POTSDAM - Amber Stephenson, an associate professor of healthcare management in Clarkson University's Reh School of Business, was awarded the John W. Graham Jr. Faculty Research Award during the University's spring 2021 commencement ceremony.

The $1,500 research account is presented to "faculty members who have shown promise in engineering, business, liberal arts or scientific research."

Stephenson’s research focuses on how women leaders experience gender bias and how professional identity, or defining the self-concept by affiliation with a professional role, affects perceptions and behaviors. Her research on how women leaders experience gender bias - and particularly the Gender Bias Scale that she and her colleagues created and validated - has been internationally recognized. In 2020, she was invited to present her research to a group of leaders from Pakistan at the US Department of State's International Visitor Leadership Program. Also in 2020, she was awarded a fellowship by the University of Essex in the UK, and was scheduled to present at the Gender Work and Organisation conference also in the UK, though both were postponed due to COVID-19.