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Lori Bica

Lori Bica
  • Professor
  • Program Affiliate
  • Psychology
  • Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
  • Hibbard Humanities Hall 267, Eau Claire | Directions

I majored in psychology as an undergraduate student and received a B.A. from Michigan State University.  I earned an M.A. and Ph.D. in developmental psychology from The Ohio State University and joined the faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in 2000.  My area of specialization, developmental psychology, focuses on change across the lifespan in physical, cognitive, and social/emotional terms.

Teaching Interests

I teach three courses for our campus: Introduction to Psychology (Psyc 100), Human Development (Psyc 230), and Psychology of Women (Psyc/Regss 336).  I’m delighted to have my fall semester sections of Introduction to Psychology included in UW-Eau Claire’s First Year Experience program.  My connection to the Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program (REGSS) is the Psychology of Women course –– a class shared by Psychology and REGSS that serves as an elective for the Certificate in LGBTQ Studies.

Research and Creative Activities

I enjoy working with a diverse team of undergraduate student research collaborators.  The majority of students on the team have chosen to continue working with me on projects that span multiple years.  I view these long-term, highly individualized learning experiences as extremely important components of both my scholarship and teaching. 

As a faculty research mentor, my goal is to advance students’ understanding of the fundamentals of research design: conducting a literature search; forming hypotheses; submitting IRB proposals; collecting, entering, and analyzing data; conforming to APA-style, and preparing results for conference presentation and/or publication.  In addition to recruiting student researchers for projects in my own areas of expertise, I work with many students on research projects rooted in their interests.  For example, students in my Psychology of Women course write a research proposal.  As the semester ends, I invite them all to follow up on their proposals as collaborative research projects with me, aiming at presenting their findings at professional conferences.