Dissertation Award recipient

The Dissertation Award recognizes outstanding student research that has the greatest potential for making a significant contribution to the theoretical and applied knowledge base in exercise and sport psychology.

Sarah Skopek Kohlstedt grew up in Syracuse, N.Y. After graduating from Northwestern University with a BA in psychology, Sarah gave a year of service to City Year Chicago, an AmeriCorps program, and then worked for Girls in the Game, a small nonprofit organization that provides sport and health programming to girls all over Chicago.

In 2004, Sarah entered a doctoral program in clinical psychology at American University in Washington, D.C. During her training she developed skill in a variety of psychological services including individual psychodynamic and cognitive behavioral therapies for college students, group therapy for smoking cessation for adults, neuropsychological assessment for geriatric patients, individual and group sport psychology consultation for collegiate athletes, and behavioral health assessment and multiple diagnosis for military veterans.

To bolster her growing interests in college mental health and sport and exercise psychology, Sarah became active in AASP and APA’s Division 47. Sarah and a fellow AASP student founded and developed The Mentorship Match Program; Sarah also serves on the Division 47 Education Committee. Furthermore, Sarah sought out opportunities to pursue research projects that combined her areas of interest. She worked on research teams at both American University and The George Washington University.

Sarah graduated from American University in August 2011 after defending her dissertation and completing her predoctoral internship at University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Counseling and Consultation Services (C&CS), the mental health division of the university health service for students. Sarah was then accepted as post-doctoral resident at C&CS, where she is currently active in all facets of counseling center work including individual and group therapy, triage and emergency services, outreach and consultation, and supervision for graduate students. In her future career, Sarah hopes to work towards increased collaboration between university counseling centers and athletic departments. Sarah is delighted to be recognized for her contributions to research and practice in the field of sport psychology and college mental health.