Majel Baker, PhD

I am a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Institute for Research on Women & Gender working with Sara McClelland,  Assoc. Professor in Women’s & Gender Studies and Psychology. I completed my PhD in Counseling Psychology at the University of Minnesota Department of Psychology after completing my APA-accredited clinical internship at University of St. Thomas Counseling and Psychological Services. 

My research agenda has a longstanding focus on issues disproportionately impacting women in college, including sexism in STEM fields and interpersonal trauma like sexual assault. My work has been published in high-quality journals, including two first author publications in my fields’ flagship journal, Journal of Counseling Psychology. My work on sexism specifically was funded for three years by the highly competitive National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program. My teaching relies on my expertise in women’s psychology, and I have assisted with and instructed classes such as Psychology of Women & Gender and Women & Work. I am also interested in psychological research methods and techniques, as I have used a diverse array of quantitative methods in my publications, such as measure development, daily diaries, latent class analysis, structural equation modeling, multilevel modeling, and longitudinal designs. 

My postdoctoral work will continue to emphasize issues affecting women while receiving top-notch training in feminist psychology, intersectional research, qualitative methods, and mixed-methods research. Current projects include examining the intersectional racism and sexism present in how researchers measure the public's attitudes towards abortion (learn more in an interview with Prof. Sara McClelland here) and promoting data quality in survey research of sexual violence and reproductive health.

I am originally from the Sacramento area of California and completed my Bachelor's degree in Psychology at the University of San Francisco. I worked in private industry at a public policy research consultation firm after graduation and have continued to provide statistical consultation services throughout graduate school. In my free time, I like to read, listen to political podcasts, and pilot small airplanes.