Title
Associate Professor
Institution
Macalester College
Education
-
Ph.D., Developmental Psychology, UCLA
-
M.A., Developmental Psychology, UCLA
-
B.A., Psychology, Scripps College
Research Interests
Biography
After teaching elementary school for five years, I knew I loved teaching, but I also knew I missed psychology. I decided to pursue a Ph.D. in developmental psychology, with the goals of continuing to work with children, contributing scholarship to a field I am enthusiastic about, and sharing my passion through teaching. Upon completing my Ph.D., I was delighted to join the psychology faculty at Macalester College where scholarship and teaching go hand-in-hand.
We all have many social identities—identities derived from our membership in groups, including demographic groups (e.g., race/ethnicity) and institutional groups (e.g., school). These identities can provide us with community and pride, but at the same time, we may face stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination as a result of how our groups are seen by others in society. My research is centered on these social identities, and broadly, I examine:
1. How and when children develop their social identities
2. How and when identity contingencies (the conditions that we face in particular settings simply because of our social identities) affect people
3. How people with marginalized identities maintain resilience in the face of identity contingencies
​Given my experience as a public school teacher and as a first-generation college student, my work often takes place in academic settings (e.g., examining how facing negative stereotypes puts students at risk for academic struggles, and how maintaining strong ethnic and school identities might help students be resilient despite academic challenges). Across all of my research, I employ a wide variety of methods. For example, my data sources have included cross-sectional and longitudinal surveys, daily diaries, experiments, and qualitative interviews.
Homepages
Contact Information
Macalester College
1600 Grand Ave.
St. Paul, MN 55104
651.696.6086
