Biography
Emily is a sixth-year PhD student in Clinical-Community Psychology. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and International Studies from the University of Richmond in 2013. Before beginning graduate school, Emily worked as a Faculty Research Assistant in the CAPER Lab at the University of Maryland and as a Research Associate at KNG Health Consulting in the Washington D.C. area.
Research Interests
- White Americans' emotions about race
- Intergroup emotions
- Measurement of emotion in racialized contexts
- Interpersonal aggression and trauma
- Racial justice work in religious settings
Research Description
Emily’s research focuses on White Americans’ attitudes, beliefs, and emotions about race. She is primarily interested in developing methods for measuring emotion in interracial settings, understanding individual and contextual factors that influence emotional responses to race, and leveraging principles in clinical psychology to develop interventions that help White Americans recognize and regulate emotions in interracial settings.
A second line of Emily's research can be broadly described as "Why do people hurt each other, and how do people collectively heal after harm?" This research includes a focus on interpersonal aggression and trauma, as well as on collective healing such as racial reconciliation work in religious settings. Emily seeks to apply a critical lens to this work by analyzing how context, history, and power operate in the interpersonal relationship, and the differential responsibility some parties may have to repair harm. In this vein, she hopes to promote truthful, authentic, and liberatory healing practices.
Education
B.A. in Psychology, International Studies - University of Richmond
M.S. in Psychology - University of Illinois
Awards and Honors
Sarah Mangelsdorf Award for Outstanding Woman Graduate Student
Campus Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Award for Excellence in Teaching by a Graduate Teaching Assistant
Psychology Award for Excellence in Teaching by a Teaching Assistant
List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by Their Students (F'18, S'19, F'19, S'20)
Courses Taught
PSYC 239: Community Psychology
PSYC 340/341: Advanced Community Projects (Cunningham Children's Home Internship)
Highlighted Publications
Blevins, E. J. & Todd, N. R. (2021). Remembering where we’re from: Community- and individual-level predictors of college students’ White privilege awareness. American Journal of Community Psychology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajcp.12572
Mekawi, Y., Todd, N. R., & Blevins, E. J. (2021). Reducing acceptability of racial microaggressions using online videos: The role of perspective-taking and White guilt. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/dhe0000365
Mekawi, Y., Todd, N. R., Yi, J., & Blevins, E. J. (2020). Distinguishing “I don’t see color” from “racism is a thing of the past”: Psychological correlates of avoiding race and denying racism. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 67, 288-302.
Todd, N. R., Yi, J., Blevins, E. J., McConnell, E. A., Mekawi, Y., & Boeh, B. A. (2020). Christian and political conservatism predict opposition to sexual and gender minority rights through support for Christian hegemony. American Journal of Community Psychology, 66, 24-38.
Todd, N. R., Blevins, E. J., & Yi, J. (2020). A social network analysis of friendship and spiritual support in a religious congregation. American Journal of Community Psychology, 65, 107-124.
Johnson, K.A., Seitz-Brown, C., Anderson, K., DeGeorge, D., Blevins, E., & Daughters, S.B. (2017). 1-year post treatment outcomes from a RCT of a behavioral activation treatment for substance use and depression. Drug & Alcohol Dependence, 171, e96.
Magidson, J.F., Lejuez, C.W., Kamal, T., Blevins, E.J., Murray, L., Bass, J., Bolton, P., & Pagoto, S. (2016). Adaptation and implementation of community health worker-delivered behavioral activation for torture survivors in Kurdistan, Iraq. Global Mental Health, 2, 1-10.
