Div. 35 Past President

Margaret L. Signorella, PhD, is a distinguished professor of psychology and women's, gender and sexuality studies at Pennsylvania State University-Brandywine (Penn State) in Media, Penn.

Signorella assumed the presidency of Div. 35 in August 2017, following two terms as its treasurer. Her presidential theme is, “Embracing the Intersectional Future: Crossing Borders, Making Connections, Striving for Justice.”

Signorella's teaching and research focus on the development and consequences of gender and other social stereotypes and on the use of computers and technology. Her teaching also emphasizes involving undergraduates in research.

A recent undergraduate capstone project by Jessica Trent illustrates her mentoring of undergraduate researchers. Trent studied the associations among racial attitudes, attitudes about other social issues and preferences for candidates during the Pennsylvania primary in the spring of 2016. Trent's project was presented in October 2016 at the Africana Research Center Undergraduate Exhibition and in January 2017 at the National Multicultural Conference and Summit.

Her research on the development and consequences of gender stereotypes is widely cited. She recently presented new work in this area at the Gender Development Research Conference (with J.E.O. Blakemore, October 2016). Another area of research is the controversy over single sex education. She co-edited two special issues of the journal Sex Roles (2011, 2013) on this topic and authored or co-authored several other works addressing the debate.

An inaugural member of a global curriculum project, Teaching International, Signorella has presented at state and national conferences with her project colleagues about the benefits of a global perspective on teaching. The particular benefits of teaching about gender with international perspectives were presented in March 2017 at the meetings of the Association for Women in Psychology (with V. Montecinos, E. Mazur and M. Higgins).

A Penn State alumna, Signorella earned her graduate degrees (MS and PhD) from the psychology department at University Park and her undergraduate psychology degree (BS) from the University of Pittsburgh. She has also served twice as the Penn State Greater Allegheny campus director of academic affairs.