Melissa R. Herman

|Senior Lecturer
Academic Appointments
  • Senior Lecturer in Psychological and Brain Sciences

  • Adjunct in Public Policy, Government, and Education

Melissa Herman is an interdisciplinary scholar whose research focuses on multiracial youth and how their identities affect their development in areas such as achievement, mental health, and friendship choices.  She also studies perceptions of multiracial people and whether observers' perceptions are congruent with multiracial people's self-identifications.  One recent project examined attitudes toward multiracial people, including whether multiracial people should be protected under affirmative action / anti-discrimination policies, and comparing people's global versus personal attitudes toward different types of interracial relationships.  

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Contact

646-3887
Winifred Raven, Room 206
HB 6207

Department(s)

Education, Psychological and Brain Sciences

Education

  • B.A. Wesleyan University
  • M.A. Stanford University
  • Ph.D. Stanford University

Selected Publications

  • Herman, M. (2022). Doctors' Perceptions of Multiracial Adolescents. Social Sciences, 11(4), 146. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci11040146

  • Herman, M.R., 2020, "Methods of Measuring Multiracial Americans," The Palgrave International Handbook of Mixed Racial and Ethnic Classification, Palgrave/MacMillan.

  • "Both personal and public:  Measuring attitudes toward intermarriage," with Mary Campbell, Journal of Social Issues, 71, 4, 712-733 (2015). 

  • "I wouldn't, but you can: attitudes toward interracial marriage," with Mary Campbell, Social Science Research, 41, 343-358 (2012).

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Speaking Engagements

  • University of Tiraspol, April 2017, "Achievement motivation," a presentation for faculty and students of English language.

  • Alecu Russo State University of Moldova at Balti, April, 2017, "Current trends in American writing: language for discussing race, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, and disability," presented at the Third International Symposium on English Language.

  • University of Moldova, March 2017, "Explaining the test score gap between Black and White Americans," presented at a conference on African American History.

  • Duke University, Sociology Department, March 2009, "I wouldn't, but you can: attitudes toward interracial marriage."

  • Northwestern University, Psychology Department, October 2008, "Multiracial Phenotypes: Physicians' perceptions of race."

  • University of Illinois, Chicago, African American Studies and Sociology Departments, October 2008, "Ethnic Boundary Crossing and Social Exclusion: Perceptions of Multiracial Americans"

  • University of Iowa, Sociology Department, December 2007, "Multiracial Phenotypes in an Experimental Study: How observer characteristics affect perceptions of race."

  • Dartmouth Center for the Advancement of Learning, October 2007, "Status and Stereotypes" a workshop on using Complex Instruction to combat status orders and stereotypes in the classroom.

Selected Works & Activities

  • Elected Positions

    Council Member, Children and Youth section of the ASA, 2007-2010

    Executive Council Member: Society for Research on Adolescence, 1996-98

  • Consulting

    Research consultant, Minority Student Achievement Network, 2002-2003

    Consultant and guest speaker, Upper Valley Teacher's Institute, 2005-2009

    Research consultant to two studies of minority achievement and retention in math, science, and technology: Brian Pogue of Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth, and Vicki May of DCAL (Dartmouth Center for the Advancement of Learning)

    Research associate, Inverness Research Associates, California Subject Matter Projects, 1994-1995

  • Reviewing

    Consulting Editor, Child Development, Special Issue on Race, 2005-06

    Article reviewer for the American Sociological Review, Child Development, Sociology of Education, Social Forces, Social Problems, Social Science Research, American Journal of Sociology, Journal of Research on Adolescence, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology, Self & Identity, Teacher's College Record, Journal of Adolescence, and Social Psychology Quarterly

    Grant reviewer for the National Science Foundation

    Book reviewer for Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, and Routledge Press