By Jorge Mercado Saturday, February 15th, 2025

UC Santa Barbara Professor Tania Israel was recently honored with the 2025 Award for Distinguished Senior Career Contributions to Psychology in the Public Interest from the American Psychological Association (APA).

Israel is in the Counseling, Clinical, & School Psychology Department at the Gevirtz School and is also the Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. 

Her research focuses on the development and implementation of interventions to support the mental health and well-being of LGBTQ individuals and communities.

In her nomination letter to the APA, Isreal noted how she has spent over 25 years in the psychology field, “primarily focusing her work on supporting sexual and gender minorities through research, community engagement, policy advocacy, and mentoring.”

“I’m so honored to be receiving this award from the APA. Throughout my career, it’s been my mission to reduce psychological and structural barriers that limit people from realizing their individual and collective potential,” Israel said. 

“I have sought to equip people with tools to participate fully in their lives, their interpersonal relationships, and the world. This aim has driven my research on interventions to support LGBTQ people and scholarship on navigating political division, as well as my mentoring, advocacy, teaching, and leadership.”

The APA award recognizes an individual whose single extraordinary achievement or a lifetime of outstanding contributions meet one or more of the following criteria: (a) courageous and distinctive contribution in the science or practice of psychology that significantly supports efforts toward a solution to one of the world’s intransigent social problems, (b) distinctive and innovative contribution that makes the science and/or practice of psychology more accessible to a broad and diverse population, and (c) an integration of the science and practice of psychology that serves the public interest and advances social justice and human welfare.

An author as well, Isreal published “Beyond Your Bubble: How to Connect Across the Political Divide” as a response to the 2016 U.S. presidential election and the divisions that were evident in American society, she said.

Israel’s newest book, published in 2024, is titled “Facing the Fracture: How to Navigate the Challenges of Living in a Divided Nation.” 

Isreal is also widely regarded for her TED Talk on “Bisexuality and Beyond,” and she also participated in the first White House Bisexual Community Policy Briefing, and presented at a Congressional briefing on the Violence Against Women Act. 

She is also active within professional organizations currently as a member of the American Psychological Association’s Sexual Orientation Change Efforts Policy Writing Group and the Society of Counseling Psychology’s Strategic Planning Special Task Group. 

Israel is also past president of the Society of Counseling Psychology and was the youngest person to serve as president, elected to the position only 11 years after receiving her Ph.D.

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