Meet Danielle Dickens, Ph.D., C'2009

Biography

Faculty Member Since 2015

Danielle D. Dickens, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Psychology at Spelman College. A proud Spelman alumna, she earned her M.S. and Ph.D. in Applied Social and Health Psychology from Colorado State University. As a Black feminist social psychologist, her interdisciplinary research examines the identity development of Black women and how they navigate and negotiate their complex identities within the workplace, higher education, and STEM environments.

Dr. Dickens is an expert on identity shifting as a coping response to gendered racism, investigating both the psychological benefits and the physical/mental health costs (such as anxiety, depressive symptoms, and disordered eating) associated with identity shifting. She co-developed the validated Identity Shifting for Black Women Scale and is the lead author of Psychology of Black Womanhood (2024, Bloomsbury), the field's first comprehensive textbook dedicated to the sociohistorical and psychological experiences of Black girls and women in the United States.

A dedicated leader in research and governance, Dr. Dickens served as President of the Spelman College Faculty Council (2024–2026) and is the Director of the Gender, Race, and Cultural Empowerment (GRACE) Research Lab. She has secured over $11 million in external research funding as PI and Co-P, including serving as Co-PI for the $8.99M+ HBCU STEM-US Research Center.

Her disciplinary leadership includes serving as Associate Editor for Psychology of Women Quarterly and Consulting Editor for the Journal of Black Psychology. Her excellence has been recognized with the 2024 Spelman Presidential Award for Excellence in Scholarship, the NIH Loan Repayment Program Award from NIMHD, and the 2020 APA Psychology of Black Women Foremothers Mentorship Early Career Award.

Department of Psychology

Awards and Grants

• Recipient of the 2024 Presidential Award for Excellence in Scholarship, Tenured Faculty Member at Spelman College
• Recipient of the 2023 Women of Color Initiative Outstanding Faculty Impact
• Award Recipient of the 2020 APA Division 35 Section 01 Psychology of Black Women: Foremothers Mentorship Early Career Award 
• Recipient of the 2019 APA Division 35 Psychology of Women: Mary Roth Walsh Teaching the Psychology of Women Award
• National Science Foundation Center Grant: HBCU STEM Undergraduate Success (STEM-US) Research Center (Grant Awarded: $9 million) My Role: Co-PI (2020-2026)
• National Science Foundation EiR Grant- Navigating the Double Bind: Assessing the Development and Contribution of Identity Shifting to the Recruitment and Retention of Black Women in STEM Education. My Role: PI (2018-2021)
• Featured on the Society for Teaching of Psychology (STP)’s “This is How I Teach” Blog (2018)
• American Psychological Foundation and Funding Individual Spiritual Health Visionary Grant to Decrease Ethnic and Racial Discrimination in Education. My Role: PI (2016-2017)
• RISEing Star Alumnae Award, Spelman College RISE (Research Initiative Scientific Enhancement) Program (2014-2015)
• Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Graduate Fellowship, Colorado State University (2013-2014)

Curriculum Vitae

Related Link:
Psychology of Black Womanhood

Select Preformances

• Abrams, J. A., Dickens, D. D., Maxwell, M., Smith, T. A., Rutledge, J. D., & Spivey, B. N. (2026). An Exploratory Examination of the Ubiquity of the “Strong Black Woman” Schema. Journal of Black Psychology, 52(1), 113-129.
• Dickens, D., Jackson, D. J., Kelly, J., Campbell, N., Habeeb, Z., Blankson, A. N., & Lindner, A. (2026). Gender Differences in Africultural Coping, Psychological Distress, and Intentions to Persist in STEM among Black Students at HBCUs. Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering, 32(1), 69-96.

Education

• Ph.D., M.S., Colorado State University
• B.A., Spelman College

Courses Taught

• PSY 206: Psychology of Women
• PSY 347: Psychology of Racism
• PSY 409: Competing Selves: Behavioral and Psychological Consequences of Negotiating Identities (Research Seminar)
• PSY 305: Research Methods
• PSY 222: Pathways in Psychology
• PSY 409: Myths, Stereotypes, and Realities of Career-Oriented Black Women (Research Seminar)
• PSY 480: Senior Portfolio and Critical Review

Research Interests

• Intersectionality of social identities
• Underrepresentation in STEM
• Benefits and costs of identity shifting among Black women
• Psychology of stereotyping, prejudice, discrimination, and intergroup processes
• Academic and career development of Black women
• Psychosociocultural influences on health behaviors

Select Publications

Textbook

• Dickens, D. & Stephens, D. (2024). Psychology of Black Womanhood. Rowman & Littlefield.

Articles and Book Chapters

• Hall, N., Dickens, D., Minor, K., Thomas, Z. & Mitchell, C. (2025). The strong Black woman stereotype and identity shifting among Black women in academic and other professional spaces. Women’s Health.
• Dickens, D., Taylor, V., & Holly, R. (2025). An Intersectional approach to understanding Black women’s motivations to attend a Historically Black College for women. Journal of African American Women and Girls in Education, 5(1), 25-41.
• Hall, N., Jones, J., & Dickens, D. (2025). Motivations and justifications of intimate partner violence among young Black women attending HBCUs. Journal of African American Women and Girls in Education, 5(1), 83-107.
• Hall, N., Watson Singleton, N., & Dickens, D. (2025). Stereotype confirmation concerns and anxiety symptoms in African American women: The moderating role of identity shifting. Race and Social Problems.
• Dickens, D. D., Cabirou, L., Womack, V., Farmer, M., & Johnson, N. (2024). The relationship between gendered racism and binge eating symptoms among young adult US Black women: Identity shifting as a mediator. Eating Behaviors.
• Dickens, D. & Hall, N. M. (2024). Identity shifting as resilience for Black women in STEM. In Gender Resilience, Integration and Transformation. Springer Nature.
• Hall, N.M., Dickens, D.D., & Guillaume, C. (2023). Gendered racial microaggressions, acculturation, and identity shifting among Black women in STEM majors. Journal of Negro Education 92(1), 54-65.
• Dickens, D. D., & Stephens, D. P. (2023). Black Women’s Body Image: Implications for Identity Formation and Well-Being. Journal of Black Psychology, 49(6), 747-757.
• Dickens, D., Hall, N., Farmer, M. & Johnson, N. (2023). Diary Study on Microaggressions, Identity Shifting, and Mental Health among Black Women in STEM Graduate Programs During COVID-19: The Mediating Role of Perceived Supervisor Support. Journal of African American Women and Girls in Education, 3(1), 10-30
• Dickens, D., Hall, N., Watson-Singleton, N., Mitchell, C., & Thomas, Z. (2022). Initial construction and validation of the identity shifting for Black women scale. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 46(3), 337-353.
• Jones, M., Womack, V., Jérémie-Brink, G., & Dickens, D. (2021). Gendered racism and mental health among young adult us Black Women: The moderating roles of gendered racial identity centrality and identity shifting. Sex Roles, 85(3), 221-231.     
• Hall-Byers, N., Dickens, D., Lee. A., Corneille, M, Younge, S. (2020). The influence of gendered racial identity centrality on gendered racism and identity shifting among black undergraduate women at a HBCU. In (Eds.), Colorism: Investigating a Global Phenomenon. 
• Dickens, D. & Womack, V. (2020). Unapologetic Millennial Black Women: Authenticity at work as form of resistance. In K. Thomas (Eds.), Diversity and Resistance. 
• Dickens, D. & Chavez, E. (2018). Navigating the workplace: Compromising the costs and benefits of shifting identities among early career Black women at work, Sex Roles,78(11-12), 760-774.

Brief Reports

• Dickens, D., Whitfield, M. (2022). Pay Inequities among Black Women: The Role of Race and Gender in Salary Negotiation. Urban Institute. 
• Pay Inequities Among Black Women
• Closing the Pay Gap Facing Black Women in the US

News and Notes

• Danielle Dickens, Ph.D., Uses Research and Mentorship to Prepare Students for Graduate School and Careers
• Spelman Faculty and Alumnae are Leading the Conversation About the Psychology of Black Womanhood
• Dr. Danielle Dickens Recognized for Her Innovative Teaching Practice
• Psychology Professor Receives Grant to Study Code Switching Among Black Women in STEM
• Dickens Joins Psychology Association's Tour "I am Psyched."
• Spelman College Professor and Alumna Publishes First of its Kind Textbook Addressing Black Womanhood