Member Spotlight: Traci Sitzmann

Name
Traci Sitzmann

Position/Employer
Management Professor and Workforce Development Scholar at the University of Colorado Denver

How long have you been a SIOP member?
23 years

What roles have you had within SIOP?
I am a SIOP Fellow and represented SIOP on the APA National Standards Advisory Committee. I also served on the Hunter-Schmidt Meta-Analysis Award and the United Nations committees.

Interest area(s)
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; Self-Regulation; Training; Multilevel Theory

What sparked your interest in I-O psychology?
After my first psychology class in high school, I knew I would be a psychologist. I immediately began experimenting on those around me, including attempting to curtail smoking and chewing tobacco consumption with a taste aversion experiment. Unfortunately, my first experiment failed, but my desire to understand human behavior is unwavering.

What role do you see I-O psychology playing in the future of work?
I-O psychology highlights the role of employees in the workplace. Although I-O psychology sees it as self-evident that employees’ experiences matter, this perspective is largely missing from the macro literature. Moreover, emphasizing shareholders over other stakeholders—including employees—is the predominant approach employed by American corporations. I believe that overlooking the role of employees in driving firms’ success is the predominant reason for dysfunctional organizational actions, including failing to advance DEI and limiting employees’ work–life balance. By putting employees’ experiences at the forefront of theory development and applied research, I-O psychology has the potential to transform firm operations.

What work trends are you seeing and hearing about and how can I-O psychology practitioners, educators, and students impact these trends?
I believe I-O psychology will have a profound impact on understanding how to advance DEI. While firms are increasingly decrying their commitment to DEI, underlying data suggest that progress toward diverse workplaces where employees experience inclusion and equality is far from the norm. I-O psychology is doing an excellent job with qualitative analyses, highlighting how employees are affected by the slow pace of change. Furthermore, psychology emphasizes data, which enables deciphering whether firms’ focus on DEI is simply rhetoric or is engendering meaningful change.

What advice would you give to students or those early in their career?
Listen to advice with an open mind and ponder whether the advice works for you. But ultimately, follow a path that leads you to happiness and personal fulfillment.

What is one of your favorite SIOP Annual Conference memories/highlights?
Evening receptions are typically the highlight of my trip. It’s wonderful to have the opportunity to reconnect.

Please share one non-I-O-related bit of information about yourself.
I love spending time in nature. Most weekends are spent in the Rocky Mountains with friends and family paddleboarding, bicycling, snowboarding, and cross-country skiing.

Is there anything you would like to add?
I serve on the Space Force Talent Science Advisory Group and am leading an initiative to increase the graduation rate at the University of Colorado Denver (CU Denver), a minority-serving institution. Like many organizations, Space Force and CU Denver have a long way to go in their DEI journeys, and serving in these roles provides tremendous insights into the complexity involved in attaining meaningful change.

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