Karissa Beesly

Karissa Beesley is a research assistant for the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project’s Career Lab. She is pursuing her Ph.D. in psychology at the University of Michigan where her current research explores how professional visual media artists and students in art and design programs are thinking about generative artificial intelligence in creative work.

Karissa’s research portfolio focuses on industrial-organizational psychology, with recent projects centered on understanding how disruptive historical events and emerging technology relate to employee psychological outcomes, such as burnout, employee well-being, and professional identity. She has received extensive mixed-methods research training through her studies at Utah Valley University, where she earned her B.S. in psychology; Arizona State University, where she earned her M.S. in psychology; and the University of Michigan, where she is currently pursuing her Ph.D. Her decision to study workers in creative industries was influenced by her experience working as an art consultant at a local art gallery in Scottsdale, Arizona. Upon the completion of her Ph.D., she plans on pursuing a career in arts and cultural policy research.