Danielle Dickens, Ph.D., C'2009

Associate Professor, President of Faculty Council

Faculty, Psychology

Contact Info

ddickens@spelman.edu

404-270-4115

Giles Hall 319

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Tag(s): faculty, psychology

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Biography

Faculty Member Since 2015

Danielle Dickens is an Associate Professor of Psychology.

Danielle Dickens, Ph.D., joined the department of psychology as an assistant professor in 2015. She received her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Spelman College, and her master’s and doctorate degrees in applied social and health psychology from Colorado State University. Dr. Dickens uses an interdisciplinary approach and pulls together her knowledge and experience as an instructor and mentor around issues of race/ethnicity, gender, age, and class in higher education and the workplace.

As a Black feminist social psychologist, her research focuses on the identity development and identity formation of Black women and how they navigate the world. She utilizes qualitative and quantitative methodologies to examine the intersection of multiple identities, specifically race, gender, age, and class identities, with an emphasis on Black women, work, higher education and STEM.

Dr. Dickens is most interested in examining how members of underrepresented groups (e.g., Black women) experience discrimination, the utilization of identity shifting as a coping strategy, and the benefits and costs of identity shifting on Black women’s physical and mental health. In her second line of research, she examines the social-psychological determinants of academic and career development of Black women.

Awards & 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 & 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 & 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

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 & 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