Leslie Martinez

• Ph.D., Social Psychology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, December 2015
• M.S., Experimental Psychology, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, August 2005
• B.S., Psychology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, May 2003

• Awarded Sr. Dorothy "Dot" Ettling Faculty Fellows Program, Research Award, 2024-2025
• Awarded 2018 Provost’s Legacy Teaching Award, Spring 2018, University of the Incarnate Word
• Nomination for 2019 Presidential Teaching Award, Spring 2019, University of the Incarnate Word
• Nomination for 2018 Presidential Teaching Award, Spring 2018, University of the Incarnate Word
• Nomination for 2017 Presidential Teaching Award, Spring 2017, University of the Incarnate Word

Dr. Martinez leads undergraduate student researchers in the Minority Experiences Research Lab (MERL). They study cultural, racial, and ethnic diversity, aiming to understand the mechanisms through which Mexican Americans and other disenfranchised groups experience the accumulated outcomes of stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination. Currently, Dr. Martinez examines the systematic factors that impact undergraduate student retention, persistence, and graduation for traditionally underrepresented students in higher education. MERL focuses on student experiences in multiple contexts (i.e., on/off campus, course attitudes, classroom environments) to capture the range of factors that contribute to student success, accounting for challenges and barriers. Dr. Martinez is also engaged in a program of research about the acquisition of sexual health knowledge through the process of sexual education programs. She and her students explore the critical role that the intersectionality of unequal access to education with sexual minority group status has on accuracy and confidence of sexual health knowledge.

• PSYC 3381 Statistics in Psychology
• PSYC 3385 Multicultural Issues
• PSYC 3387 Research Methods II
• PSYC 4380 Psychometrics