Ana Bridges Named Provost's Faculty Resource Fellow

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Ana Bridges

The Office of the Provost has named Ana Bridges the Provost's Faculty Resource Fellow for the 2024-25 academic year. Her appointment will begin Oct. 15 and will end June 30, 2025.

This new fellowship was established by Provost Terry Martin and allows U of A faculty to gain leadership experience by providing faculty with resources and assistance regarding workplace questions, concerns or disagreements.

"I'm thrilled professor Bridges will serve as the inaugural Provost's Faculty Resource Fellow," said Provost Terry Martin. "Her past leadership experience and her involvement in committees related to personnel at both the college and departmental level make her the ideal person for this fellowship."

As the Provost's Faculty Resource Fellow, Bridges will work closely with the Office for Faculty Affairs to address faculty concerns and help identify practical solutions for resolving personnel and workplace issues. In addition, she will conduct professional development workshops for faculty on managing conflict, having difficult conversations and other related skills.

Anna Zajicek, vice provost for faculty affairs, added, "Professor Bridges' clinical skills, professional training in conflict management, communication skills, emotion regulation and interpersonal effectiveness, in addition to 17 years of experience at the university, make her an excellent partner in supporting our faculty."

About Bridges

Bridges is a licensed psychologist and professor in the Department of Psychological Science, where she also serves as the director for the clinical psychology doctoral program. She directs the Diversity Research and Enhanced Access for Minorities (DREAM) lab. Bridges has been a faculty member at the U of A since 2007.

Her research focuses on increasing access to needed behavioral health care for vulnerable, underserved populations, including Latino immigrants, people with low economic resources, incarcerated women and people who have been victims of crimes. She has conducted frequent community outreach and regularly offers continuing education workshops to clinicians across the nation looking to better serve minoritized patients. She has been principal investigator or co-investigator on several federal grants and published over 120 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters.

In addition, Bridges has served on several departmental and college committees, including committees involving personnel, fiscal planning and inclusive excellence. She has participated in the UA ENGAGE program (2023-2024) and the UA Chancellor's Leaders program (2022-2023). She has held leadership positions in national organizations, including treasurer (2022-2023) and president (2024) of the National Latinx Psychological Association, and finance committee member (2021-2023) and executive director search committee member (2024) for the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies. Bridges is also the co-developer and co-director of a new program with the association focused on a shared governance experience for early career professionals to encourage greater diversity in the association's leadership.

Bridges earned her Ph.D. in clinical psychology at the University of Rhode Island. She received her master's degree in clinical psychology from Illinois State University and her bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

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