Dr. Melanie Wilcox

Research Interest

• Multicultural psychotherapy and multicultural training
• Multicultural orientation
• Whiteness studies
• Racism and antiracism 
• Racial and economic inequities (e.g., health, psychotherapy, higher education)
• Student loan debt crisis 
• LGBTQIA+ issues
• Socioeconomic status and social class

Teaching Area

Psychology of Adjustment, Abnormal Psychology, Cognitive Assessment

Faculty Appointments

• Current: 
  Assistant Professor
  Department of Psychological Sciences and Institute of Public and Preventive Health
  Augusta University 

• Former: 
  Assistant Professor and Director of Doctoral Training in Counseling and Counseling Psychology 
  Oklahoma State University

• Assistant Professor and Director of Psychological Services Clinic
  Louisiana Tech University 

• Has also taught at Santa Fe College (Gainesville, FL), Sage College of Albany Graduate School of Health Sciences (Albany, NY), Siena College (Latham, NY), and University at Albany (Albany, NY). 

Professional Clinical Experience

• Licensed Psychologist, Georgia (#PSY004400), Oklahoma (#1310)
• Private Practice, Stillwater, OK
• Swanson Center for Youth, Monroe, Louisiana
• University of Florida Counseling and Wellness Center (predoctoral internship) 
• As well as previous and training experiences in community mental health, training clinics, addiction treatment programs, and college counseling. 

Selected Honors & Awards

1. 2020 Outstanding Publication of the Year Award, Society of Counseling, APA Division 17 (Society of Counseling Psychology) 
       "It Takes Money to Make Money: Inequity in Psychology Graduate Student Borrowing and Financial Stressors."

1. 2019 APA Board of Educational Affairs Cynthia D. Belar Education Advocacy Distinguished Service Award
2. 2019 Early Career Award for Distinguished Professional Contributions to Counseling Psychology, APA Division 17 (Society of Counseling Psychology)
3. 2019 Outstanding Early Career Professional Supervisor/Trainer Award by APA Division 17 Section for Supervision and Training
4. 2018 APA Early Career Achievement Award
5. 2016-2017 Louisiana Tech University Outstanding Faculty Researcher, College of Education
6. 2014 University at Albany 2013-2014 Dissertation Research Fellowship Award

Selected Leadership and Service to the Profession Roles

• Chair (2020), Member (2018 - 2020), APA Board of Educational Affairs
• Member, APA CEO Dr. Arthur Evans’ Opioid Advisory Group
• Editorial Board Member, The Counseling Psychologist
• Consulting Editor, Training and Education in Professional Psychology
• Early Career Mentor, Society of Counseling Psychology (APA Division 17) Leadership Collaborative
• Member, Society of Counseling Psychology (APA Division 17) Social Justice Leadership Task Group
• Member, BEA/APAGS Joint Work Group on Hallmarks of High-Quality Graduate Programs
• Past-Chair (2018-2019)/Member (2015-2019), Society of Counseling Psychology (APA Division 17) Early Career Professionals Committee
• Peer Reviewer, APA Guidelines for Psychological Practice with Low-Income and Economically Marginalized People

Professional Membership

• American Psychological Association
• Society of Counseling Psychology (APA Division 17)
• Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy (APA Division 29)
• Society for the Psychology of Women (APA Division 35)
• Society for the Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity (APA Division 44)
• Society for the Psychological Study of Culture, Ethnicity and Race (APA Division 45)
• Council of Counseling Psychology Training Programs (CCPTP)

Selected Publications

• Wilcox, M. M., Franks, D. N., Monceaux, C. P., Taylor, T. O., & Harris, K. (2020). Who’s multiculturally competent? Everybody and nobody: a multimethod examination. The Counseling Psychologist, 48(4), 466-497.
• Lantz [Wilcox], M. M., Pieterse, A. L., & Taylor, T. O.* (2020). A social dominance perspective on multicultural competence. Counseling Psychology Quarterly, 33(2), 142-162.
• Monceaux, C. P.*, Wilcox, M. M., & Abbott, D. (2020). The role of moral reasoning and attitudes regarding bisexuality in the development of bisexual counseling competence. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity. Advance online publication. 
• Taylor, T. O.*, Wilcox, M. M., & Monceaux, C. P.* (2020). Race and sexual orientation: an intersectional analysis and confirmatory factor analysis of the Perceptions of Police Scale in an LGB+ sample. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity. Advance online publication.
• Wilcox, M. M., Barbaro-Kukade, L., Pietrantonio, K., Franks, D. N., & Davis, B L. (2019). It takes money to make money: inequities in graduate student borrowing and financial stressors. Training and Education in Professional Psychology. Advance online publication. 

Selected Peer-Reviewed Presentations

• Wilcox, M. M. (2020, August). Attending to classism and economic marginalization in graduate psychology education. In K. Pietrantonio and A. H. Peterman (Chairs), Owning your social class privilege: Best practices for managing SES bias in training and supervision. Symposium presented at the 2020 Convention of the American Psychological Association, Washington, D.C.      
• Wilcox, M. M., Franks, D. N.*, Burish, E. C.*, Kane, T. B.*, Young, A. R.*, Azarani, M.*, Graham, R.*, & Nelson, M. E.* (2020, August). Development and initial validation of the White Fragility Scale. Poster proposal to be presented at the 2020 Convention of the American Psychological Association, Washington, D.C.
• Wilcox, M. M. (2019, August). The need for systems education in social justice training. In D. Knutson (Chair), Social justice pedagogy: Current research, training, and practice in counseling psychology programs. Symposium presented at the 2019 Convention of the American Psychological Association, Chicago, Illinois.
• Taylor, T. O.*, Bailey, T. M., & Wilcox, M. M. (2019, August). Adopting restorative justice practices in counseling psychology: a call to the profession. Poster presented at the 2019 Convention of the American Psychological Association, Chicago, Illinois. 
• Lantz [Wilcox], M. M. (2018, August). Class as a lens through which we see everything, from student-led advocacy to student loan debt. In W. R. Williams and R. M. Pickering (Chairs), Making psychology more inclusive of SES and students/professionals of lower-SES backgrounds. Symposium presented at the 2018 Convention of the American Psychological Association, San Francisco, California.
• Lantz, [Wilcox] M. M., & Black, S. W. (2018, August). Multicultural orientation as foundational to good clinical supervision. In K. W. Tao (Chair), Multicultural orientation: research, training, practice and future directions. Symposium presented at the 2018 Convention of the American Psychological Association, San Francisco, California.

Selected Invited Talks

• Wilcox, M. M. (2019, November). Understanding the Lives of Lower Socioeconomic Status Students in Higher Education. Presentation given for  the Women’s Faculty Council, Oklahoma State University.
• Wilcox, M. M. (2019, November). Multicultural Orientation as a Paradigm Shift in Multicultural Psychotherapy and Supervision. Presentation given for the Brown-Bag Series of the Clinical Psychology Program at the University of Maryland, College Park.
• Lantz [Wilcox], M. M. (2018, March). FirstGen students: Tightrope walking at the margins. Presentation given at the Washington College Inaugural First Generation College Student Summit, Chestertown, Maryland.
• Lantz [Wilcox], M. M., Cherry, M.*, & Kuhl, M.* (2017, April). Competent assessment and treatment of addiction in psychotherapy. Invited presentation given at the Southern Arkansas Regional Health Center, El Dorado, Arkansas.
• Lantz [Wilcox], M. M. (2016, June). From the WISC-IV to the WISC-V. Invited presentation and CE Workshop given at the Southern Arkansas Regional Health Center, El Dorado, Arkansas.

• Lantz [Wilcox], M. M. (2016, April). At the intersection of rural mental health and multicultural competence. Invited presentation and CE Workshop given at the Southern Arkansas Regional Health Center, El Dorado, Arkansas.