I-O Psychology Newsletter Spring 2026

Program Director Note

Dear Alumni,

Warm greetings from Bowling Green! As part of our annual newsletter, we’re delighted to reconnect with you and share a few highlights from the past year. The University as a whole has enjoyed a great deal of national attention recently, and it’s been exciting to see BGSU in the spotlight. From the high-profile hiring of Eddie George, a Heisman Trophy winner, as head coach of the football team to the unexpected rise of Pudge the Cat, who has taken social media by storm, there’s been a lot of positive momentum and visibility across campus.

Within the BGSU I-O community, we continue to be inspired by the resilience and forward progress of our students, faculty, and alumni. There is much to celebrate - from ongoing innovative research and community partnerships to the continued growth of our doctoral program as we welcomed a new cohort of talented students. We are especially grateful for the many ways our alumni have stayed engaged, whether through in-person events, virtual presentations, or ongoing collaborations. These connections strengthen our community and help create new opportunities for students and alumni alike. Thank you for remaining such an important part of the BGSU I-O community. We look forward to staying connected and sharing more updates with you in the year ahead.

Warm regards,
Clare Barratt
Director, I-O Doctoral Program

IPRA Report

I am excited to share that a publication about the work of IPRA was published in the August 2025 issue of TIP: From Research to Reality: Key Takeaways for Academia–Industry Collaborations. This was based on a 2025 SIOP session that involved academic and industry partners from our program and others, discussing the challenges and opportunities involved in collaborations, something that we have been doing in IPRA for years. It was great to be part of the conversation and part of the publication as well.

In terms of projects, we have continued working with the City of Gahanna (outside of Columbus), developing pre-employment tests for city jobs, writing items, conducting focus groups, and helping to score these tests. This is important basic work that provides students with real-world test development.

Our students are hungry for more projects, and so if you have any need in your organization, we have capacity for projects big and small. We love working with alumni as it is a way to keep connections going across academic generations and a way for you to get to know our graduate students (read, future colleagues). If you have any ideas about projects, please reach out (mzickar@bgsu.edu or 419.378.1574).

Mike Zickar
Sandman Professor of Industrial-Organizational Psychology

Student Highlights

Kristi Azali

Despite only being here for a few months, I’m pleasantly surprised by how inviting everyone in the program has been. I don’t think I’ve ever been in such a collaborative environment where everyone is genuinely trying to lift each other up, whether it be through group study sessions or simply by providing emotional support. Coming all the way from Texas, I thought it would take a lot longer for me to adjust, but I’m happy to say that I’m starting to be able to call Bowling Green my home!

Cameron Best

Bowling Green has been so incredibly welcoming and encouraging. Although I’ve only been here a few short months, I can confidently say that I have made many new friends and invaluable connections. Both the students and professors are supportive in every way. I am so grateful that my graduate school journey brought me to BGSU, and I am thrilled to be part of this program.

Emmalee Diederichs

Being in graduate school has always been a major goal of mine, and I could not be happier to be part of the graduate community here at Bowling Green State University. The program is unique in the way that every member shows unconditional support in both academic and social spheres. The professors and students cultivate a sense of belonging and community that continually reminds me that I’m right where I’m meant to be. I’m thrilled to learn from this amazing group of scholars and to contribute my own perspective as a developing scientist-practitioner. Ay Ziggy!

Spencer Long

I couldn't have asked for a better start to the program. I'm so grateful for the department's welcoming atmosphere, made truly special by my collaborative and supportive classmates. I’ve enjoyed getting involved in our research groups, and our faculty's mentorship has already been instrumental in helping me shape my future research. I feel confident this program is giving me the strong foundation I need for my career.

Sean Osborn

I've been consistently blown away by the genuine kindness and enthusiastic support from everyone here. Every single person I've encountered, student or professor, has proven themselves to be a notably wonderful human being. I'm truly blessed to be part of such an incredible community.

Jake Solka

It is refreshing to feel welcomed within such an inclusive environment as I start my first semester. Faculty and student peers actively support one another's scientific strengths and are attentive to help sharpen areas for improvement. We are eager to create many shared research opportunities both in and outside of our comfort zones and celebrate each other's achievements. I am delighted and grateful to grow within this program and look forward to doing my part for our collective success!

Publications

Balzer, W.K., & Stanton, J.M. (2025). Patricia Cain Smith. In L. Koppes Bryan and A. J. Vinchur (Eds.). Key thinkers in industrial-organizational psychology. Routledge Press/Taylor & Francis Group.

Cascio, M. A., Knopes, J., Warner, B., & McKee, E. (2025). Team switching in peer-based learning groups: Academic performance and medical student perspectives. Medical Science Educator, 1-6.

Coulter-Kern, M., & Marie, H. (2026). Facilitating research: NVivo Lab Manual for undergraduate students. In Gurung, R.A.R. & Byers, S.M. (Eds.), Teaching Research Methods in Psychology. Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd.

Hernandez, I., Melson-Silimon, A., & Zickar, M. J. (2025). Defining who is a worker: Why IO psychology should extend consideration to nonhuman animals that labor for humans. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 1-28.

Highhouse, S. (2025). Robert M. Guion (1924-2012). In L. Koppes Bryan & A. J. Vinchur (Eds.), Key Thinkers in Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Routledge Press/Taylor & Francis Group.

Ju, X., Solka, J., Weber, K., Vydiswaran, V. V., Lin, L. A., Bonar, E. E., & Fernandez, A. C. (2025). Unhealthy alcohol use detection in electronic health records: A comparative study using natural language processing. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 277, 112920.

Keith, M. G., Strah, N., & Sorensen, M. B. (2025). The beginning of the end for equal employment opportunity?: What the repeal of EO 11246 means for organizations. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 18(3), 311-319.

Keith, M. G., & Zickar, M. J. (2025). Academic freedom under siege: How state legislatures are reshaping higher education. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 18(3), 378-386.

Lefkowitz, J., Zickar, M. J., Cascio, W. F., & Kochan, T. (2026). IO psychology and labor: Making up for benign neglect, antipathy, and missed opportunities. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 1-17.

McAbee, S.T. (2025). Walter Dill Scott: 1869-1955. In L. Koppes Bryan & A. J. Vinchur (Eds.), Key Thinkers in Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Routledge Press/Taylor & Francis Group.

McAbee, S.T., & Zickar, M.J. (2025). Abraham Maslow: 1908-1970. In L. Koppes Bryan & A. J. Vinchur (Eds.), Key Thinkers in Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Routledge Press/Taylor & Francis Group.

Ock, J., & McAbee, S. T. (2025). Measurement invariance of the HEXACO-100 across gender groups: A three-sample study. Assessment, 32, 720-737.

Polavarapu, A., Zickar, M. J., Atoba, O. A., Blacksmith, N., Andrews, T. C., Hein, M. B., ... & Wagner, D. (2025). From Research to Reality: Key Takeaways for Academia-Industry Collaborations. TIP: The Industrial-Organizational Psychologist, 63(2), 53-57.

Salter, N. P., Polavarapu, A., Huynh, C., & Blocker, L. (2025). Identity integration: Aligning sexual orientation and gender identity with leadership. Leadership. Advance Online Publication.

Samo, A., Garrido, L. E., Abad, F. J., Golino, H., McAbee, S. T., & Christensen, A. P. (2026). Revisiting the IPIP-NEO personality hierarchy with taxonomic graph analysis. European Journal of Personality, 40, 369-390.

Samo, A., & Highhouse, S. (2026). The information needed to refine constructs is already there – we just need to use it. Industrial and Organizational Psychology.

Samo, A., Stevenor, B. A., & McAbee, S. T. (2026). Examining measurement invariance across gender in the BFAS-40. Personality and Individual Differences, 255, 113695.

Silkey, A. J., Mahon, G., & Keith, M. G. (2026). Collective action at work: It's time to count I-O Psychology in. Industrial and Organizational Psychology.

Smith, C. E., McAbee, S. T., Freier, L. M., Huang, S., & Albert, M. A. (2025). Presenteeism pressure: The development of a scale and a nomological network. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 98(1), e12542.

Stevenor, B. A., Zickar, M. J., Robie, C., & Jacobs, R. R. (2026). Exploring the relation between IRT estimates of within-person variability in personality and job performance. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 99, e70094.

Vesper, D., Zickar, M. J., O’Brien, L., O’Neill, R., Dollard, M. F., Flynn, K., ... & Barling, J. (2025). Occupational health and labor unions. Occupational Health Science, 9(3), 835-864.

Wiedenroth, A., Connelly, B. S., McAbee, S. T., & Fang, R. (2025). What defines traits, reputations, and identity? Personality item content in multi-rater judgments. European Journal of Personality, 39, 70-89.

Zickar, M. J. (2025). History of publishing in industrial-organizational psychology. In N. Bowling & M. Shoss (Eds.), How to Conduct and Publish High-Quality Research in Industrial-Organizational Psychology, 20-29.

Zickar, M. J. (2025). Building a better world, building a more humane workplace: a critical biography approach to utopian Edward Bellamy. Journal of Management History. Advance Online Publication.

Zickar, M. J. (2025), The evolving history of retirement within the United States. In M. Wang (Ed.), Oxford Handbook of Retirement, 2nd Edition.

Zickar, M. J., & McAbee, S. T. (2025). John Flanagan: 1906-1996. In L. Koppes Bryan & A. J. Vinchur (Eds.), Key Thinkers in Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Routledge Press/Taylor & Francis Group.

SIOP 2026 Presentations/Posters

Blocker, L., Salter, N. P., Polavarapu, A., & Forman, J. (2026). Diversity and disruption: LGBTQ leaders’ potential for creativity. In Blocker, L. (chair). The creative catalyst: Experiences that drive innovation at work. [Symposium]

Bush, A. L., Rohr, S. K., & Thomson, H. M. (2026). Retiring on your own terms: How voluntariness shapes sleep, affect, and satisfaction. [Poster]

Cannon, J., Strah, N. M., Doshi, D., Keith, M. G., & Williams, N. (2026). A legal perspective on job analysis (and content validity): Thematic evidence from a comprehensive review of court cases from 1970 to today. [Poster]

Denecker, L. & Zickar, M. (2026). Speaking up or staying silent? The role of political ideology fit in employee voice behavior. In N. A. Bowling (co-chair) & I. M. Hughes (co-chair) The elephant (and donkey) in the room: National politics and the world of work. [Symposium]

Ellis, B. D. (co-Chair), Kell. H. J. (co-Chair), McAbee, S. T., Nye, C. D., Ones, D. S, & Putka, D. J. (2026). Validity at a crossroads: Navigating AI’s impact on theory and practice. [Panel Discussion]

Flak, S. R., Smith, C. E., & Barratt, C. L. (2026). The structure of workplace support networks: Implications of support exchange relationship and network profiles for work-family conflict. In Rohr, S. K. (co-chair) & Smith, C. E. (co-chair). New perspectives on work-family support. [Symposium]

Genzer, B., Jordan, B. Scotese, T., Kraus, A., Ponce-Pore, I., & Clancy, R. (2026). Udderly controversial: Debating engagement’s sacred cows. [Alternative Session]

Gonzalez, M. F. (co-chair), Wu, I.-H. (co-chair), & Ravid, D. (co-chair), Keith, M. G., Landers, R., Moss, A., Pitcher, B., & Tay, L. (2026). A panel about panels: New trends in crowdsourced research panels. [Panel Discussion]

Henderson, A. A, Wall, L. J., & Zickar, M. J. (2026). Political affiliation similarity and contextual performance. [Poster]

Hughes, I. M., Bowling, N. A., Keith, M. G., Brossoit, R. M., & Bazzoli, A. (2026). The work-related consequences of employees’ political media consumption. In N. A. Bowling (co-chair) & I. M. Hughes (co-chair) The elephant (and donkey) in the room: National politics and the world of work. [Symposium]

Levey, Z. J., & McAbee, S. T. (2026). Exploring the validity of scoring situational judgement tests with novices. [Poster]

Lippard, S. P., Rohr, S. K., Zheng, H., & Sorenson, J. C. (2026). Outcomes of benevolent ageism: A meta-analysis. [Poster]

Long, S. & Brooks, M. E. (2026). Interviewer type and gender similarity effects on applicant reactions to job interviews. [Poster]

McEachern, P. J. (Co-chair), Koziel, R. J. (Co-chair), Alliger, G. M. (Co-chair), Broderick, G., Fletcher, K., Hammer, L., Harrison, R., Kath, L., Kuykendall, L. E., London, M., Phillips, J., Reindel, R., Zickar, M. J., & Catlin, M. (2026). (Re)Connecting occupational health psychology with labor unions. [Alternative Session]

McClure Johnson, T. K. (co-chair), Tosto, P. A. (co-chair), Champine, M., Cotton, J. D., Diduch, K., Garcia Prieto Palacios Roji, R., Prabhu, N., & Theys, E. R. (2026). Strategies for Building an AI-Literate Workforce. [Panel Discussion]

Mohedano-Jurado, M. (co-chair), Robertson, M. M. (co-chair), Grant, R. (Panelist), Yang, Z. (Panelist), Yu, S. (Panelist), & Zhang, F. (Panelist) (2026). Still here! Navigating remoteness during graduate school. [Alternative Session]

Polavarapu, A., Barratt, C. L., Bonifas, C. H., Young, M. A., & Salter, N. P. (2026). Predicting burnout, preserving recovery: Impact of non-standard work schedules for low wage workers. In S. Jeong (co-chair) & C. H. D. Chang (Discussant). Working against the clock: The impact of non-standard work schedules. [Symposium]

Polavarapu, A. (co-chair), Sorensen, M. B. (co-chair), Yu, S. (co-chair), Guttadauria, J., Kemp, A., Muflahi, Z., Nesnidol, S., Rada-Bayne, T., & Wicke, D. (2026). Insight to impact: The lifecycle of employee surveys. [IGNITE Session]

Polavarapu, A. (co-chair), Yu, S. (co-chair), Salter, N. P. (co-chair), Brooks, M. E., Foster, G., Isaacs, A., Kemp, A., & Roman, J.-L. R (2026). The career carousel: Insights into the job hopping phenomenon. [Panel Discussion]

Rohr, S. K., Barratt, C. L., & Warner, B. M. (2026). When helping hurts: The behavioral impact of support imbalance. In K. Black (co-chair), J. Lamprecht (co-chair), & A. Hetrick (discussant). The Personal and Organizational Costs of Unhelpful and Imbalanced Support at Work. [Symposium]

Silkey, A. J., Ho, B., & Keith, M. G. (2026). An interpretable AI approach to human vs. AI-generated responses to creativity tasks. In B. Ho (Co-Chair), A. Silkey (Co-Chair), & M. G. Keith. Creativity meets Large Language Models: Generative AI in creativity research. [Symposium]

Steckler, M., Goswami, A., Fiedler, D., Ponce-Pore, I., O’Gallager, R., & Sears, A. (2026). Smarter Listening, Better Outcomes: Unlocking EX with AI. [Panel Discussion]

Tatel, C. E., Yu, S., Blue, A., & Harter, J. K. (2026). Structured Interviews and Job Performance: A meta-analytic study of moderators. [Poster]

- Identified as a top-rated poster for the Selection/Assessment/Individual Differences Content Area Theme Track

Wall, L. J., Amistad, C. J., Sorensen, M. B., Keith, M. G., & Highhouse, S. (2026). How to fill in the “What is your desired salary” blank on job applications?. [Poster]

Wall, L. J., Denecker, L. L., Lynch, W. H., McAbee, S. T., Dubow, E. F., & Zickar, M. J. (2026). Development of the Endorsement of Anti-Corporate Violence Scale. [Poster]

Wall, L. J., Denecker, L. L., Das, G., & Zickar, M. J. (2026). Prompt and circumstance: Effect of prompt information on LLM-generated pre-hire tests. [Poster Presentation]

Warner, B. M., & Barratt, C. L. (2026). The impact of giving and receiving support on the work-family domain. In S. K. Rohr (co-chair) & C. E. Smith (co-chair). Reimagining Family-Supportive Workplaces: Emerging Models, Populations, and Patterns. [Symposium]

Wheelock, C. B. (co-chair), Childers, M. (co-chair), Freier, L., Highhouse, S., O’Connor, M., Parr, A., & Winter, J. (2026). Hiring Sweet Spot: Practicality and Ideals in Integrating Assessments and Interviews. [Panel Discussion]

Zheng, H., Rohr, S. K., Warner, B. M., Thomson, H. M., & McAbee, S. T. (2026). Development of the Multitasking Preference at Work Scale. [Poster]

Program News

Scott Highhouse re-appointed for a new term on the Exam Committee for the Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards (ASPPB)
Melissa Keith promoted to Associate Professor
Bill Balzer awarded the 2025 Lean HE Global Impact Award
Sarah Rohr received the 2025 Lowell Schipper Memorial Award
Aarti Polavarapu received the 2025 Bonnie A. Sandman Ph.D. Award
Melissa Sorensen received the 2025 Institute for Psychological Research and Application (IPRA) Award
Lindsay Denecker tied for 1st place in the 2025 3 Minute Thesis Competition
Aarti Polavarapu received the award for People's Choice Podium Presentation at University of Cincinnati National Institute for Occupational Health Education and Research Center Pilot Research Project Training (UNC ERC PRP)
Alisha Silkey awarded the Michael Doherty I-O Psychology Award to fund research on Judgment and Decision Making
Sarah Rohr, Jung Zheng, Barbara Warner, Hannah Thomson, and Sam McAbee awarded a Research Enhancement Award (REA) Grant
Lucas Wall, Lindsay Denecker, William Lynch, Sam McAbee, Eric Dubow, and Mike Zickar awarded a Research Enhancement Award (REA) Grant
Clare Barratt, Sarah Rohr, and Barbara Warner received a Pilot Research Program Grant funded through NIOSH
- Barbara received the distinguished poster presentation award at PRP symposium

Updated: 04/23/2026 02:19PM