Office Address: 140E Gilmer Hall

Biography

Dr. Mathews is an Assistant Professor Community Area of Psychology. Her research considers how youth of color draw upon their ethnic-racial identity (i.e., the process and meaning associated with the role of ethnicity and race in one’s life) and critical consciousness (i.e., one’s awareness of social inequality and the tools, beliefs, and actions used to challenge such inequality) development as motivators for their STEM based academic engagement and activism. Her work focuses on these processes during adolescence and emerging adulthood, drawing from theoretical and methodological approaches in education, psychology, and African American studies. Dr. Mathews’ scholarship has three central foci: 1) integrating ethnic-racial identity and critical consciousness factors as dual promoters of positive Black and Latinx adolescent and emerging adult development, 2) examining how both ethnic-racial identity and critical consciousness promote STEM orientation, and 3) assessing the complexity of ethnic-racial identity and critical action behaviors (including STEM-based activism) in both Black and Latinx adolescence and adulthood. 

Dr. Mathews will be accepting a postdoctoral fellow through University of Virginia Rising Scholars Program and will be accepting graduate students for the 2023-2024 application cycle.

Selected Publications

Mathews, C., Medina, M., Bañales, J., Pinetta, B., Marchand., A., Medina, A., Miller, S. Hoffman, A., Diemer, M., & Rivas-Drake, D. (2020). Mapping the intersections of adolescents’ ethnic-racial identity and critical consciousness. Adolescent Research Review 5, 363-379. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40894-019-00122-0

Bañales, J. Mathews, C., Hayat N., Aniywo, N., & Diemer, M. (2019). Political action pathways in Latinx and Black Young Adults. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 26(2), 176-188. doi:10.1037/cdp0000271

Mathews, C. Durkee, M., Hope, E. (2022) Critical Action and Ethnic-Racial Identity: Tools of Racial Resistance at the College Transition. [Special Issue] Journal of Research on Adolescence. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/jora.12790

Mathews, C. J., Robinson, D., & Wilkes, C. E. (2022). Cultivating Black liberatory spaces in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education: What does it take? Frontiers in Education, 7.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2022.985455

Mulvey, K.L., Mathews, C., Knox, J., Joy, A., & Cerda-Smith, J. (2022) The role of inclusion, discrimination and belonging for adolescent STEM engagement in and out of school. Journal of Research in Science Teaching. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.21762