Berwyn scholar serving his country

Comments (...)

Ivan Gonzalez, a Morton East High School graduate, is currently a doctoral candidate in the Clinical Psychology program at the school's Chicago campus. (Photo provided)

BERWYN – It’s not heady enough that Berwyn native Ivan Gonzalez is a doctoral student at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology.

The student at U.S. Army Captain also was inducted into the prestigious Edward A. Bouchet Graduate Honor Society at the 10th Annual Bouchet Conference on Diversity and Graduate Education held recently at Yale University.

The Bouchet Society recognizes outstanding scholarly achievement and promotes diversity and excellence in doctoral education and the professoriate. The Chicago School of Professional Psychology is the nation’s largest nonprofit graduate institution devoted to psychology and related behavioral and health sciences.

“It’s definitely an honor to be recognized for my work,” he said. “It’s pretty prestigious from my understanding.”

Gonzalez, a Morton East High School graduate, is a doctoral candidate in the Clinical Psychology program at the school’s Chicago campus. His dissertation research explores the psychological impact of Arizona SB 1070 – an anti-illegal immigration bill that has spurred controversy – on the Mexican-American community of Arizona. He served two years in the U.S. Army Reserves during his graduate studies.

Gonzalez is as distinguished in his undergraduate work. He graduated summa cum laude from Loyola University in Chicago, majoring in psychology and international science, with a minor in political science, and was a President’s Medallion Recipient.

Gonzalez is one of 33 students from the school inducted into a network of pre-eminent scholars exemplifying academic and personal merit, character, service and advocacy for students who have been underrepresented in the academy, according to a news release issued by the School.

What becomes apparent is that Gonzalez didn’t achieve what he has without having a strong values for education.

“That’s something that as a family was ingrained into me,”Gonzalez said. “It’s definitely one way to do something with your life and contribute to society as a whole. I come from an immigrant family who came from Mexico where the opportunities were not the same. It was important for me to take advantage of the opportunities this great country offers. If you want to be productive in life, an education is so important.”

Comments

Add Comments

There are 166 hours, 8 minutes remaining to comment on this story.

You must register with a valid email to post comments. Only your member ID will be posted with the comments.

Click here to read the rules for posting comments

Leave a Reply