Judith A. Kent, Ph.D.
Title:
Associate Professor
B.A. Psychology, M.A. Psychology, Community Psychology doctoral program
Areas of Expertise:
community psychology, language and identity, multiculturalism, intercultural communication
Biography:
Judith Kent’s area of research is language and identity, in which she combines her passion for community psychology and language and culture. Her doctoral dissertation was a quantitative study of ethnic identity, aspects of personal identity, and bilingual proficiency in Spanish and English among Latino emerging adults. She is currently pursuing one of the major findings of the study, the significant predictive value of self-reported Spanish proficiency in ethnic identity. She hopes to apply her research findings to the persistence through higher education of underrepresented students.
International community psychology is another of Kent’s interests, and she is currently engaged in collaboration with colleagues in Florence, Italy, where she had lived and worked for seven years prior to joining National Louis University in 1990. Kent has a background in language instruction and has taught French, English as a foreign language, and English as a second language. She has both bachelors and masters degrees in French from Indiana University, Bloomington, and University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, respectively. She earned her doctorate in community psychology from National Louis. Kent is full-time psychology faculty at NLU.
Work in the community is also integral to Kent’s professional life. She has been affiliated with Pilsen Neighbors Community Council (PNCC) of Gamaliel of Metro Chicago (GMC) for the past seven years. She co-chairs the University Round Table (URT) of PNCC/GMC and is currently working on the development of P.A.T.H. (Pursue, Achieve, Transform through Higher Education), a family college and career readiness program of the URT. In addition to her community affiliations, Kent’s professional memberships include the Society for Community Action and Research, Division 27 of the American Psychological Association; and Society for the Psychological Study of Culture, Ethnicity, and Race, Division 45 of the American Psychological Association.
Education:
B.A. French, Indiana University, Bloomington
M.A. French, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Ph.D. Community Psychology, National Louis University, Chicago
Research and Interests:
bilingual proficiency and identity among emerging adult minority groups, community-based program development and evaluation, international community psychology, intercultural communication
Contact Information:
jakent@nl.edu
312 261 3535
