Michelle Hebl
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Michelle (Mikki) Rae Hebl is an applied
psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how indi ...
whose research focuses on workplace
discrimination Discrimination is the act of making unjustified distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong. People may be discriminated on the basis of race, gender, age, relig ...
and barriers experienced by
stigmatized Social stigma is the disapproval of, or discrimination against, an individual or group based on perceived characteristics that serve to distinguish them from other members of a society. Social stigmas are commonly related to culture, gender, rac ...
individuals. She is the Martha and Henry Malcolm Lovett Professor of Psychological Sciences at
Rice University William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranke ...
and affiliated with the Jones Graduate School of Business. Hebl was the 2016 recipient of Baylor University's national
Robert Foster Cherry Award The Robert Foster Cherry Award is a prize given biennially by Baylor University for "great teaching". The Cherry Award honors professors at the College or University level, in the English-speaking world, with established track records of teaching ex ...
for great teaching. She has received more than 20 teaching awards, including Rice University's George R. Brown Prize for Superior Teaching (multiple years), and the Distinguished Teaching Contributions Award from the Society of Industrial/Organizational Psychology (2008). After receiving the George R. Brown Certificate of Highest Merit (2015), Hebl was retired from receiving further teaching awards from Rice University.


Biography

Hebl in a native of
Pardeeville, Wisconsin Pardeeville is a village in Columbia County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 2,115 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area. Geography Pardeeville is located at (43.536575, -89.298045). According ...
. She received her B.A. degree in psychology with honors at
Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith (Smith College ...
in 1991, where she studied with Professor Phil Peake. Hebl completed a master's degree in psychology at
Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...
in 1993. She then attended
Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...
where she obtained her Ph.D. in psychology in 1997 under the supervision of Robert E. Kleck. Her dissertation titled "Nonstigmatized individuals' reactions to the acknowledgment and valuation of a stigma by overweight individuals and physically disabled individuals" began a line of research on social stigma. Hebl joined the faculty of Rice University in 1998. She has received multiple research grants, including funding from the
National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...
, the
National Cancer Institute The National Cancer Institute (NCI) coordinates the United States National Cancer Program and is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is one of eleven agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ...
, and an ADVANCE award from the
National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...
. In 2014, Hebl received the
Academy of Management The Academy of Management is a professional association for scholars of management and organizations that was established in 1936. It publishes several academic journals, organizes conferences, and provides others forums for management professors ...
's Sage Award for Scholarly Contributions. Hebl is an avid long-distance runner who has completed a
marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...
in every state and on every continent.


Research

Hebl's research program examines social stigma and
discrimination Discrimination is the act of making unjustified distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong. People may be discriminated on the basis of race, gender, age, relig ...
in the workplace and other professional settings, including
health care Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health profe ...
and
customer service Customer service is the assistance and advice provided by a company to those people who buy or use its products or services. Each industry requires different levels of customer service, but in the end, the idea of a well-performed service is that ...
. Stigmatized groups may include, e.g., pregnant women, members of racial and ethnic minorities, and individuals with disabilities or
obesity Obesity is a medical condition, sometimes considered a disease, in which excess body fat has accumulated to such an extent that it may negatively affect health. People are classified as obese when their body mass index (BMI)—a person's we ...
. Hebl and her students have studied discrimination experienced by members of the
LGBT community The LGBT community (also known as the LGBTQ+ community, GLBT community, gay community, or queer community) is a loosely defined grouping of lesbian, gay men, gay, bisexuality, bisexual, transgender, and other queer individuals united by a comm ...
and pregnant women completing job applications, as well as obese patients receiving medical treatment, including efforts to reduce discrimination against these groups. Hebl reports that people often experience subtle forms of discrimination in these settings that have considerable impact on their lives. In her work on
racial bias Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...
, she focuses on how support for
diversity, equity, and inclusion Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is a conceptual framework claims to promote the fair treatment and full participation of all people, especially in the workplace, including populations who have historically been under-represented or subject ...
(DEI) initiatives might reduce inequality among White and Black professionals. However, people are affected by various subtexts in DEI conversations (such as hazy definitions of diversity, passive language, and deficiency-oriented descriptions). By focusing on this under-researched barrier to DEI activities, the researchers wanted to show how organizations might live up to their stated commitment to advance true diversity and equity.


Representative publications

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References


External links


Faculty profile
at Rice University * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hebl, Mikki 21st-century American psychologists American women psychologists He Dartmouth College alumni Gender equality Living people People associated with feminism Rice University faculty Sexual harassment Texas A&M University alumni Year of birth missing (living people)