What is it about?
The field of behavior analysis is growing, creating a more diverse community of practitioners and scientists (Behavior Analyst Certification Board, 2024). It is important for new professionals to see themselves reflected in the work of the field and that there are resources available to reflect varied identities and experiences of practicing professionals. This article introduces a special series featuring ten contemporary women in leadership roles over four quarterly issues. The goal is for aspiring behavior analysts to find comfort in relating to the commonalities experienced and receive advice on building successful careers that help advance the field.
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Why is it important?
It is important to amplify the voices of leaders with varying experiences throughout the field of behavior analysis. This paper and the following series of papers will provide valuable insights that can support new practitioners and scientists as they grow and learn in their careers. While this is a start to capturing perspectives of those actively participating in the field, because it does not capture all who practice in the field, it is also meant to encourage future researchers to continue the series and highlight additional perspectives, especially perspectives of those with more marginalized identities.
Perspectives
As someone who took on leadership roles early in my career, I highly valued the advice I received from the strong leaders around me. My coauthor and I learned several leadership lessons the hard way early on in our careers, and the thought behind this paper and special series was to interview women within the field about their lessons learned to help prevent others from having to learn them the hard way. We hope these papers serve as helpful and guiding resources for anyone who reads them.
Olivia Onofrio
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Lifting the voices of leaders: Contemporary women in behavior analysis., Behavior Analysis Research and Practice, May 2025, American Psychological Association (APA),
DOI: 10.1037/bar0000306.
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