University School of Education). “Dr. Broder headed the effort to reorganize the program, which lead to its accreditation by the ASPPB and then was part of the group that earned the full accreditation of the American Psychological Association as a PhD program.” Dr. Mangione also noted Dr. Broder’s work as an independently practicing psychotherapist, and his contributions to multiple MPA initiatives and committees.
Accepting his award, Dr. Broder recalled a prior winner with whom he shared a certain academic affiliation: “I also love knowing that Eileen Nickerson who served as Training Director in the BU doctoral program in Counseling Psychology many years before I did, was the last person to receive the Teacher of the Year award, in 1993.”
Dr. Broder continued:
“The Babylonian Talmud sage Rabbi Chanina famously taught, ‘I have learned much from my teachers…[and]…..more from my colleagues… But I have learned more from my students.’ I have been rewarded many times over to see the excitement of students being introduced to the world of psychology as undergrads, developing insights and clinical skills as masters students and becoming independent scholars and practitioners as doctoral students and interns. I am so glad to see them represented today by Katie Parodi and Anna Lee.
Finally, I recall the memory of my mom; nine years ago, I was called out of this Annual Meeting in Waltham to learn that my mom had died. She would have been very proud to see me receive this award which now provides much happier associations to this yearly event.”
Also recognized at the MPA annual meeting was Katie Parodi, a Glenn Fellow in Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development’s Counseling Psychology PhD program. The association granted first-place honors to her research poster, entitled “Increased Understanding of the Health and Well-being of Gender Nonconforming Youth.” Parodi notes that this work was conducted with BU Wheelock’s Dr. Melissa Holt and utilized secondary data from the Dane County Youth Assessment in collaboration with Brian Koenig.
Parodi commented on both her and Dr. Broder’s awards: “Having been a student of Dr. Broder’s, it was a real joy to see him honored as MPA’s Teacher of the Year and hear his remarks at the conference. He has been a role model and inspiration in the CPAHD program.”
“It was an honor to present this poster at the annual conference alongside psychologists whose work I greatly admire and fellow trainees in the field,” Parodi said. “I am especially thankful to MPA for recognition of this research which enhances our knowledge of the mental health of gender nonconforming youth and provides important implications for school and community-based health providers.”
