SCRA’s Representative on APA Council
Sara Buckingham
Term Dates
1st – Jan 2021 – Dec 2023
2nd- Jan 2024 – Dec 2026
Professional Bio
Sara Buckingham, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) and is a Licensed Psychologist. Dr. Buckingham’s research, practice, and teaching integrate community, clinical, and cultural psychology. She primarily works in UAA’s Clinical-Community Psychology PhD Program, mentoring graduate students in community-engaged research and clinical-community practice. Dr. Buckingham strives to ask and answer the questions of concern to communities and in partnership with their members. Broadly, her team’s research centers on how communities and systems shape acculturation, resilience, sense of community, and well-being among people experiencing cultural oppression, including Indigenous peoples and migrant populations. Her team uses diverse, applied methods to answer these questions and inform community action across multiple, interconnected levels – including policy work, structural interventions, and programming. You can learn more about her team at https://crossroadsresearch.wixsite.com/collective.
CP and Me
Dr. Buckingham was first introduced to community psychology when an undergraduate mentor learned of her frustrations with the limited problem definitions and resultant solutions posed by clinical psychology and suggested she check out community psychology. SCRA has been her professional home ever since. Currently Dr. Buckingham serves as SCRA’s representative on the American Psychological Association’s (APA) Council of Representatives. Council is the legislative body of APA and oversees the affairs and funds of the association, including boards, committees, divisions, and affiliated organizations. As SCRA’s representative, she participates in APA Council meetings, votes on matters before the APA, and promotes and supports initiatives of interest to SCRA. Please reach out to her with any questions, concerns, or suggestions you have regarding matters that involve the APA!