Greetings from the Industrial/Organizational Psychology Program

at Colorado State University

We hope this newsletter finds you healthy and well amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. No doubt, this has been a unique time in unexpected and unprecedented ways. Colorado State University shifted to an online environment just before spring break in March. Some classes and campus activities have resumed in person this fall, and now all courses, meetings, and activities have moved online for the rest of the fall semester.

This has been a year of some faculty transitions. Dr. Josh Prasad joined our program faculty in Fall 2019. Dr. Prasad received a B.S. in brain, behavior, and cognitive sciences from the University of Michigan, an M.A. in psychology from Wake Forest University, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in organizational psychology from Michigan State University. Dr. Prasad’s research focuses on the use of assessments across diverse groups, vocational interests, and determinants of performance over time. Dr. Kevin Murphy, affiliate professor, returned to CSU after retiring from the Kemmy Business School at the University of Limerick. Dr. Murphy has been active in the I-O program, teaching quantitative methods courses. This fall, Dr. Murphy is co-teaching a graduate seminar on employment law and legal issues in I-O psychology with Dr. Jan Cleveland.

Sadly, Dr. Tori Crain, who has been an integral part of the I-O program since 2015, returned to her alma mater of Portland State University this fall. We are unbelievably grateful for Dr. Crain’s outstanding contributions to the I-O program and mentorship of many doctoral students. We will miss her a great deal and wish her well as she transitions to Portland State. Moving forward, Dr. Zinta Byrne has taken on the role of program coordinator for the I-O Psychology program from Dr. Gwen Fisher, while Dr. Fisher prepares for a semester-long sabbatical in Spring 2021. The I-O program is tremendously grateful for the many years of outstanding leadership that Dr. Fisher provided in her role as program coordinator and hope she enjoys a restful sabbatical.

Program Highlights

Dr. Gwen Fisher to Be President of the Society for Occupational Health Psychology

Image of Gwen FisherDr. Gwen Fisher was elected president of the Society for Occupational Health Psychology and will move from president-elect to president in January 2022. Moreover, Dr. Fisher was named a Fellow of the Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Dr. Fisher was granted Fellow status by the SIOP Executive Board this spring, which recognized her substantial contributions to the study of occupational health psychology, particularly her research on the aging workforce. She has been working with a SIOP committee led by Dr. Cristina Banks and joined by CSU alumna, Dr. Autumn Krauss, on congressional advocacy for occupational health issues.

This summer, the CSU Occupational Health Psychology program, funded by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Mountain and Plains Education and Research Center was renewed for five more years of funding. The CSU OHP program, which serves as a training program within existing psychology doctoral degree programs (i.e., it is not a separate degree program), currently supports 18 students (14 in I-O psychology, two in counseling, and two in applied social and health psychology).

Students Put Learning to Work

Image of Shalyn StevensLast summer, fifth-year student Shalyn Stevens gained valuable applied experience through a people analytics internship at Hulu in sunny Santa Monica, California. Much of her time was spent analyzing, interpreting, and presenting results from employee engagement surveys. She also enjoyed creating dashboard prototypes, working on data visualization projects, and being exposed to new machine learning techniques. One of her favorite side projects was giving a “Wellness at Work” presentation to the talent and organization department.

Image of Rebecca ClancyOver the past year, Rebecca Clancy has had the opportunity to work alongside MAP ERC director, Dr. Lee Newman, and researchers Dr. Gwen Fisher, Lyndsay Krisher, and Diana Jaramillo on a Total Worker Health project in Latin America through the Center for Health, Work, and Environment. The project centered on a multiyear partnership with Pantaleon, a major agribusiness operating in Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Mexico. Clancy conducted focus groups with management to understand TWH practices at the company and develop key recommendations to inform TWH leadership trainings. She then spent last summer as a full-time research assistant at the center, working to develop content for these trainings, as well as creating and presenting executive reports from multiple TWH survey results to upper management in all three countries.

Last fall, she was able to travel to Mexico and Nicaragua to help deliver the TWH leadership trainings, which was extremely rewarding and eye-opening! The research team is currently writing up results of the study for publication.

Within the department, we also have created internal I-O program mini-grants and research funding opportunities to help fund graduate student research projects. Students recently receiving this grant funding include Chloe Goldman, a second-year I-O doctoral student who is conducting a study to examine perceptions of incivility in email; and Shalyn Stevens, a fourth-year I-O student, who is conducting a study to investigate work/family issues among low-wage fast-food workers.

CSU at Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology 2019-2020

Our faculty, graduate students, and alumni were well represented at the 2020 Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology conference this year.

Here are some highlights of CSU faculty, students, and alumni from this year’s online SIOP:

• Dr. Tori Crain, Rebecca Brossoit, and Shalyn Stevens presented on objective measures of sleep in an alternative session on novel methodologies.
• Faviola Robles-Saenz, Rebecca Brossoit, Dr. Tori Crain, Dr. Leslie Hammer, and Jacqueline Wong presented a poster on family-specific resources for immigrant workers.
• Kiplin Kaldahl, Dr. Tori Crain, Dr. Leslie Hammer, Jedidiah Knode, and Maddie Romero presented a poster on how construction workers may be at higher risk for poor sleep due to pain and work conditions.

It is too soon to tell whether we will be able to convene in person for SIOP in New Orleans in April 2021, but we hope to see you there!

Welcome to Students who Joined Us in Fall 2020

Image of Rosalyn (Roz) Stoa Rosalyn (Roz) Stoa is from Green Bay, Wisconsin, and graduated from University of Wisconsin – Green Bay in 2020. She is interested in studying stress and work-life balance. Stoa is working with Dr. Gwen Fisher as her adviser.

Image of Annika BensonAnnika Benson is from Roseville, Minnesota, and graduated from Concordia College in May 2020. She is interested in studying underrepresentation in the workplace and discrimination in the hiring process. Her adviser is Dr. Josh Prasad.

Image of Brittany LynnerBrittany Lynner is from Akron, Ohio, and graduated from The Ohio State University in 2016 and 2018. She is interested in studying substance use, misuse, and recovery in the workplace; the intersection between diversity and wellness in organizations; and burnout and secondary trauma of educators and student affairs professionals. Lynner is working with Dr. Josh Prasad.

Image of Rachel PerpichRachel Perpich graduated this past May with a B.S. in psychology from Central Michigan University. She is interested in occupational health and hopes to study the work/non-work interface, and particularly the relationship between family and work. She is aiming to work on research highlighting potential influences of work-to-family or family-to-work spillover on employee well-being, both in and out of the workplace. Her advisers are Drs. Gwen Fisher and Jan Cleveland.

Intro to First-to-Second-Year Students

Image of Julia and Hannah

Pictured: Julia Beckel, left, and Hannah Finch

Julia Beckel is a second-year student in the program. She is interested in work design, flexible work arrangements, aging workforce issues, and the unique challenges of workers with chronic health conditions in the workplace. Outside work, she loves spending time in the outdoors, mountain and gravel biking, and playing with her two dogs.

Hannah Finch is also a second-year student in the program. Her research interests focus on understanding how future time perspective influences worker motivation and performance, along with occupational health psychology factors. Her hobbies include painting, reading for fun, and hiking.

Faculty News

Image of Tori CrainDr. Tori Crain left CSU at the end of the Spring 2020 semester to join the I-O and occupational health psychology faculty at Portland State University. Although Dr. Crain is looking forward to being back at her alma mater and near family in the Pacific Northwest where she grew up, she will greatly miss her CSU family and friends. However, she will be back often as she will continue to actively mentor her CSU doctoral students from her new position and maintain her ongoing research collaborations with Colorado colleagues.

Image of Josh PrasadDr. Josh Prasad joined CSU in August 2019 as an assistant professor with the I-O Psychology program. Dr. Prasad recently received his Ph.D. from Michigan State University’s Organizational Psychology program. His research interests include examining the use of assessments across diverse groups, vocational interests, and determinants of performance over time. This past fall, Dr. Prasad taught industrial psychology for the graduate students and currently teaches an advanced seminar in meta-analysis. He currently advises four doctoral students. He looks forward to further integrating into the I-O program and CSU.

CONNECT + CONTRIBUTE

Give Now

Your support of the Department of Psychology is incredibly valuable. Please consider making a difference to today’s students – at whatever level is right for you. Thank you!

For more information on giving, contact:

Ginny Fanning

Executive Director of Development

College of Natural Sciences

1801 Campus Delivery
Fort Collins, CO 80523-1801

D: (970) 491-3403

E: virginia.fanning@colostate.edu