Industrial/Organizational Psychology
The Industrial/Organizational (I/O) Psychology area at LSU has a strong tradition of producing well-trained, highly employable graduates. The mission of this program is to provide graduate students with the highest quality education from the scientist-practitioner perspective, and to enable graduate students to acquire knowledge, skills, and abilities associated with I/O psychological theories, principles, research methods, and ethics. Our graduate program emphasizes research using multiple methodological tools. We offer personalized graduate training for employment in academia, industry, government, and consulting, with the goal of improving organizational effectiveness.
LSU I/O Faculty and Students
Bottom row, left to right: Hannah Perkins, Katelyn Reeves, Sydney Roux, Niloufar Dodengeh. Top row left to right: Dr. Vanessa Burke, Dr. Don Zhang, Dr. Haley Cobb
Core Faculty
Don Zhang, Program Director | RANDM Lab
Current Graduate Students
Tyler Cowley
Katelyn Reeves
Hannah Perkins Stark
Sydney Roux
Destiny Castro
*See Industrial/Organizational Psychology Students page for biographies.
Alumni
- 2012, Tatiana Toumbeva, MA, Senior Scientist, Aptima, Inc
- 2013, Suzanne Booth-LeDoux, PhD, Associate Professor, Southeastern Louisiana University
- 2014, Rachel Hill, PhD, Senior Consultant, VMWare
- 2015, Claire Taylor, PhD, Staff UX Researcher, Google
- 2017, Shane Lowery, PhD, Research Scientist, Amazon
- 2020, Michael Hay, PhD, Research Psychologist, Center for Army Leadership
- 2021, John-Luke McCord, PhD, Senior Consultant, Xecutive Metrics
- 2023, Chelsea Hightower, PhD, Compensation Specialist, Salary.com
- 2023, Sydney Green, PhD, Assistant Professor, Denison University
- 2023, Gino Howard, ABD, Assistant Professor, California State University, San Bernadino
Internships
In following a scientist-practitioner model, internships are encouraged. LSU’s proximity to major metropolitan cities such as Baton Rouge and New Orleans allows for many opportunities in applied work. Recent examples of internship placements include: NASA’s Stennis Space Center, Baton Rouge Parks & Recreation (BREC), the U.S. Government Accountability Office (U.S. GAO) and Amazon Inc. Students also have the opportunity to participate in applied projects with local organizations.
Research
The I/O psychology program at LSU is a research-intensive program. Both students and faculty are actively engaged in research that covers a wide-range of I/O topics, such as employee selection, occupational health, leadership, diversity, and decision-making. Faculty and students typically present their research at conferences such as the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP), the Society of Judgement and Decision-Making (SJDM), Work Stress and Health (WSH), the Work and Family Researchers Network (WFRN), the Academy of Management (AOM), and the American Psychological Association (APA) conferences.
Recent Student Publications
*Faculty publications are listed on their respective faculty pages and lab websites.
*Bold indicates LSU graduate student or alumni (including LSU graduate and undergraduate students)
Brossoit, R. M., Stark, H. P., Crain, T. L., Bodner, T. E., Hammer, L. B., Mohr, C. D. & Shea, S. A. (In Press). Multidimensionality of the PROMIS® Sleep Disturbance 8b Short Form in Working Adult Populations. Sleep Health.
Zhang, D. C., & McCord, J. L. (2023). "That is an interesting question!" Oddball Interview Questions and Organizational Personality Perceptions. Personnel Assessment and Decisions, 9(1), 4.
Green, S. N., Howard, G. J., Stark, H. P., Traylor, H., & Smith, R. W. (2023). The impact of mega-threats and political ideology on African American employees. In E. King, Q. Roberson, & M. Hebl (Eds.), Research on Social Issues in Management (Volume 3): The Future of Diversity and Inclusion. Information Age Publishing.
Howard, G. J., Green, S. N., Traylor, H., Stark, H. P., & Smith, R. W. (2023). The Composition of Multidisciplinary Theories to Achieve Organizational Equity and Inclusion. In E. King, Q. Roberson, & M. Hebl (Eds.), Research on Social Issues in Management (Volume 3): The Future of Diversity and Inclusion. Information Age Publishing.
Howard, G. J., Smith, R. W., Haynes, N. J., & Clark, M. A. (2022). Being mindful about workaholism: Associations between dimensions of workaholism and mindfulness. Occupational Health Science, 1-17.
Howard, G. J., Green, S. N., Stark, H. P., & Traylor, H. D. (2021). Dual-earner couples during the pandemic: Spillover and crossover. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 14(1-2), 251-253.
Green, S., Howard, G., Perkins, H., & Traylor, H. (2021). COVID-19 and employee psychological safety: Exploring the role of signaling theory. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 14(1-2), 199-201.
Harman, J. L., Weinhardt, J., & McCord, J. L. (2020). A Temporal Look at Decision Making. In Griep, Y., Hansen, S. D., Vantilborgh, T. & Hofmans, J. (Eds). Handbook of Dynamic Organizational Behavior.
Kerry, N. T., Murray, D. R., Harman, J. L, & McCord, J. (2020). Political Results: Outcomes of Sporting Events Affect Egalitarian Attitudes and Ingroup Evaluations. Self and Identity. DOI: 10.1080/15298868.2020.1733070
Zhang, D.C., Smith, R. W., & Lobo, S. (2020). Should you sign your review? Open peer-review and review quality. Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on Science and Practice, 13, 45-47. doi: 10.1017/iop.2020.5
McCord, J.L., & Harman, J. L., & Purl, J. (2019). Game-like personality testing: An emerging mode of personality assessment. Personality and Individual Differences.
Zhang, D.C., Zhu, X., Ritter, K.J. & Thiele, A. (2019), Telling stories to communicate the value of the pre-employment structured job interview. International Journal of Selection and Assessment.
Hightower, C., McCord, J., Hay, M., Doyle, B., & Harman, J. L. (2018). I-O Psychology has an Important Role to Play in Gender Differences in Negotiation. Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on Science and Practice.
Resources
Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology
Society of Judgment and Decision-Making
Society for Human Resource Management
Academy of Management
Work Stress and Health
Society for Occupational Health Psychology
Work and Family Researchers Network
Our Commitment to Anti-Discrimination
As a program, we value and respect the differences and commonalities that each person brings to our team of faculty, staff, and students. We strive to foster a training and work environment that is free from discrimination based on race, ethnicity, color, national origin, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, culture, age, disability, religion, or socioeconomic background.
We take great pride in cultivating a culture of engagement, accessibility, openness, fairness, connectedness, and accountability. We encourage all members of our program to deepen their understanding of bias, explore strategies for constructive intervention, and uphold principles of fairness and equal opportunity.
These values align with the ethical and professional standards of the American Psychological Association (APA) and it’s Division 14, the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP).