Joan C. Chrisler

Joan Chrisler was the 2013 recipient of the Nancy Batson Nisbet Rash Faculty Research Award, presented annually to a faculty member selected on the basis of outstanding scholarly or artistic accomplishments. She was recognized for the depth, breadth and sheer quantity of her original research; for winning multiple awards; for earning national and international recognition by her peers; and for her ability to collaborate with Connecticut College students and faculty and with national and international peers. 

Chrisler was also the recipient of the College's 2009 Helen Brooks Regan Faculty Leadership Award, presented annually to a tenured faculty member whose outstanding service in a leadership role exemplifies the College’s commitment to shared governance, democratic process and campus community development.

She has published fourteen books and dozens of journal articles and book chapters. Her books are The Routledge International Handbook of Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health (2020, Routledge), Woman’s Embodied Self: Feminist Perspectives on Identity and Image (2018, APA Books), The Wrong Prescription for Women: How Medicine and Media Create a “Need” for Treatments, Drugs, and Surgery (2015, Praeger), Women and Aging: An International, Intersectional, Power Perspective (2015, Springer), Reproductive Justice: A Global Concern (2012, Praeger); Handbook of Gender Research in Psychology [Volume 1 - Gender Research in General & Experimental Psychology; Volume 2 - Gender Research in Social & Applied Psychology] (2010, Springer); Women over 50: Psychological Perspectives (2007, Springer); and From Menarche to Menopause: The Female Body in Feminist Therapy (2004, Haworth). Other titles include Arming Athena: Career Strategies for Women in Academe, New Directions in Feminist Psychology, Lectures on the Psychology of Women, Variations on a Theme: Diversity and the Psychology of Women, and Charting a New Course for Feminist Psychology.

She has won a number of awards for her work, including the Margaret Floy Washburn Award from the New York State Psychological Association for significant contributions to feminist psychology, the Distinguished Leader Award from APA's Committee on Women in Psychology, the Carolyn Wood Sherif Award for outstanding contributions to the field from the Society for the Psychology of Women (APA Division 35), the Ann Voda Career Award for outstanding research from the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research, the Teacher of the Year Award from the Rhode Island Teachers of Psychology, the Florence L. Denmark National Faculty Advisor Award from Psi Chi (the National Honor Society of Psychology), Distinguished Publication awards for her books Reproductive Justice and Lectures on the Psychology of Women, and the Christine Ladd-Franklin Award for contributions to feminist psychology from the Association for Women in Psychology.

She has been elected to Fellow status in the American Psychological Association, the Association for Psychological Science, and the Eastern Psychological Association in recognition of her many contributions to the field. She has served as President of the Association for Women in Psychology, the Society for the Psychology of Women (APA Division 35), the Society for General Psychology (APA Division 1), the New England Psychological Association, the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research, and the Connecticut State Conference of the American Association of University Professors. She has also served as editor of two interdisciplinary journals, Women's Reproductive Health, and Sex Roles.

View the psychology department website.

Majoring in Psychology.