Lilia Cortina, PhD (Associate Professor, Psychology & Women's Studies)

As a researcher of antisocial work experiences, Lilia investigates the many ways in which people are subordinated, violated, and relegated to the margins of organizational life. These interpersonal abuses can range from subtle social slights to general incivility to blatant harassment and violence. Her scholarship spans the full spectrum, with a particular focus on “gendered” forms of mistreatment as well as mistreatment that, at first glance, appears inconsequential. One line of her work addresses harassment based on sex, sexuality, and gender - focusing on the contours and consequences of harassing experiences in both women and men. In another stream of research, Lilia investigates workplace incivility, i.e., everyday discourtesies that violate social norms of respect and undermine worker wellbeing.

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Melanie Henderson

Melanie's research focuses on power and status in organizations, specifically how people recognize and use power. Given that power has the potential to yield both positive and negative effects, her research identifies individual and contextual factors fueling power and communication tactics, especially factors that exacerbate or mitigate the corruptive effects of power. Questions in Melanie's work include: (1) How do perspective taking, identity management, and attachment style affect power use? (2) What are the antecedents of power, and what are the implications of power for employee outcomes, supervisor-r-subordinate relations, and overall organizational dynamics? Melanie also studies the role of power in women’s experiences of workplace harassment based on sex and gender.

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Kathryn (Katy) Holland

Katy is investigating the impact of sex-based harassment on emotional and professional wellbeing, and ways that individual and contextual factors affect these relationships. She examines how identifying as "feminist" and engaging in activism increases women's risk for harassment, but also buffers their negative outcomes.  In addition, Katy is studying the role of relative power between the perpetrator and target, as well as factors that promote resiliency and coping in targets. More broadly, Katy is interested in women’s health and wellbeing.    

Elma Lorenzo-Blanco

Elma is interested in Latino/a mental health and substance use.  She is currently investigating the associations of acculturation with Latino/a depression and cigarette smoking.  More specifically, her research focuses on the lived experiences that accompany acculturation.  In this lab, Elma has developed and tested integrative socio-cultural models of acculturation, smoking, and depression.  Given that Latina women are more negatively influenced by acculturation, Elma examines the moderating role of gender in the links between acculturation, depression, and smoking.

Courtney McCluney

Courtney is interested in selective incivility from target, perpetrator, bystander, and workgroup perspectives. Specifically, how does targets’ appraisal of antisocial work experiences affect their perceived compatibility between their disparate identities (e.g., African-American, women, CEO)? She is also interested in the unconscious, cognitive processes that motivate perpetrators to selectively abuse gender and racial minorities. More generally, Courtney intends to connect scholarship on workplace mistreatment to work on diversity and groups.

Samantha (Sam) Montgomery

Samantha's interests include the psychology of feminism and activism, factors contributing to the endorsement of sexist and heterosexist ideologies, and queer identification and subversion. She is particularly interested in the intersections of gender and sexuality in different social contexts.

Veronica Caridad Rabelo

Veronica is interested in the contextual factors surrounding microaggressions in the workplace.  She studies how conflict pertaining to gender, sexuality, race, and ethnicity can influence superordinate-subordinate relations, workplace productivity, and employee satisfaction.  She is also interested in workplace organization and success when there is a strong presence of LGBTQ, feminist, female, and non-White individuals among the highest levels of leadership.

Rita Seabrook

Rita is interested in the effects of ‘everyday’ sexism and gender-based incivilities in the workplace, and how these incidents affect women’s success in leadership positions and STEM careers. Additional research interests include feminism and empowerment, and ways in which a feminist identity can help women and men recognize and reject gender stereotypes and sexism.

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