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As an academic social psychologist at SDSU since 2015, I identify most strongly as a student and faculty mentor. I value opportunities to provide talks and workshops across the university and at conferences on topics in social psychology, health psychology, university teaching innovation and student mentoring.

I teach the courses Social Psychology, Health Psychology, Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology I and II, Intergroup Bias, Social Psychology of Popular Culture, and General Psychology. In the classroom, my goal is to encourage my students to find and use their voices, armed with evidence-based practices, connection and passion.

My research focuses on group-based and motivational biases in person perception. Most of my published research is on how out-group face recognition can be increased via social engagement processes. I examine whether people ascribe full humanness to social targets, depending on perceivers’ motivations, targets’ facial cues and dynamics in relationships between groups. More recently I launched a research team investigating the social consequences of perceived target resilience. As an avid student mentor, I specialize in academic belonging, creative learning strategies, team-based research and active teaching practices. I enjoy mentoring my teaching assistants, research assistants and independent student researchers. I frequently advise students on their graduate study and career explorations. I am currently writing three professional books on humanizing teaching, academic mentoring and the social psychology of popular culture.

I am involved in various service activities at the School of Psychology, Sociology and Rural Studies; College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences; and SDSU. My advocacy focuses on improving faculty belonging, well-being and autonomy; and enhancing student research and career training opportunities. I serve as a faculty fellow for the Center for Professional Enrichment and Teaching Excellence as well the Fishback Honors College. I have provided recommendations for academic program, administrator and faculty policy review. I serve on dissertation and hiring committees. I am the psychology program's assessment coordinator and have contributed to curriculum improvements, SONA research pool administration, course designation values assessment, institutional program review, bylaws revision and strategic planning. I am a faculty advisor for SDSU’s Psi Chi chapter and Psychology Club. I served or am currently serving on the executive board of SDSU’s Faculty Senate, as the Chair of the Faculty Council for the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, and as a member of the Academic Affairs Committee, Faculty Excellence Committee and Student Success Model Committee.