Brooke Burrows, PhD, recently graduated from UMass Amherst’s Psychology of Peace and Violence Program; she will be an incoming Assistant Professor of Psychology at Appalachian State University in fall of 2024. Her research specializes in social change processes such as collective action, conflict and conflict resolution, and transformative politics. She has also previously worked as a research staff associate at Columbia University’s Center for Justice, where she supported monitoring and evaluation efforts of programs committed to ending mass incarceration and advancing alternatives to the current criminal legal system. In 2020, Brooke was awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship for her work examining how public recounting of suffering can lead to processes of meaning-making and empowerment, with downstream impact for conflict reconciliation outcomes.

As an undergraduate student, Brooke double majored in Psychology and Human Rights from Columbia University, graduating in 2015. She was awarded the Myra Kraft Prize for Superior Academic Achievement in the Study of Human Rights for research on human rights narratives conducted in the Tibetan Exile Community of Dharamshala, India. As a Kenneth Cole Community Engagement Fellow, Brooke worked with the Fortune Society helping to address the issue of food insecurity for formerly incarcerated individuals in New York City.

In her more recent roles as a graduate research and teaching assistant, Brooke has developed curriculum related to social identity and justice, collaborated with international and domestic NGO partners, and gained expertise in both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies. With previous monitoring and evaluation experience as a Peace Corps Armenia Community Development Volunteer and an AmeriCorps Project Conserve Member in Western North Carolina, Brooke is invested in the application of community-based research to better understand and address social and political challenges.

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=Upd-PLoAAAAJ
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brooke-burrows-01b18573/