Dr. Alicia Grandey is a distinguished Liberal Arts Professor of Psychology in the industrial-organizational program at Pennsylvania State University. Over the past 25 years, Dr. Grandey has studied the challenges of emotional labor, work mistreatment (i.e., sexual harassment), and diversity (i.e., sex, race, culture, political). Currently, her work focuses on the intersection of midlife women’s health (i.e., menopause) and leadership. 

Dr. Grandey’s 75+ publications have received best paper awards, NSF grant funding, and over 37,000 citations, which puts her in the top 1% of organizational scientists. She shares her research broadly through media such as Harvard Business Review, WorkLife with Adam Grant, & The Conversation. She recently co-authored the 2025 book Emotionally Charged: How to Lead in the New World of Work (Oxford) to share this expertise with leaders and those they lead.

Penn State University offers expertise in the areas of health, diversity, and team productivity, across different campuses, departments and colleges. Dr. Grandey started this initiative because research must consider all three of these broad issues to truly foster workplace wellness. By partnering with industry, we aim to foster innovative research that can be translated and applied to workplaces today.