Dr. Rheeda L.Walker, Dept. of Psychology, SIUC

	Rheeda L. Walker
Education	BA University of Georgia (1994) MS Florida State University (2000) Ph.D. Florida State University (2002)
Position	Assistant Professor, Clinical
Office	275-F Life Sciences II
Phone	(618) 453-4180
Fax	(618) 453-3563
Email	rlwalker@siu.edu
Biosketch	Dr. Rheeda Walker is an Assistant Professor and member of the Adult-Clinical faculty in the Department of Psychology at SIUC. Dr. Walker's research focus is African American mental health with a particular emphasis on the relationships of depression and suicide to acculturation and culturally-relevant coping (including spirituality and religiosity). Dr. Walker is actively involved in two research projects: (1) examining gene x environment relationships toward predicting suicide risk in adults and (2) evaluation of peer suicide prevention programming for high school youth.
Research Interests	Cross-cultural psychology Psychosocial Factors in Depression and Suicide Cultural Determinants of Resilience and Coping
Selected Publications	Recent Journal Articles & Book Chapters: Walker, R.L., Wingate, L., Obasi, E.M., & Joiner, T. E. (in press). An empirical investigation of acculturative stress and ethnic identity as moderators for depression and suicidal ideation in African American and European American college students. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology. Walker, R.L., Lester, D., & Joe, S. (2006). Lay theories of suicide: An examination of culturally-relevant suicide beliefs and attributions. Journal of Black Psychology, 32, 320-334. Walker, R. L., Utsey, S.O., Bolden, M.A., & Williams, III, O. (2005). Do sociocultural factors predict suicidality among persons of African descent living in the U.S.? Archives of Suicide Research, 9, 203-217 . Walker, R. L., & Bishop, S. (2005). Examining a model of the relation between religiosity and suicidal ideation in a sample of African American and White college students. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 35, 630-639 . Utsey, S. O., Walker , R. L., Dessources, N., & Bartalemeo, M. (2004). The African American bicultural experience: A psychohistorical analysis of the double consciousness dilemma. In R.T. Carter, Ed., Handbook of Racial-Cultural Counseling and Psychology. Wiley & Son: New York . Joiner, Jr., T. E. & Walker, R. L. (2002). General and factorial construct validity of a measure of acculturative stress in African-Americans and Anglo-Americans. Psychological Assessment , 14 , 462-466. Walker , R. L. , Joiner, Jr., T. E., & Rudd, M. D. (2001). The course of post-crisis suicidal symptoms: How and for whom is suicide “cathartic”? Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 13, 144-125 .
Teaching:	Undergraduate Psychology Course: Psychology of Personality (Psyc 305) Graduate Courses: Theories of Counseling and Psychotherapy (Psyc 530) Clinical Practicum (Psyc 594E)