The faculty and staff of the Queens College Division of Education recognizes Sherri Proctor as its new faculty member in Educational and Community Programs. Proctor arrives at QC attaining an invitation to become an Early Career Scholar and represent the DOE at the School of Psychology Research Collaboration Conference being held February 20th and 21st in San Francisco, CA. It is with great esteem that Proctor sees this as an opportunity to interact with fellow experienced scholars and bring to the forefront multiculturalism. Specifically, as it relates to her commitment to recruiting and retaining students of color in school psychology programs at the undergraduate level.
Proctor’s interest in psychology began during her time as an undergraduate student at Spellman College in Atlanta, GA. Towards her junior year she began taking introductory to psychology classes. It was when the class moved towards the study of child development that she gained an intense interest in studying the development of children. “I had always liked children, I thought I wanted to be an English teacher. But, I realized that I really liked something about psychology and the meshing of child development,” reveals Proctor. After graduating from Spellman in 1996, she went on to receive her Masters degree in Psychology and Specialist in Education Certification at the University of South Florida.
With a strong educational foundation in child development, Proctor employed her knowledge in skills within the Philadelphia Public School system as a school psychologist. Within that time, she took some time focus on her family. During her family adjustment, Proctor never lost focus of her goals to pursuing her education further and creating a better standard for minorities. “What I saw within Philadelphia public schools [I worked primarily with minority students, African American and Latino children] I felt the service delivery needed to be more multi-culturally competent. People needed to be more knowledge on how to work with a more diverse population of children.”
After obtaining her PhD in School Psychology from Georgia State University in 2009, Proctor was drawn to Queens College by doing a national search where she interviewed with various universities across the country. However, it was when she arrived on the QC campus that she knew she found a home. “When I came to the QC campus it was something really warm and supportive. My experience interviewing here was one of those experiences where if I received a job offer, I would accept it!”
