Faculty Research Profiles: Brendesha Tynes

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Assistant Professor

Child Development Division
Educational Psychology
188N Education Building
1310 S. 6th St. MC 708
217 244-3958
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Research Biography

My current work explores adolescent narratives in an online forum designed to discuss racism. The data cover a three-year period and include discussions of participants' differences, similarities and how they have personally been affected by racism. Using content and discourse analysis, I examine participants' argumentation strategies and social reasoning. Future projects include studies of the psychological effects of experiencing racism online on African American and Latino adolescents and the use of educational interventions to combat racial prejudice on and offline.

Degrees

  • Ph.D., Psychological Studies in Education, University of California, Los Angeles, 2005
  • M.A., Education & Social Policy, Northwestern University, 2001
  • B.A., History, Columbia University, 1997

Key Professional Appointments

  • Assistant Professor, Educational Psychology, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 2005--
  • Assistant Professor, African-American Studies, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 2005--

Activities & Honors

  • Health Disparities Loan Repayment Program, National Institutes of Health, 2006-2008
  • Guest on "The Morning Show" Internet Safety Segment, WCIA, Channel 4 Morning Show, 2006
  • American Educational Researchers Association-IES Postdoctoral Fellowship (declined), American Educational Researchers Association-IES, 2005-2008
  • Pre-doctoral Fellow, Ford Foundation, 2002-2005

Selected Publications

  • Tynes, B., Hunter, C., Neville, H. Coleman, N. (2006), Race, class and attributions of responsibility in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The Black Scholar, 36, 4: 32-42.
  • Greenfield, P., Gross, E., Subrahmanyam, K., Suzuki, L., & Tynes, B. (2006). Teens on the internet: Interpersonal connection, identity and information. In R. Kraut, M. Brynnin, & S. Kiesler (Eds.), Computers, phones and the internet: Domesticating information technologies (pp. 185-200). Oxford, UK: University Press.
  • Steen, F. F., Greenfield, P. M., Davies, M. S., & Tynes, B. (2006). What went wrong with the Sims online?: Cultural learning and barriers to identification in a massively multiplayer online role-playing game. In P. Vorderer & J. Bryant (Eds.), Playing video games: Motives, responses, and consequences (pp. 307-323). Mahweh, NJ: Erlbaum.
  • Steen, F. F., Davies, M. S., Tynes, B., & Greenfield, P. M. (2006). Digital dystopia: Player control and strategic innovation in the Sims online. In R. Schroeder & A. S. Axelsson (Eds.), Avatars at work and play: Collaboration and interaction in shared virtual environments (pp. 247-274). Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer.
  • Tynes, B. (2005). Educational psychology and African American children. In C. Palmer (Ed.) Encyclopedia of African American Culture and History: The Black Experience in the Americas, Second Edition. Michigan: Thomson-Gale.