Hi, I’m Katie TOmlin.
I am an educator and a scientist.
My journey began with curiosity… curiosity about why people - even very good, very smart people - often struggle to get along when they disagree. This “wondering” led me to a PhD in Social Psychology from Princeton University, studying conflict escalation and interpersonal perceptions of bias.
Following grad school, I spent two wonderful years as a post doctoral researcher and adjunct assistant professor at Columbia Business School. During this time, my interest in both psychology and management solidified. I broadened my perspective and became interested in decision-making, intergroup feedback, and negotiation.
For six years, I worked as a faculty member in a management department, only to realize that I was out of place… my true home was in psychology. By this time, my identity as an industrial/organizational psychologist was complete. I/O psychology provided me the space to apply my love of both science and practice.
As the director of Fairfield University’s graduate program, I am able to follow my passion for teaching and shaping future I/O psychology practitioners.
Please explore this website to learn more about me and about the work I am currently doing at Fairfield.
My Interests
My interests inform both my teaching and my research. I/O psychology lies at the intersection of several fields (social psychology, management, communication), there are so many things to get excited about. Here, I list the issues that are most central for me.
Ethics & Equity
In all of my courses, ethics is a key component. Whether discussing business practices or research, my students will always be pushed to explore and understand the ethical challenges that people face, as well as the best practices to avoid ethical pitfalls in research and in practice.
Conflict & Negotiation
If we’ve ever chatted about my research, I have probably exclaimed at one point or another that, “I love conflict.” It is the topic that drew me into psychology, and I am still fascinated by ways that conflict can help us or hurt us.
Performance Feedback
I believe strongly in the value of developmental feedback… without feedback, we cannot know where or how to improve. Yet, in the real world, feedback is often mired by biases (or, is completely absent). I am especially interested in feedback across group lines.
Decision-Making
People are constantly making decisions, in both their business and personal lives. Yet, often decisions are suboptimal. I am interested in the myriad of factors that shape people’s decisions and the possibility of leveraging that knowledge to strengthen people’s outcomes.