Alex Manuel Borgella
Tufts University, 490 Boston Ave
Medford, MA 02155
[email protected] - (850) 516-8116
Professional Positions
Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Bates College
(Lewiston, ME)
2017-2018
Educational History
Ph.D., Experimental Psychology, Tufts University
Medford, MA
2017
M.A., Psychological Sciences, James Madison University
Harrisonburg, VA
2012
B.A., Psychology, University of West Florida
Pensacola, FL
2010
Grants, Honors, & Awards
Tufts University Graduate Travel Grant Recipient
Tufts University Dissertation Funding Recipient
2017
Applied Diversity Research Science (ADSI) NIH Fellowship (2016-17)
Invited Reviewer: International Journal of Humor Research
Invited Article: Science Deconstructs Humor: What Makes Some Things Funny?
(The Conversation)
2016
Applied Diversity Research Science (ADSI) NIH Fellowship (2015-16)
Invited Reviewer: Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
Deborah Greenwald Graduate Fellowship in Psychology
Tufts Center for Applied Diversity Sciences Fellowship
2015
Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues Grant-in-Aid Award
Society for Personality and Social Psychology Diversity Fellowship Award
Tufts University Graduate Travel Grant Recipient
Tufts Psychology Travel Award Recipient
2014
Deborah Greenwald Graduate Fellowship in Psychology
2013
Teaching of Psychology Feist-Levine Research Award
James Madison University Graduate Scholar Travel Grant
2012
James Madison University Graduate Scholar Travel Grant
2011
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University of West Florida Honors Scholar Award
University of West Florida Honor’s Symposium Best Poster Award
2010
Manuscripts
Thai, M., Borgella, A.M., Sanchez, F., & Maddox, K.B. (in preparation). Source and audience
effects on the perception of homophobic disparagement humor. Tufts University, Griffith
University.
Thai, M., Borgella, A.M., Sanchez, F., & Maddox, K.B. (in preparation). Shifting accessibility
and acceptability of racial disparagement humor. Tufts University, Griffith University.
Borgella, A.M., & Maddox, K.B. (under revision). Cracking up to break the ice: The effects of
deprecating humor in intergroup interactions. Tufts University
Howard, S., Borgella, A.M., Sommers, S.R., & Maddox, K.B. (data collected). What’s in a
(Black) name: evaluations of African vs. African American Names. Tufts University, Marquette
University
Borgella, A.M., Fenton, J.L., & Maddox, K.B. (data collected). When it depends on the joketeller: Examining ethnic disparagement humor in the context of Benign Violations Theory.
Tufts University.
Borgella, A.M., Sargent, M.J., Maddox, K.B., & Murray, M.P. (reviewed, resubmission in
progress). Full court pressure: Exploring racial phenotypicality bias under scrutiny. Tufts
University and Bates College.
Borgella, A.M., Yi, S., Lee, M.R. (2012). The role of traditional gender role beliefs in
predicting male and female homophobia. Teaching of Psychology: Ideas and Innovations
Proceedings, 36-38.
Lee, M.R. & Borgella, A.M. (in preparation). Changing multicultural attitudes and behaviors
via coursework in three academic majors. James Madison University.
Lee, M.R., Yi, S., & Borgella, A.M. (in preparation). How should faculty teach about diversity
in the classroom? James Madison University.
Presentations at Scholarly Meetings
(u denotes mentored research assistant as presenter)
Borgella, A.M., Sargent, M.J., Maddox, K.B., & Murray, M.P. (2017, March). Full court
pressure: Exploring racial phenotypicality bias under scrutiny. 20-minute talk presented at
The Eastern Psychological Association Conference, Boston, MA.
Borgella, A.M., & Maddox, K.B. (2017, January). The effects of deprecating humor on
intergroup interactions: A review. Poster presented at The Society for Personality and Social
Psychology Conference, San Antonio, TX.
uAronson, R.K., Howard, S., Borgella, A.M. (2015, March). What’s in a (Black) name:
evaluations of African vs. African American Names. Poster presented at the Eastern
Psychological Association Conference, Philadelphia, PA.
Borgella, A.M., Maddox, K.B., Sargent, M.J., Murray, M.P (2015, February). Full court
pressure: racial phenotypicality under scrutiny. Poster presented at The Society for Personality
and Social Psychology Conference, Long Beach, CA.
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Borgella, A.M., uFenton, J.L., & Maddox, K.B. (2014, February) Exploring Aversive Racism as
a moderator of racial phenotypicality bias in guilt judgments. Poster presented at The Society
for Personality and Social Psychology Conference, Austin, TX.
uFenton,
J.L., Borgella, A.M., & Maddox, K.B. (2013, November). Aversive Racism as a
moderator of racial phenotypicality bias. Poster presented at The New England Psychological
Association Conference, Bridgeport, CT.
Borgella, A.M., & Maddox, K.B. (2013, September). Concerns over appearing biased
moderates the use of afrocentric facial features in judgments of Blacks. Paper presented at the
Society for Experimental Social Psychology Annual Meeting. Berkeley, CA.
uFurbank,
L.L., Lese, K.M., Borgella, A.M. (2012, April). “There’s a communication center
here?”: the effects of advertising and social media on communication center perception. 45minute talk presented at the National Association of Communication Centers’ 2012 Meeting,
Richmond, KY.
Borgella, A.M., uYi, S., & Lee, M.R. (2012, March). The role of men’s and women’s gender role
beliefs in predicting homophobia and social conservatism. 30-minute talk presented at the 26th
annual Teaching of Psychology Conference, Farmingdale, NY.
Borgella, A.M., uYi, S., & Lee, M.R. (2012, August). Using music preferences as a predictor of
homonegativistic attitudes, socially conservative beliefs and endorsement of traditional gender
roles. Poster presented at The Convention of the American Psychological Association, Orlando,
FL.
Lee, M.R. & Borgella, A.M. (2012, April). Assessment of changes in multicultural awareness
and behavior in three undergraduate majors. 60-minute talk presented at the American
Educational Research Association 2012 Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC.
Borgella, A.M. & Lee, M.R. (2011, October). Changing multicultural attitudes and behaviors
via coursework in three academic majors. 30-minute talk presented at the Diversity Research
Symposium 2011, Muncie, IN.
Borgella A.M. (2010, April). “He wouldn’t let me flunk in peace!”: a mid-semester evaluation
to promote end-year student evaluations of teaching. Poster presented at the University of
West Florida’s senior honors symposium. Pensacola, FL.
Research Experience
Tufts University Social Cognition (TUSC) Lab
Graduate Researcher – Tufts University, Medford, MA – 2012 - Present
• Overview: Designed and executed 10+ studies
• Large-scale codebook creation, data
in domain of social cognition, specifically the
management
psychology of humor and
• Presenting research to broad audiences (and
prejudice/discrimination
over 10 professional conferences)
• Managing and training research assistants:
• Collaborated with researchers from three
~6/semester, >30 total
other academic institutions on research
• Mentored 2 undergraduate honors students
projects (Bates College, Marquette
University, Griffith University)
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Applied Diversity Research Science (ADSI) N.I.H. Doctoral Fellowship
Research Fellow – Tufts University, Medford, MA – 2014 - Present
• Overview: Assessed three externally funded
• Large-scale codebook creation and
programs geared toward assessing
management
underrepresented college students enrolled
• Organization of large datafiles
in remedial college entrance programs
• Presentation of reports and conclusions
drawn from data
Cultural and Racial Diversity Studies (CARDS) Lab
Graduate Researcher – James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA – 2010 - 2012
• Overview: Conducted independent
• Managing research assistants:
research studies investigating intergroup
~8/semester, >15 total
relations and diversity coursework
• Presentation of results to large audiences
outcomes at James Madison University.
(incl. international conference
• Large-scale codebook creation and
presentations)
management
• Wrote up findings for publication
James Madison University Communication Center
Graduate Assistant – James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA – 2010 - 2012
• Overview: Collected data and conducted
• Writing up data and statistical results for
statistical analyses on usage trends
several conference presentations on
communication center effectiveness
• Large-scale codebook creation and
management
• Lectured in “Principles of Public
Communication” course for two semesters
• Training and managing communication center
student employees: ~15/semester, >30 total
• Presentation of results to small
audiences (e.g., monthly reports on
usage)
Auditory Perception and Psychoacoustics Lab
Research Assistant – James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA – 2010 - 2012
• Overview: Conducted research on “tunnel
• Collected sound localization data from
audition,” hearing loss beyond a certain
human participants
auditory field by pilots under extreme stress
• Presentation of results to large audiences
• Aided in the creation of a network of
and intl. conference
information sharing between several music
software packages (e.g., Ableton Live, MEDS)
Institute for Human and Machine Cognition
Research Assistant –Pensacola, FL – 2009 - 2010
• Overview: Catalogued and organized learning
• Collected usage data from over 300 participants
curve data from novel users of IHMC’s “OZ”
• Created detailed codebooks for data
flight simulator, a human-centered intuitive
collected
cockpit display
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Teaching Experience
TA – Introduction to Psychology, Tufts University, 2016
Lab Instructor – Experimental Psychology, Tufts University, 2013, 2015, 2016
TA – Social Psychology, Tufts University, 2014, 2017
TA – Experimental Social Psychology, Tufts University, 2012 - 2015
GA – Principles of Public Communication, James Madison University, 2010 - 2012
Memberships in Professional Organizations
Society for Personality and Social Psychology
(SPSP)
Association for Psychological Science (APS)
Society for the Psychological Study of Social
Issues (SPSSI)
Asian American Psychological Association (AAPA)
American Psychological Association (APA)
Psi Chi International Psychology Honor Society
Programming Proficiencies
Statistical Program for the Social Sciences
(SPSS)
Adobe Creative Suite
Statistical Analysis Software (SAS)
Qualtrics (Survey Design Software)
Empirisoft Packages (Medialab/DirectRT)
Microsoft Office Package
(Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, Access)
Music stimuli creation software (e.g., Ableton)
E-Prime (E-Script, E-Basic, E-Run)
References
Keith B. Maddox
Associate Professor, Tufts University
[email protected]
Sam R. Sommers
Professor, Tufts University
[email protected]
Mindi S. Rock
Behavioral Scientist, AmazonSmile
[email protected]
Simon Howard
Assistant Professor, Marquette University
[email protected]
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