Meet Our Scholars

Marquel Norton is a second-year doctoral student in the Department of Counseling Psychology at University of Wisconsin, Madison. Norton was a licensed school psychologist in Massachusetts, earning their bachelor’s in clinical psychology and child development and educational specialist master’s degree in school psychology from Tufts University. As a licensed school psychologist, Marquel provided comprehensive school-based behavioral health services, working in a variety of settings. Marquel also joined regional leadership in the Massachusetts School Psychologist Association and established the Diversity Recruitment and Mentoring Initiative to support culturally and linguistically diverse candidates in applying to school psychology programs.

As a Ph.D. student, they draw upon Black trans, nonbinary, and queer place-based leadership across age ranges, to think critically about how communities navigate and disrupt racialized and gendered geographical and structural limitations in building healthy communities. As a Black and queer researcher and therapist in training, they prioritize community-engaged scholarship to understand the need for mental health providers and liberatory therapeutic practices in trans and queer communities of color. Additionally, they engage in interdisciplinary projects and programming, engaging in coursework in policy studies, community-engaged methodologies, and critical theory. They have worked with local Wisconsin organizations to plan and execute letter-writing clinics for gender affirmative care.