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Suzanne J. KesslerSuzanne Kessler.jpg

Professor of Psychology and
Dean of the School of Natural and Social Sciences

Office: Soc. Sci. 2013
Tel: (914) 251-6602
Fax: (914) 251-6603
Email: suzanne.kessler@purchase.edu

Education

  • B.A. 1968, Carnegie-Mellon University; Ph.D., 1974, City University of New York.

Areas of Expertise

Psychology of gender, social influence, women and prison.

Honors and Awards

Purchase College Student Union Award for Outstanding Faculty Member in the Letters and Sciences, 1996; SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching, 1994; NYS/UUP Continuing Faculty Development Award.

Courses Taught

Social Psychology; Psychology of Gender; Psychology of Women; Ethnomethodology; Psychology of Communication; Social Psychology of Prisons.

Research Interests

The social construction of gender, with particular emphasis on those categories that violate our culture's gender assumptions (transsexuality, intersexuality)

Selected Publications and Research

McKenna W. and Kessler, S. “Transgendering.” In M. Evans, K. Davis,  & J. Lorber (eds.) Handbook of Gender and Women's Studies. London: Sage (2006): 342- 354.

Kessler, S. Questioning Assumptions about Gender Assignment in Cases of Intersexuality. Dialogues in Pediatric Urology, 25, 6, (June 2002): 3-4.

McKenna, W. and Kessler, S.J. Who put the ‘Trans’ in Transgender? International Journal of Transgenderism, 4, 3, (September 2000).

McKenna, W. and Kessler, S.J.  Gender Retrospective, Feminism and Psychology, 10, 1, (2000):  7-72.

Kessler, S. J. 1998. Lessons from the Intersexed. New Brunswik, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

McKenna, W. and Kessler, S. J. 1997. Who needs gender theory? Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 22: 687-691.

Kessler, S. J. 1997. Creating good-looking genitals in the service of gender. In M. Duberman (ed) A Queer World: The Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader, Vol. 1, New York University Press.

Kessler, S. J. 1990. The medical construction of gender: Case management of intersexed infants. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 15: 3-26.

Kessler, S. J. and McKenna, W. 1978. Gender: An Ethnomethodological Approach, 1985 paperback, University of Chicago Press.