University of Houston-Downtown faculty members are frequently featured in local and national media. They're interviewed by journalists on a range of topics affecting our community. It's not every day, however, that faculty engage in Q&A sessions with their peers.

Recently, Dr. Stacie Craft DeFreitas, Associate Professor of Psychology, sat down with colleague Dr. Chuck Jackson, Associate Professor of English for a one-on-one. DeFreitas is the featured faculty member in the 2020 Center for Critical Race Studies Fellow Spotlight. Each year, the Center selects one of its Fellows for a conversation on their work and recent scholarly activities. Among DeFreitas' many recent accomplishments was the publication of her book "African American Psychology."

"I found that many of my students were selecting topics for their papers in African American psychology were really depressing," DeFreitas told UHD News in an interview earlier this year. "They were all focusing on problems and no one was examining strengths, resilience and positive aspects of the African American community. I believed that by having a text with a positive perspective, this would make it easier for my students to examine issues from a distinct perspective and facilitate their ability to have a more positive look at the African American community. Why not focus on learning about that?"

DeFreitas joined UHD's faculty in 2009 and has taught Abnormal Psychology, African American Issues in Psychology, Introduction to Psychology, and Introduction to Clinical Psychology. Prior to arriving at the University, she served as a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. DeFreitas earned her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Duke University. Recently, she was named Interim Associate Dean of the College of Humanities & Social Sciences.

In the CCRS Fellow Spotlight video below, she and Jackson (also a CCRS Fellow) discuss her book, which continues to earn national acclaim.