Collection includes personal and professional files of Alice M. Carter. Her personal papers include an autobiography and materials relating to her high school class reunions. Carter's professional papers include her correspondence and materials related to the history of MAIMH.
Alice Marie Carter is a Detroit native. She graduated from Mackenzie High School, Class of January 1961. Carter received her B.S.N. from the U-M School of Nursing (1965) and her M.P.H. in Community Mental Health Consultation from the U-M School of Public Health (1970). As an undergraduate, Carter was inducted into the Circle Society for distinguished achievements for social service. Following her graduation from the U-M School of Public Health, Carter was inducted into the Sigma Theta Tau Honorary Society for nurses.
In 1970, following her graduation from the School of Public Health, Carter worked at the Huron Valley Child Guidance Clinic (HVCGC) in several capacities: as a liaison between HVCGC and York Woods Center, the children's division of Ypsilanti State Hospital in Ypsilanti, Mich.; as a mental health consultant to several schools in Ann Arbor; and as a child psychotherapist.
From 1973-1974, under the auspices of the Department of Prevention Services housed within the Michigan Department of Mental Health (later changed to the Michigan Department of Community Services), Carter received training in infant mental health at the Child Development Project. The Child Development Project was housed within the U-M Department of Psychiatry. She later became Director of Infant Mental Health of Washtenaw County Community Mental Health.
As an outgrowth of her infant mental helth training, Carter chaired a small infant mental health conference (1976), then co-chaired six larger conferences working with the U-M Department of Conferences and Institutes (1977-1982). Carter, along with other trainees from the first and second class who were trained at the Child Developemnt Project, helped form the Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health (1977) now known as MI-AIMH. She also served briefly on the editorial board for the Journal of Infant Mental Health.
Between 1974 and 1983, Carter served as an Assistant Professor of Nursing at the U-M School of Nursing.
In 1989-1992 Carter served on the Equity Audit Committee for the Ann Arbor School Board writing reports and recommending changes in policies related to equity concerns for at-risk students.
In 2001-2002 she was a Parent Educator for First Steps, an Ann Arbor Public Schools program that serves children aged zero to five, based on the nationally known program Parents as Teachers.
Throughout her professional career Carter remained active in professional organizations that advocated for early childhood mental health services, and served on local boards to that end.
