Jeanette M. Bennett

Background

About Jeanette M. Bennett

I'm an optimistic, yet practical human. My career path has been non-traditional for an academic. After earning my Biology BS and Psychology BA, I worked as a unit secretary at Hillcrest Hospital's Radiology Dept and then moved into a position as a research assistant at Case Western Reserve. My skill development in pre-clinical health research led to a temp-to-hire position at Covance Laboratories, a clinical research organization, as a research technician. Once a permanent employee, I quickly moved into management and completed training in talent selection and process/protocol review to improve efficiency and reduce errors, Six Sigma. My early career trajectory was established, but something was missing. My creativity was being underutilized as I also love to teach and mentor in addition to conducting novel research. Thus, I left my burgeoning health research industry career to get my MS and PhD in Biobehavioral Health and shift my career to academia. Fast forward to today. I direct the StressWAVES BRL that investigates the effects of stress on human behavior, especially whole health & well-being, and manage the Biobehavioral Core in the Department of Psychological Science. As a tenured faculty member, I basically run a small research "business" on an extremely limited budget with team members that arrive with none to little research skills and experience high turn over (nearly 100%) every 2-5 years. I currently hold multiple leadership positions while maintaining an active research lab citations; 45+ peer reviewed publications) and creating a learning environment that meets the student where they are to enhance their opportunity for individual growth.