Colorado State Psychology Professor Honored for Internationally Recognized Work with Women and Suicide

Silvia Sara Canetto, professor in the Psychology Department, was selected for the Metropolitan State College of Denver 2004 Shane Marie Morrow lectureship for her internationally recognized work with women and suicide.

The annual Shane Marie Morrow endowed lectureship honors female psychologists who have made outstanding scholarly contributions to the psychology of women and who have a record of expanding psychological perspectives, promoting respect for human diversity and working for social justice.

Canetto’s lecture, "Cultural Perspectives on Women’s Suicidal Behavior," will be held at 9 a.m. Oct. 27 in Plaza M205 on Metropolitan State College’s Auraria Campus.

"It is a great honor to be selected for the Morrow endowed lectureship, and I am pleased and grateful for the recognition," Canetto said.

Canetto holds graduate degrees from Italy, Israel and the United States. At Colorado State, she teaches courses in the psychology of gender, the psychology of women and lifespan developmental psychology. She also provides clinical and research supervision.

Canetto is the author of more than 80 articles and chapters and the editor of four books. She is most well known for her scholarship on gender, sexual orientation, age and culture in suicidal behaviors. She is the co-editor (with David Lester) of the 1995 book, "Women and Suicidal Behavior." This book has been described in psychology-related journals as thought-provoking, challenging of the dominant perspectives in suicidology and providing timely and pertinent cultural orientations. It was also the first book to examine the unique issues of suicidal women. Canetto also is co-editor for the first and second volume of the "Review of Suicidology" of the American Association of Suicidology. In 2003, she published an edited book on teaching human diversity.

Canetto is internationally known for her studies of gender and hastened death. Her research on assisted suicide and mercy killing has been prominently featured in the scientific and popular press throughout the world.

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