Isis Settles

Isis Settles is Professor of Psychology and Afroamerican and African Studies at the University of Michigan. She received her BA from Harvard College and her PhD in Psychology from the University of Michigan. Dr. Settles taught at Michigan State University for 15 years in the Department of Psychology. Using an interdisciplinary, intersectional framework, her research focuses on two related processes: 1) the experiences, perceptions, and consequences of unfair treatment directed at devalued social group members, especially Black people and women; and 2) protective factors and coping strategies used by members of devalued social groups to counteract experiences of mistreatment, especially those protective factors related to group identity (e.g., racial identity). Two major research projects she is currently working on are an examination of the experiences of faculty of color in academia and the role of diversity in interdisciplinary team dynamics.

Dr. Settles has published extensively in a number of journals including Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, the Psychology of Women Quarterly, and Sex Roles. She has also contributed chapters to a number of handbooks including the Oxford Handbook of Multicultiral Identity, Meaning-Making; Internalized Racism, and African American Identity; and the Handbook of the Psychology of Women. Dr. Settles is a fellow of the Society for the Psychology of Women and the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues and has received several awards including the 2014 Excellence in Diversity Award from Michigan State University and the 2006 Carolyn Payton Early Career Award from the American Psychological Association for her research on Black women. Her research has been funded by the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Science Foundation.