Paula J. Caplan was a clinical and research psychologist, author of books and plays, playwright, actor, director, and activist. She was born July 7, 1947, and raised in Springfield, Missouri; attended Greenwood Laboratory School; received her A.B. with honors from Radcliffe College of Harvard University; and received her M.A. and Ph.D. in psychology from Duke University. She was an Associate at the Du Bois Institute, Hutchins Center for African and African American Research, Harvard University at the time of her death. She had been a Fellow at the Women and Public Policy Program of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard; a Lecturer in Harvard's Program on Women, Gender, and Sexuality and in the Psychology Department. She was a former Full Professor of Applied Psychology and Head of the Centre for Women's Studies in Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education; and former Lecturer in Women's Studies and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto.
In regard to her expertise in psychology and in women's studies, as well as her political/social action work, she appeared on many major network talk and news shows.
She gave hundreds of invited addresses to a wide variety of community and academic groups. She was interviewed frequently for the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, Time, Newsweek, US News and World Report, and Psychology Today.
Among her plays, "Shades" (secret wounds that only love can heal) won the Pen & Brush New Plays Contest; "Call Me Crazy" (about the questions "Is anybody normal? And who gets to decide?") won second place in the 1997 Arlene and William Lewis Playwriting Contest for Women and other awards; and "The Test" (based on the poignant, true story of two men on Death Row) was published by Samuel French in its collection of winners of its 2001 Off-Off-Broadway New, Short Plays Competition. Her screenplay for "The Test" was made into a video that won the Alliance for Community Media-New England Film Festival and has been screened in numerous other festivals and various other venues. The number of books she authored or co-authored is in the double digits.
Before Paula passed away, July 21, 2021, she formed a nonprofit organization called Picture Social Justice (PSJ). The mission of PSJ is to promote social justice equity through film and television. Paula's vision was simple: raise awareness, educate, and advocate for those adversely affected by social injustice.
Not only was Paula the founder of Picture Social Justice, but she was the heart-and-soul of the latest film project, Execution by the Numbers. As you can imagine, Paula's untimely death interrupted efforts to complete the film project. But Paula's vision and body of work are too vital to the social justice community for it to be abandoned, so plans for completion have moved forward.
For more details of Dr. Paula Caplan’s life and work go to :
Paula Joan Caplan (July 7, 1947 - July 21, 2021) - Home (paulajcaplan.net)