Catherine Ma

Catherine Ma, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Kingsborough Community College/CUNY. An immigrant, first-generation college graduate, and mother of three, she received her doctorate in Social-Personality Psychology from the CUNY Graduate Center. Dr. Ma has presented and written extensively on the maternal experiences of breastfeeding, mothering challenges in medicine, critiquing the current breastfeeding paradigm, racial bias in youth sports, the impact of Asian American Studies in academia, imposter syndrome, and teaching racism in the classroom. Her current research focuses on how to counter negative stereotypes of immigrants among community college students by participating in a psychology of immigration course.

Dr. Ma is a board member of the Asian American / Asian Research Institute - CUNY. She dedicates her time to mentoring students of color and established the Yuet Chun & Tai Yee Ma Memorial Endowed Scholarship Fund to honor the legacy of her grandparents. The pronouns she uses are she/her/hers.

Incorporating Aspects of Asian American Studies as Tools for Teaching about Race and Discrimination

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Prof. Catherine Ma will present on how the struggles and triumphs of Asian Americans can provide undergraduate students with a multicultural perspective to better understand structural racism, and offer examples for professors to engage their classes with difficult concepts related to racism and discrimination. Incorporating aspects of Asian American Studies (AAS) can be a valuable tool in transforming not only how students learn but also how professors teach.

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