Trevor S. Lies, PH.D.
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY
NORFOLK STATE UNIVERSITY
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY
NORFOLK STATE UNIVERSITY
Trevor's research applies a perspective of cultural psychology informed by critical race theory and decolonial theory to study how our habits of mind and ways of being interact with the ecological crisis and issues of environmental (in)justice.
Trevor's research applies insights from decolonial theory, critical race theory, and cultural psychology to study how people engage with the ecological crisis. One line of research works to understand how colonial conceptions of nature and environmental concern impact engagement with climate change in U.S. state parks. Another line of his work investigates how racialized and political power inhibit the pursuit of environmental justice. His dissertation examines the relationship between neoliberal subjectivity and support for continued urban development in the context of the Wakarusa Wetlands south of Lawrence, Kansas.
In 2025, Trevor received his Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the University of Kansas. He is an interdisciplinary, mixed-methods, and applied scholar. He has worked with non-profit organizations such as The Resilient Activist and governmental organizations such as the Douglas County (KS) Sustainability Office and Tucson Water (AZ). He currently lives in Virginia with his wife Valentina.
2025 Ph.D. in Psychology, University of Kansas
Dissertation title: Denaturalizing Development: Neoliberal Subjectivity, Land Ontologies, and Environmental Injustice
2021 M.A. in Psychology, University of Kansas
Thesis title: Investment in Whiteness and Climate Change Skepticism
2019 B.A. in Psychology, University of Kansas