Message from the Dean

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“Discovering and cultivating innate talents, facilitating personal empowerment, and identifying hidden opportunities are foci that have guided my work and will serve as the basis of what I hope to contribute to JFKU as it assumes a leadership position in the education and training of future leaders.”
WELCOME and on behalf of my esteemed colleagues in the Graduate School of Professional Psychology at John F. Kennedy University I want to extend to you our warmest and sincerest greetings. Please know that your preference to receive your professional education and training from us is a decision we are prepared to support and embrace to the fullest extent possible. We are excited that you are here and it is our honor and privilege to have you join us in this collaborative venture.

Our faculty is among the best and the brightest and you will be challenged by them to critically examine the person-in-environment complexities of human development within the context of a world that has become increasingly multicultural. Also, you will be invited by them to push yourself to discover the research, scholarship, clinical service, consultation and social advocacy talents we believe you already possess. Further, you will learn and train with peers whose desire to pursue truth is as important as their resolve to make the world a better place in which to live. Opportunities abound to be mentored, supervised and to give back to the people whose lives you will touch in important ways by the services you will provide to them.

We look forward to joining you on this journey and promise to do all we can to help you to assume your role in the local and global community as a leader whose integrity and moral and social consciousness is well developed.

William D. Parham, Ph.D., ABPP

About the Dean...

Dr. Parham joins the John F. Kennedy University family having devoted 25 years of professional service to clinical, educational, training, administrative and organizational consultation venues. Most recently, he was the Associate Director of Clinical Services at the Student Psychological Services at UCLA where he also served as a consultant to the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics.

During his career, he has been a consultant to the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), National Football League (NFL) and the National Basketball Association (NBA), as well as other non-sport professional corporations. In his consultation practice, he also has worked with individuals, couples and families.

In the academic arena, Dr. Parham was a part-time faculty member in the Department of Psychology at Loyola Marymount University and in the School of Education at the University of Southern California. For 22 years, he also served as core faculty and on the Board of Advisors for the Premedical/Predental Enrichment Program (PREP) Program at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

The interplay between sport psychology, multiculturalism and health psychology represents the area of professional emphasis with which he has been most associated. This emphasis has been reflected in the articles and book chapters that he has authored and the numerous presentations he has given at local, regional and national conferences.

Dr. Parham is a licensed psychologist and is board certified in Counseling Psychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP). He is Chair of the Diversity Task Force at the ABPP and a member of its Board of Trustees. He also is President of the Society of Counseling Psychology (Division 17) of the American Psychological Association and a Fellow of Divisions 17, 45 and 47.