About me (the academic me)

A brief bio and academic background…

Born and raised in California, I still consider myself 100% Californian despite getting my Bachelor’s degree in Foreign Service at Georgetown University, and subsequently living abroad for over 16 years.  Well, let’s make that 55% Californian and 45% Spanish, since I’ve spent a total of nearly eleven years living in Spain, primarily in and around Madrid, although my first Spanish home was Palencia.  The rest of my time outside the US was spent in Mexico, D. F., Panama, and Managua, Nicaragua.

Norman, Oklahoma

My academic background is less complicated. I’ve spent the last six years in Norman, Oklahoma. I spent five years obtaining a PhD in Psychology (Social, with a minor in Quantitative). I  defended  my dissertation and graduated in May, 2018.  Since last year I have been a postdoctoral fellow in the Imagination and Development lab, to finish up several open projects I’ve got going with my dissertation supervisor, Dr. Jennifer Barnes. We’ve still got a lot to do, and my youngest child graduates high school in May 2020, so I’ll be here this year too. After that, we’ll see.

I love research. I mean I really love it. Not a day goes by when I don’t think of yet another topic I’d just love to investigate. To control my ever-growing backlog of data and papers, I try to focus on issues at the intersection of morality, narrative, and imagination. Fortunately or unfortunately, just about everything can be found in that intersection.

I also love designing studies. Every single step of the way. The spark of a new idea, the brainstorming how to test it, the study design, data collection, data cleaning (okay, not so much data cleaning), statistical analyses, writing it up…

Well I love writing in general, though that’s a subject for my other blogs (jessicaeblack.org).

In fact, outside of academic, my passions are horses (my horse blog: Wild Horses) and writing.  Well, and wine and cheese.  And I cannot imagine life without music and intellectual debate.

If you want to know even more about me, go to my catch-all blog about writing, travel, philosophy, fiction, and everything else: Neither Horses nor Research.

If you cannot find out how to do things in my blog posts, I can now help:

Professor at Bakersfield College

In August 2022 I started a tenure-track position as Professor of Psychology at Bakersfield College. It’s exciting to be part of a new learning community! I’m teaching general psychology, statistics, and Research Methods this term at BC’s Southwest Campus. I’ve met so many interesting and nice new people already, and I’m still in my first year. I’ll be developing liquid syllabi for my courses soon.

In the meantime–students, you can find my office at BCSW 206 (661-541-1533). Best way to contact me is through CANVAS inbox!

Freelance consulting

Starting September, 2020, I will be accepting clients for consulting on research design, data collection, and statistical analyses. My expertise is in the area of experimental psychology (primarily social, although I have used cognitive methods frequently) and, as is evident from this blog, I have extensive experience with quantitative methods and data collection (particularly with Qualtrics).

As such, I am willing to do the following:

1. Consult on study design and implementation, including
   • Experimental and correlational study design
   • Power analyses
   • IRB applications
   • Data collection planning
2. Supervise data collection
   • Set up Qualtrics surveys
   • Set up MTurk with Qualtrics
   • Monitor data collection
3. Analyze data
   • Query me for specifics, but I have experience with measurement and scale development (classical test theory and IRT; EFA, CFA, invariance testing), most Regression models (including logistic, interaction & mediation models…), ANCOVA, mixed models, etc.
4. Write up results
   • Willing to write up method and results in most cases
   • Consult on introductions/lit review, and discussion
   • APA formatting

Fees vary according to specifics of job (discounted for graduate students).

Links to academic information:

That gap in my cv

Open Science Framework profile

Academia.edu

Research Gate

For 2017-2018 I was a Dissertation Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Human Flourishing.

A interview that resulted in a brief mention in a CNN story, Parents, stop feeling so guilty about TV time.

From 2018 to 2020, I continued at OU as a postdoctoral fellow.

In 2020, I moved back to California and began adjuncting at College of the Sequoias. Later, I began to teach for Victor Valley College remotely. For both jobs I had wonderful supervisors who were of great help when I applied to tenure-track positions. I’ve only recently accepted one at Bakersfield College. Very excited to begin there in August!

Disclosure: I am planning to monetize this site eventually. First step involves amazon, hence “As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.”