Rate My Professor Sara Buckingham

Sara L. Buckingham is an Associate Professor in the Clinical-Community Psychology Ph.D. Program within the Department of Psychology at the University of Alaska Anchorage, part of the University of Alaska System. She earned her Ph.D. in Human Services Psychology from the University of Maryland Baltimore County in 2017, specializing in Clinical Psychology (APA-accredited) and Community & Applied Social Psychology, preceded by an APA-accredited doctoral internship at the University of Vermont from 2016 to 2017. Buckingham also holds an M.A. in Human Services Psychology from the University of Maryland Baltimore County in 2013 and dual B.A. degrees in Psychology and Sociology from the University of Northern Colorado in 2010. In her career at UAA, she serves as Co-Director of the Center for Community Engagement and Learning, Psychologist at the WWAMI School of Medical Education, and Senator in the UAA Faculty Senate. She is a licensed psychologist in Alaska (License #125402) and Vermont (License #048.0134277).

Buckingham's research examines contextual models of acculturation, psychological sense of community, welcoming and liberatory spaces, empowerment, resilience, resistance to oppression, and culturally responsive evidence-based behavioral health services for forced migrant populations, with extensions to Alaska Native university students' cultural identity development. Her community-engaged projects address immigrant integration, Elder-led cultural programs, and policy impacts on wellbeing. Key publications include "Welcoming: The development of sense of community post-migration in a secluded northern American city" (Buckingham et al., 2024, Community Psychology in Global Perspective); "Knowing Who You Are (Becoming): Effects of a university-based Elder-led cultural identity program on Alaska Native students’ identity development..." (Buckingham, Schroeder, & Hutchinson, 2023, American Journal of Orthopsychiatry); "Elder-led cultural identity program as counterspace..." (Buckingham, Schroeder, & Hutchinson, 2023, American Journal of Community Psychology); "‘It’s like having strong roots. We’re firmly planted.’: Cultural identity development among Alaska Native university students" (Buckingham & Hutchinson, 2022, Transcultural Psychiatry); and "The roles of settings in supporting immigrants’ resistance to injustice and oppression" (Buckingham et al., 2021, American Journal of Community Psychology). She received the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in 2021 and serves on leadership teams for APA Division 27 and the Society for Community Research and Action, as well as editorial boards for the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry and Community Psychology in Global Perspective. Buckingham is the author of the forthcoming book Mental Health Assessment with Children and Adolescents: An Integrated Clinical, Community, and Cultural Psychology Framework.