Motivated by her desire to understand humanity, Christina Maslach has found great pleasure in researching and teaching social psychology. She is currently parlaying her passions into her role as a professor emeritus of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, which she accepted in 2013. Previously, she served the institution as the chair of the academic senate, the vice provost for undergraduate education and instructional technology, a faculty assistant on the status of women, and a professor of psychology. One of the highlights of Dr. Maslach’s career was pioneering research on job burnout. She shared her findings through publications like “The Maslach Burnout Inventory, Fourth Edition,” “Burnout at Work,” “Banishing Burnout,” “Preventing Burnout and Building Engagement,” “The Truth About Burnout,” and “Burnout: The Cost of Caring.”
Dr. Maslach prepared for her endeavors by earning a PhD from Stanford University in 1971 and a Bachelor of Arts from Harvard College in 1967. While in school, she got the chance to work on a research project in Japan that ended up being the subject of her honors thesis. This sparked her interest in the research aspect of the field, at which point it became clear she was destined for a career in academia. Between research and teaching, academia would give her the best chance to study people and the motives behind their decisions and actions.
As a testament to her success, Dr. Maslach was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Western Psychological Association in 2018, the Application of Personality and Social Psychology Award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology in 2017, an honorary doctorate from the University of Valparaiso in Chile in 2016, and the Lifetime Career Achievement Award from the Work Stress and Health International Conference in 2013. She also received accolades like the Berkeley Faculty Service Award from the University of California, Berkeley, the Distinguished Teaching Award from the Western Psychological Association, the USA Professor of the Year Award from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and the Best Paper Award from the Journal of Organizational Behavior, among others.
Looking to the future, Dr. Maslach’s short-term goals are to continue her involvement in a number of special projects, as well as her own research on job burnout. She intends to translate research into actionable methods/improvements in human life particularly in the workplace. Additionally, Dr. Maslach is set to be the president of the Western Psychological Association in 2020, the 100th anniversary of the group. When she has free time, she enjoys traveling to new places, meeting new people, and seeing the world. She also harbors a passion for the arts, particularly theater, dance, music, and museums.
