Faculty Research Profiles: Lisa Spanierman

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Associate Professor

Counseling Psychology
Educational Psychology
188T Education Building
1310 S. 6th St. MC 708
217 244-0787
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Research Biography

My research focuses on White individuals’ racial attitudes, their responses to societal racism, and the psychosocial costs of racism to Whites (i.e., negative consequences experienced by Whites as dominant group members in an oppressive system). My colleagues and I developed the Psychosocial Costs of Racism to Whites (PCRW) scale, which measures empathic reactions toward racism, White guilt, and irrational fear of people from other racial groups. Presently, we are deepening our understanding of the relevance of these costs of racism to White students in increasingly diverse environments, and also applying costs of racism theory to White counselors and educators.

Degrees

  • Ph.D., Counseling Psychology, University of Missouri-Columbia, 2002
  • M.A., Psychological Counseling, Columbia University, Teachers College, 1997
  • Ed.M., Psychological Counseling, Columbia University, Teachers College, 1997
  • B.S., Psychology, University of Florida, 1990

Key Professional Appointments

  • Associate Professor, Educational Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2008--
  • Assistant Professor, Educational Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2002-2008

Activities & Honors

  • Distinguished Scholar, College of Education, 2008-2009
  • Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award, College of Education, 2008
  • Editorial Board Member, Journal of Counseling Psychology, 2007- present
  • Editorial Board Member, The Counseling Psychologist, 2006- present
  • R. Stewart Jones Award for Outstanding Teacher in Educational Psychology, Department of Educational Psychology, 2004

Grants

  • Principal Investigator, Hardie Collaborative Stipend: Chief Nostalgia: An Interdisciplinary Examination, Bureau of Educational Research, 2007
  • Principal Investigator, Understanding White Trainees' Development of Multicultural Counseling Competence: A Qualitative Investigation, Campus Research Board, 2006
  • Fellow, Examining Multicultural Counseling Competence among White Applied Psychology Trainees: An Emerging Theory, Bureau of Educational Research, 2005

Selected Publications

  • Spanierman, L. B., Poteat, V. P., Wang, Y. F., & Oh, E. (2008). Psychosocial costs of racism to White counselors: Predicting various dimensions of multicultural counseling competence. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 55, 75-88. 
  • Spanierman, L. B., Neville, H. A., Liao, H., Hammer, J., & Wang, Y. F. (2008). Participation in formal and informal campus diversity experiences: Effects on students’ racial democratic beliefs. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 1, 108-125.
  • Spanierman, L. B., Oh, E., Poteat, V. P., Hund, A. R., McClair, V. L., Beer, A. M., & Clarke, A. M. (2008). White university students’ responses to societal racism:  A qualitative investigation. The Counseling Psychologist, 36, 839-870.
  • Poteat, V. P. & Spanierman, L. B. (2008). Further validation of the Psychosocial Costs of Racism to Whites Scale among a sample of employed adults. The Counseling Psychologist, 36, 871-894.
  • Spanierman, L. B., Poteat, V. P., Beer, A. M., & Armstrong, P. I. (2006). Psychosocial costs of racism to Whites: Exploring patterns through cluster analysis. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 53, 434-441.

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