User:Thebuettnerfans/sandbox

= Diana Sanchez =

Diana Sanchez is an Assistant Professor of Social Psychology at Rutgers University.

Biography
Diana Sanchez was known as the feminist in high school. She was born of a Puerto RIcan father and a Slovak mother which caused her sensitivity towards jokes about disadvantaged individuals and minorities. Sanchez’s youth was very difficult and became more challenging when her mother died of cancer when she was 17 years old. Four years later, when Sanchez was 21, her father died of a stroke. Sanchez believes that academia became her home away from home when she lost both of her parents.

Sanchez discovered her passion for psychology when she realized she had become the psychologist of her family. Her concentration in the area of social psychology was influenced by the discrimination her father received while in the workplace. Due to her multiracial background, Sanchez is also able approach different psychological questions from a different perspective.

Sanchez is married and has two kids. She says that it has become very difficult raising the kids while balancing in her work as a professor. However, she believes that through persevering and completing her tenure-track, she soon will be able to provide both her family and her job with the attention that they both need.

Education
Diana Sanchez attended Bard College as an undergraduate on the Excellence and Equal Cost 4-year Scholarship. The scholarship allowed her to pay state college prices instead of private s chool education because she graduated her high school class as the top 10%. At Bard College, she also received Psychology Department Award for Excellence and Muriel De Gre Award. During her college time, one of her professors, Dr. Tracie Stewart motivated her to be involved in social science research. With her professor’s help, she started to research more on the psychology of women from a social-psychological perspective and joined Women’s studies and Social-Psychological program.

After graduating from Bard College, Diana Sanchez chose University of Michigan to receive her PhD in social psychology and women’s studies. At University of Michigan, Sanchez received many awards including Perry Roberson Department Award, Rackham International Travel Award, Barbara Oleshansky Department Award, National Women’s Studies Association Travel Award, and Michigan Teaching Fellow Award. Since her graduation from University of Michigan, she has been a member of the social psychology department at Rutgers University.

Contributions
Currently, Sanchez is researching two major topics, the first of which studies the impact that gender constructs have on interpersonal relationships, and the second of which studies how biracial identities impact and challenge existing preconceptions of race identity. An intersection of these two research concentrations has led her to also examine the complexities of the discrimination faced by women of color, and how this discrimination might deter them from getting proper healthcare.

Sanchez admits to having faced some opposition with her areas of research from numerous groups of people. Among the general populace, people tend to be resistant towards criticism of gender norms, because they are so ingrained in society. Among fellow psychologists, research on sexuality is often not taken seriously. And, among people from both liberal and conservative circles, biracial identities are typically not acknowledged as legitimate or worthy of concern.

Her research persists, however, and in her lab, she continues to study how the gendered experience impacts body perception, stigmatization, relational self-concepts, psychological health, perceptions of vulnerability, motivation, and more.

= Citations =


 * http://in-sightjournal.com/2013/08/28/dr-diana-sanchez-associate-professor-of-psychology-rutgers-university/
 * http://sciencewomen.rutgers.edu/node/411