Background                                                                          

Beth Dietz-Uhler joined the Psychology Department in 1994.  She has published three dozen journal articles, numerous book chapters, two books, and has made more than five dozen conference presentations, including eight invited presentations.  Her articles have appeared in such journals as Journal of Applied Social Psychology, Sex Roles, European Journal of Social Psychology, Basic and Applied Social Psychology, Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, and Journal of Sport Behavior.  Her research interests include intragroup and intergroup behavior, reactions to threats to social identity, sport fans and spectators, and computer-mediated communication. In the area of social identity theory, her research focuses on reactions to group members who engage in behavior that is inconsistent with the identity of the group.  Specifically, when an ingroup member engages in anti-normative behavior, which poses a threat to the identity of the group, group members resolve the threat by derogating the errant group member.  In the area of sport fans and spectators, her recent research focuses on gender differences in sport fan identity.  Females who identify as a sport fan are rarely assigned the label "sport fan", presumably because such an identity is non-stereotypic.  In the area of computer-mediated communication, her research focuses on various group processes, including how members of a discussion board group react when one of the members violates group norms.  She also has a strong interest in using technology to enhance learning, including asynchronous, web-based distance learning.