Brenda Major has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences along with three other world-renowned UCSB professors. “Our UC Santa Barbara community is so proud and thrilled to congratulate professors Alison Butler, José Cabezón, Brenda Major and Rachel Segalman on their election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the oldest learned societies in the country,” said Chancellor Henry T. Yang. “This prestigious honor is a deeply meaningful recognition from their peers of their inspirational leadership in advancing research and scholarship, their dedication to teaching, and their commitment to making significant contributions to our society.”

A Distinguished Professor at UC Santa Barbara’s Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Brenda Major is an international expert on the psychology of stigma and how people cope with stigma and discrimination. She has authored more than 160 articles and book chapters and has edited two books on the topic. A core theme of her work is psychological resilience — how people maintain their sense of self-esteem, psychological well-being and physical health despite exposure to discrimination, negative events and adversity. Major is a past president of the Society of Experimental Social Psychology (SESP) and of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP), the largest professional society of personal and social psychologists in the world. She is the recipient of multiple honors for her work, including the SPSP 2015 Donald T. Campbell Award and the SESP 2014 Scientific Impact Prize.