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NCID Staff

Elizabeth R. Cole

Director of the National Center for Institutional Diversity and University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor of Women's and Gender Studies; Psychology; and Afroamerican and African Studies at the University of Michigan

Professor Cole’s interdisciplinary research is rooted theoretically in women’s studies and methodologically in psychology. She has published a body of theoretical work translating the concept of intersectionality for application in the social sciences. Her empirical work provides exemplars for this approach in areas that include: women’s political attitudes and activism; body image and sexuality among diverse women; and implications of diverse campuses for students’ development of race and gender identity and consciousness.

Professor Cole has served as a department chair, associate dean, and interim dean of LSA for a total of nine years. She is is a member of the editorial boards for Psychology of Women Quarterly and American Psychologist and has served as President of the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (Division 9 of APA).
Fields of study:

  • Intersectionality
  • Qualitative methods
  • Femininity
  • Relationship between political attitudes and behaviors, particularly among African Americans and all women

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