Committed to Collaboration
Psychology
Rheeda L. Walker
Title: Assistant Professor, Psychology, University of South Carolina
Education: Ph.D., Psychology, Florida State University; M.S., Psychology, Florida State University; B.A., Psychology, University of Georgia
Age: 32
Accepting a position as an assistant professor of psychology at the University of South Carolina in 2002 was not just a coup for Dr. Rheeda Walker, but for her extended family as well.
“Most of my family is in South Carolina,” Walker says, “so I have aunts and uncles who are proud to have a niece at the flagship institution — an institution that they could not even attend.”
The long history of African-Americans succeeding and thriving despite the realities of racism in the United States is at the center of Walker’s research on Black mental health and suicide. Specifically, she investigates the social and cultural factors that account for the historically low rate of suicide among African-Americans. Walker also studies the recent increase in suicides among Black men, a particularly timely focus in light of the recent apparent suicide of James Dungy, the 18-year-old son of NFL head coach Tony Dungy.
According to Walker, the statistics on Black suicide rates have been available for years, but there has been very little theoretical and empirical work to provide an understanding of the numbers and to help prevent such deaths. She noticed the void in graduate school and decided to pursue the topic for her dissertation.
