Wells MA ’96 Appointed to Behavioral Health Advisory Board

Anita Wells MA ’96, PhD, assistant professor at Morgan State University’s Department of Psychology in Baltimore, was appointed to the state’s behavioral health advisory council by the governor.

The Council was established to enhance behavioral health services in the state, with a coordinated a system of care that integrates prevention, recovery and cost-effective strategies. The council also has an advocacy component, seeking a culturally comprehensive approach to publicly funded services, including early intervention  for those with behavioral health issues and their families.

Wells, who earned her bachelor’s at Yale, her master’s in psychology at Wesleyan, and her PhD in clinical psychology at Northwestern University, joined the faculty of Morgan in 2009. Her current research is on social psychological factors associate with academic performance, focusing on social determinants of well-being and the impact of trauma and violence on student learning. She also explores the impact of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on psychosocial wellbeing in veterans and their families.

The graduate program coordinator at Morgan for the MS and PhD programs in psychometrics, Wells was selected in 2013 to be a fellow in the inaugural cohort of the National Science Foundation Opportunities for Underrepresented Scholars (NSF/OURS) Academic Leadership Certificate Program at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology, in Washington, D.C. In her Morgan State University profile, she notes that she considers leadership and service an important component of her work in academia.