UMass Boston

Clinical psychology, Asian American studies, mental health and identity in Asian Americans, Empowerment and resisting racism, Community and educational initiatives for social justice

PhD, University of Massachusetts

• Suyemoto, K. L. (2018). Ethnic and racial identity in multiracial sansei: Intergenerational effects of the world War II mass incarceration of Japanese Americans. Special issue: Genealogy and Multiracial Family Histories. Genealogy, 2(3), 26; doi:10.3390/genealogy2030026
• Suyemoto, K. L. & Liu, C. (2018). Understanding the psychological impacts of Asian American Studies courses on Asian American students. Journal of Asian American Studies, 21, 301-326.
• Mukkamala, S. & Suyemoto, K. L. (2018). Racialized Sexism/Sexualized Racism: A multimethod study of intersectional experiences of discrimination for Asian American women. Asian American Journal of Psychology, 9, 32-46.
• Atallah, D. G., Shapiro, E.R. Al-Azraq, N. Qaisi, Y. & Suyemoto, K. L. (2018). Decolonizing qualitative research through transformative community engagement: Critical investigation of resilience with Palestinian refugees in the West Bank. Qualitative Research in Psychology. doi:10.1080/14780887.2017.1416805
• Thomann, C., & Suyemoto, K.L. (2018). Developing an anti-racist stance: How White youth understand structural racism. Journal of Early Adolescence, 38, 745-771. doi:10.1177/0272431617692443
• Suyemoto, K. L., Erisman, S. M.,Holowka, D.W., Fuchs, C., Barrett-Model, H., Ng, F., Liu, C., Chandler, D., Hazeltine, K. & Roemer, L. (2016). UMass Boston comprehensive demographic questionnaire, revised. In Wadsworth, L. P., Morgan, L. P., Hayes-Skelton, S. A., Roemer, L., & Suyemoto, K. L. Ways to boost your research rigor through increasing your cultural competence. The Behavior Therapist, 39, 83-91.
• Liu, C. & Suyemoto, K. L. (2016). The effects of racism related stress on Asian Americans: Anxiety and depression among different generational statuses. Asian American Journal of Psychology, 7, 137-146.
• Lin, N. J. & Suyemoto, K. L. (2016). “So you, my children, can have a better life”: A Cambodian American perspective on the phenomenology of intergenerational communication about trauma. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment, and Trauma, 25, 400-420.
• Suyemoto, K. L. & Donovan, R. A. (2015). Exploring intersections of privilege and oppression for Black and Asian immigrant women: Implications for personal and community identities. In O. Espin & A. Dottolo (Eds.) Gendered journeys: Women & migration through a feminist psychology lens (54-78). Palgrave Macmillan.
• Suyemoto, K. L. , Day, S. C. & & Schwartz, S. (2014). Exploring effects of social justice youth programming on racial and ethnic identities and activism for Asian American youth. Asian American Journal of Psychology, 6, 125-135.

Karen Suyemoto has a joint appointment with the Psychology Department and Asian American Studies Program and Critical Ethnic and Community Studies graduate program.Their research interests focus generally on Asian American psychology and issues related to social justice and anti-racist therapy/ practice/education. Their research addresses fostering awareness and advocacy for social justice through: examining relations of race and racism to mental health; investigating effects of resistance and coping with racism; and exploring the complexity of relative and ascribed power and intersectional discrimination. Additional research addresses how cultural responsiveness and racial social justice can be developed through and integrated into education, training, research methods, and practice. Their current research projects include a quantitative study examining the effects of racism for people of color and how taking action to challenge racism may moderate negative psychological effects and a two-book project focused on transformative teaming and learning about oppression and privilege (with Grace Kim and Roxanne Donovan).  

Professor Suyemoto was the Chair of the recently released Guidelines for Race and Ethnicity for the American Psychological Association. They served as the past president of the Asian American Psychological Association and as the AAPA delegate to the American Psychological Association Council of Representatives. In 2013, they was recognized as a White House Champion of Change: Asian American Pacific Islander Woman Leader and  also awarded the Asian American Psychological Association’s Distinguished Contributions Award.

Teaching

Undergraduate

• Asian American Psychology; Introduction to Asian American Studies
• Multiracial Experiences
• Race, Culture, and Relationships, Multicultural Counseling, Asian American Community Internships.

Graduate

• Culture and Mental Health
• Social Construction of Self and Identities
• Qualitative Methods