The Psychology Department at Ohio State mourns the loss of a beloved former faculty member, Dr. Felicisima Serafica, an Emeritus Associate Professor of Psychology.

Known to her family and friends as "Ping", Dr. Serafica was a longtime member of AAPA and APA and was one of the first tenured Filipino American professors of psychology in the United States. She received a B.A. in Psychology in 1952 and an M.S. in Special Education in 1953 from the University of Pennsylvania. She moved back to the Phillipines shortly after and helped establish one of the first hospitals for children with mental disabilities. She returned to the United States to complete her doctoral training at Clark University and was a faculty member here at Ohio State from 1977 until her retirement in 2002.

Dr. Serafica published extensively, including the books: Social Cognitive Development in Context (1982) and Mental Health of Ethnic Minorities (1990). Her previous research focused on social development and mental health of children and youth, including children with learning disabilities from majority and minority populations. She served as Co-Program Chair for Filipino American National Hisorical Society and FANHS-Midwest Chapter conferences and, since 2011, as Historian of the American Psychological Association's DIvision 45. And as a retiree, she studied immigrant history and remained active in FANHS and the Asian American Psychological Association.

An oral history on Dr. Serafica's life can be found here.