Elizabeth (Lizy) Szanton

Lizy graduated in May 2022 with a B.S. in Psychology from Haverford College, where she studied the development of children’s intersectional social prototypes of gender nonconformity. Lizy is broadly interested in structural marginalization, intersectionality, and sexual and gender minority (SGM) wellbeing. In the lab, she studies social identity narratives (such as “born this way” essentialism) and the adoption of new norms (such as pronoun sharing). In the fall of 2024, Lizy will join the counseling psychology PhD program at the University of Minnesota, advised by Melissa Ertl. She plans to study how minority stress frameworks shape mental health disparities in SGM and multiply marginalized populations. Ultimately, Lizy hopes to design interventions that expand access to evidence-based mental health care, and that honor and build from the inherent strength of communities historically ignored or harmed by the field of psychology.