Hello from the I/O Program at Colorado State University! Although as a society we are still grappling with the COVID pandemic, university operations have resumed in-person during Fall, 2021. It’s wonderful to be back on campus; there has been a lot of enthusiasm for having classes taking place in person again. The changing leaves of Fall in Fort Collins have been particularly beautiful.

Change is also afoot within our program!

Dr. Jeanette (Jan) Cleveland retired in May, following many years of leadership and important contributions to our I/O program. As many of you know, Jan was on the CSU I/O faculty from 1983 – 2000, then went to Penn State, and returned in 2011. Jan has had a distinguished career in I/O Psychology with significant contributions to performance appraisal, diversity and inclusion, and work/family research, and a variety of graduate and undergraduate courses at CSU. She had an outstanding record of service in important leadership roles at CSU, including I/O Program Coordinator, member of the Psychology Department Executive Committee, and chair of many search committees that hired outstanding and productive junior faculty, including our newest faculty member, Dr. Danni Gardner, who joined us this fall. (More about Danni follows below.)  Jan and her husband, Dr. Kevin Murphy, still reside in Fort Collins but enjoy traveling as well as continuing to host the I/O program for get-togethers at their home. Kevin continues to teach courses in our department, including introductory and multivariate statistics, legal issues, and will be leading Weekly Seminar in Spring, 2022. We are very grateful for Kevin’s ongoing, strong, and unwavering support for our program.

We are pleased to announce the following students having obtained their doctorates: Dr. Steven Raymer, Science and Technology Branch Chief, USAF, now stationed in Florida; Dr. Rebecca Broissoit, Assistant Professor of I/O Psychology at Louisiana State University; Dr. Kelly Cave, Workforce Scientist at Nordstrom; and Dr. Shalyn Stevens, Applied Data Analyst at BetterUp. Due to COVID, department budget cuts, and limited faculty advising capacity, we did not admit any new students for the Fall 2021 semester. We look forward to receiving and reviewing applications this year for new students in Fall 2022. Read on to learn more about Danni and hear about other exciting news from our program.

We want to extend the warmest welcome to our newest I/O Psychology faculty member, Dr. Danielle (Danni) Gardner! Danni recently obtained her Ph.D. in Organizational Psychology from Michigan State University, and her research largely spans issues related to workplace diversity and discrimination. More specifically, Danni’s interests lie in diversity management via an organizational justice lens, identity management processes and outcomes for historically excluded and marginalized employees, and discrimination manifestations across dimensions of subtlety and formality. These interests have also led to her teaching a Diversity seminar course for our students this fall. At CSU, Danni is particularly excited to build relationships with both students and faculty toward the production of interesting and impactful scholarship. Outside of research, Danni enjoys binging the latest Netflix release, trying new restaurants, and exploring all that Colorado has to offer! We look forward to having you, Danni!

Several of our students held summer internships in 2021. Here are their experiences!

Julia Beckel’s (3rd year) interest in incorporating health and wellness of vulnerable work populations led her to a summer internship with the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in the Safe, Skilled, Workforce Program. She spent her time there working on a project relating to the health and safety of workers employed through alternative staffing agencies. These alternative staffing agencies are designed to provide staffing services and career development opportunities for workers facing barriers to employment – for example, barriers including housing, education, substance abuse, transportation, or justice system involvement. Julia’s research will be directly beneficial to alternative staffing agencies. She would also like to add that “NIOSH rules!”

Rebecca Clancy (5th year) obtained an internship this past summer as part of the Global Talent Management group within Corporate HR at Johnson & Johnson. More specifically, she served as support for the Succession, Performance, and Assessment (SPA) team, where her main responsibilities consisted of working on different projects that targeted J&J’s initiative of skills measurement and development. Some of these projects included developing a competency model for a global NGO, and conducting a job analysis for various entry roles in different sectors to assess minimum job qualifications to increase selection of employees from varying backgrounds and experiences. She also assisted on a pilot project focused on developing a common language of skills, then mapping these skills and skill proficiency levels to specific jobs to help employees assess and seek out personalized development in these areas. Rebecca says that this was a great opportunity to gain insight on the inner workings of Corporate HR, while also being mentored by some wonderful I/O psychologists who helped make the experience so positive and relevant to her interests. Given her background in occupational health psychology and organizational change, she is also extremely appreciative of the exposure to a more “traditional” I/O space and topics. This experience has reaffirmed that in Rebecca’s future career she hopes to continue working with other I/O psychologists to strengthen her existing skill set and continue developing new ones.

Marisa Rosen (5th year) tried her hand in government and took on a role at the Department of Defense. There, she helped the HR strategy team analyze the results of part one to a multiphase job analysis. She also created a competitive analysis of critical roles at the agency and how other companies qualify prospective candidates. Marisa enjoyed testing the waters in government work and being able to explore the more industrial side of I/O psychology. From this experience, she has learned that she could see her future self in an analytical role doing internal consulting. Marisa realized her passion lies in being able to problem solve statistical issues, see projects through to the end, and having long-term contributions to a team.

Jacqueline Wong (5th year) spent the summer interning for RAND corporation, a research institution committed to demonstrating that research and analysis can help address some of the world’s biggest challenges. She worked alongside I/O psychologists who genuinely care about balancing rigorous research with necessary practicality, and work on projects that would have real impact on policy decisions and work experiences for military personnel. Her primary tasks consisted of working on two major applied projects. The first project involved data analysis and survey development to determine the proficiency and training needs of personnel who are responsible for maintaining safety equipment in the Air Force, and the second was to assess the validity of a new combat fitness test for the Army, including assessing the impact of its implementation for different genders. Given the aspects of safety and gender in her projects, she was able to relate this work back to her interests in occupational health and diversity/inclusion research. Jacqueline had a chance to sharpen her I/O statistics knowledge and skills through practice, while also gaining exposure to some less traditional I/O careers. This internship also helped Jacqueline confirm that conducting work to inform policy is engaging and meaningful to her, and she hopes to continue with this work in the future.

Last spring, Kelsie (6th year) interned at Mattingly Solutions, a DEI consulting firm founded by CSU I/O Psych alum, Dr. Victoria Mattingly. In her role, Kelsie established internal operations such as policies to support work-life stabilization, worked on assessment development and validation of the Mattingly Inclusion and Belonging Assessment, assisted in consulting and coaching sessions, and developed her skills in marketing. Working at Mattingly Solutions provided Kelsie with opportunities to further refine her interests and preferences: the style of leadership she works well under, what content areas are important to her, and focusing her work on connecting research to practice. She describes working there as her dream job! Since starting, she has been promoted to full consultant and plans to stay with Mattingly Solutions after graduating.

This year, Marisa Rosen (5th year), Hannah Finch (3rd year), and Annika Benson (2nd year) are participating in Volunteer Program Assignment (VPA; https://vpa.charlotte.edu/).  VPA is a volunteer consulting program established in 2009 by researchers at UNC Charlotte. VPA is a unique experience where students can practice their consulting skills with volunteer-based organizations. Our students provide pro-bono consulting services to programs such as police organizations, arts, health, and science organizations, health and human services organizations, and humane societies or animal rescue organizations. The goal is for students to apply topics learned in I/O coursework and build practical skills to improve organizational effectiveness, while also providing a service to an organization who may not be able to afford it otherwise. More specifically, our students work with these organizations to take a temperature check of the volunteer program through assessing the volunteers’ perspectives, then provide best practice solutions based on survey findings. It’s a great way to give back to the community while also building client-facing skills along the way.