Kristen J. Mills

Kristen J. Mills, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) is an assistant professor in the Higher Education and Student Affairs Program at The Ohio State University. Dr. Mills earned her degrees at Michigan State University in ecological-community psychology. She has three main research areas. First, she examines academic resilience, the process of positive adaptation in academic settings when exposed to adversity, among minoritized students in secondary and higher education. Second, she investigates racial battle fatigue (i.e., the cumulative psychosocial and physiological impact of racism on People of Color) among Black students. Third, she examines the use of research evidence in education. Her research aims to strengthen practices and interventions that promote both academic success and well-being among historically excluded  students. Her work is published in journals such as Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, Journal of Black Psychology, Evidence and Policy, Educational Research Review, Educational Administration Quarterly, and American Journal of Community Psychology.

• Doctor of Philosophy, Psychology (Ecological-Community), Michigan State University, 2019
• Master of Arts, Psychology (Ecological-Community), Michigan State University, 2015
• Bachelor of Science, Psychology, Michigan State University, 2012

• Educational Achievement
  • Academic resilience among racially and ethnically minorized students
• Equity
  • Mobilizing institutional and community-based supports for minoritized students
  • Use of research evidence in education
• Higher Education and Student Affairs (HESA)
  • Academic resilience among racially and ethnically minorized students
  • Racial battle fatigue among Black students

2022 – 2023    Co-Principal Investigator (PI: Shanna Jaggars), Scarlet & Gray Advantage Pilot. ($231,720)

2021 – 2023    Co-Principal Investigator (PI: Stephen Quaye), Using Photo-Elicitation to Investigate Racial Battle Fatigue among Black College Students. Student Academic Success Research (SASR) Grants Program, Office of Student Academic Success (OSAS), ODEE Digital Flagship, and the Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI), The Ohio State University (Awarded; $24,000).

2019 – 2020    Consultant, Academic Socialization and Support of Black Graduate Womxn in EHE. Graduate Student Interdisciplinary Research Initiative, College of Education and Human Ecology, The Ohio State University (Awarded $938). 

Mills. K. J., Quaye, S.J., McKinney, N.J., Jones, H.V*, Allen-Stills, N. (2024).  Investigating racial battle fatigue among Black college students using photo-elicitation methodology. Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice. https://doi.org/10.1080/19496591.2024.2420127

Quaye, S.J., Mills. K.J., Jones, H.V., Allen-Stills, N. and McKinney, N.J., (2024).  Black researchers studying racial battle fatigue among Black students. International Journal of Qualitative Methods. https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069241291776

Reyes, H.L, Mills, K. J., Cadet, D.M., & Johnson, D.J. (2024). Latina and Black women collegians’ paternal relationships: A Chicana and Black feminist interpretive phenomenological analysis. Education Sciences, 14(7), 749. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14070749

Stone-Sabali, S., Mills, K. J., & Mallory, A. B., & alexander, e. (2024). Black Lives Matter and other signs of solidarity: Perspectives from Black STEM graduate students. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 61(6), 1449-1477. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.21896

Mills, K.J., Stone-Sabali. S., & Parler, B.A.*(2023). Responding to racial microaggressions: Resilience among Black undergraduate students. Journal of College Student Development, 64(6), 630-646. https://doi.org/10.1353/csd.2023.a917020

Collins-Warfield, A.E., Niewoehner-Green, J.E., Scheer, S.D, & Mills, K.J. (2023). Student-ready critical care pedagogy: a student-centred instructional approach for struggling students. Teaching in Higher Education, 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2023.2249401

Stone-Sabali, S., Mallory, A.B, Mills, K. J., & alexander, e. (2023). On racial allyship and constructing a racial allyship framework: Black graduate STEM students' insights and recommendations for aspiring faculty allies. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/dhe0000510

Collins-Warfield, A.E., Niewoehner-Green, J.E., Scheer, S.D, & Mills, K.J. (2023). Views of struggling students from historically excluded groups on academic success and instructor support. Journal of Postsecondary Student Success, 2(4) 53-82. https://doi.org/10.33009/fsop_jpss132518

Stone-Sabali, S., Bernard, D.L., Mills, K.J., & Osborn, P.R. (2023). Mapping the evolution of the impostor phenomenon research: A bibliometric analysis. Current Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-04201-9 

Mills, K.J. (2021). Black students’ perceptions of campus climates and the effect on academic resilience. Journal of Black Psychology, 47(4-5), 354-383. https://doi.org/10.1177/00957984211001195

Mills, K.J. (2020). “It’s Systemic”: Environmental racial microaggressions experienced by Black undergraduates at a predominantly white institution. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education. 13(1), 44-55. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/dhe0000121

Mills, K.J., Lawlor, J. A., Neal, J. W., Neal, Z. P., & McAlindon, K. (2020). What is research? Educators’ conceptions and alignment with United States federal policy. Evidence & Policy: A Journal of Research, Debate and Practice, 16(3), 337-358. https://doi.org/10.1332/174426419X15468576296175

Carpenter, A. & Mills, K.J. (2024, November). Reshifting the ways we engage through arts-based research. Work in Progress presented at the 49th Annual Association for the Study of Higher Education Conference, Minneapolis, MN.

Mills. K. J., Quaye, S.J., McKinney, N.J., Jones, H.V., & Allen-Stills, N. (2023, November).  Fostering academic success and reducing racial battle fatigue among Black students. Paper presented at the 48th Annual Association for the Study of Higher Education Conference, Minneapolis, MN.

Mills. K. J., Quaye, S.J., McKinney*, N.J., Jones*, H.V.*, Allen-Stills, N.* (2023, April).  How Racial Battle Fatigue Impacts Black Women Graduate Students: A Photo-Elicitation Study. Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL.

Mills. K. J., Quaye, S.J., McKinney*, N.J., Jones*, H.V.*, Allen-Stills, N.* (2022, November).  Investigating racial battle fatigue among Black college students using photo-elicitation methodology. Paper presented at the 47th Annual Association for the Study of Higher Education Conference, Las Vegas, NV.

Mills, K.J., Parler, B.A.* (2022, April). Responding to Racial Microaggressions: Resilience Among Black Undergraduate Students.Paper presented at American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, USA. 

Mills, K. J. (2020, November; Virtual due to COVID-19). Racial battle fatigue among Black students: Exploring the role of campus climate and civic engagement. Paper presented at the 45th Annual Association for the Study of Higher Education Conference, New Orleans, LA.

Mills, K. J. (2020, August; Virtual due to COVID-19). How is campus climate associated with racial battle fatigue? Paper Presented at American Psychological Association Annual Convention, Washington D.C., USA.

Mills, K. J. (2020, April; Canceled due to COVID-19) Trials of triumph: Campus climate and academic resilience among Black college students. Paper presented at American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, USA.

Williams, K. N., Edwards, D., Supple, A., Johnson, D. J., Mills, K. J., & Yoon, J. (2020, March; Canceled due to COVID-19) Autonomy support, family identity, and resilience in African American college women. Poster presented at Society for Research on Adolescence Biennial Meeting, San Diego, CA, USA.