Meet the Faculty

Dr. Jacquelyn Brady

Associate Professor

Phone: (408) 924-7855
Email: Jacquelyn.Brady@sjsu.edu

Dr. Brady is an Assistant Professor of Psychology and specializes in Industrial Organizational (I/O) Psychology and the subfield of Occupational Health Psychology (OHP), which bridges her background in I/O and Social Health Psychology. Dr. Brady’s research interests are primarily in OHP, specifically, she focuses on the inextricable link between work factors and well-being and work outcomes. The goal of her work is to share meaningful strategies organizations can utilize to improve employee health, safety, and general well-being across work and non-work domains. To learn more about her current projects, or if you are interested in joining her lab, please visit her lab website at https://wowresearch.weebly.com/. Fun fact: Dr. Brady is a CSU alum, having completed her undergraduate degree at California State University San Marcos, where she learned firsthand about the benefits of exceptional mentorship.

Dr. Makai Ruffin

Assistant Professor

Phone: (408) 924-5271
Email: Makai.Ruffin@sjsu.edu

Dr. Makai A. Ruffin (she/her/hers) is an Assistant Professor of Psychology in the Industrial-Organizational (I-O) Psychology program at San José State University. Dr. Ruffin leads the Motivation in Context (MIC) laboratory, which broadly investigates the nuances of work motivation to address pressing challenges for the future of work. Specifically, Dr. Ruffin focuses on how individuals' personal characteristics and their environment shape motivation across several educational and applied contexts (e.g., job search, work-relevant learning and development, technology change). The MIC laboratory's current lines of inquiry examine the flipside of motivation, specifically, when and how discouragement and low expectations from others can increase effort and persistence to foster success. 

Dr. Ruffin also teaches both undergraduate and graduate level courses in topics such as psychological tests and measures, training and development, and I-O psychology. In addition to her research and teaching, Dr. Ruffin has applied experience spanning nonprofit organizations, higher education institutions, and for-profit enterprises, where she addressed issues related to performance appraisal and management, psychological tests and measures, and needs assessment. Dr. Ruffin earned her B.A. in Psychology from Bowling Green State University, as well her M.A. and Ph.D. in I-O Psychology from Rice University.

Dr. Howard Tokunaga

Professor
Graduate Coordinator

Phone: (408) 924-5649
Email: Howard.Tokunaga@sjsu.edu

Howard Tokunaga is a Professor of Psychology and serves as Coordinator of the MS Program in Industrial/Organizational (I/O) Psychology and teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in statistics, research methods, and I/O psychology.  He received his bachelor’s degree in psychology at UC Santa Cruz and his Ph.D. in psychology at UC Berkeley. In addition to his teaching, he has consulted with a number of public sector and private sector organizations on a wide variety of management and human resource issues. He is the author of Fundamental Statistics for the Social and Behavioral Sciences and Moving from IBM SPSS to R and RStudio:  A Statistics Companion and co-author (with G. Keppel) of Introduction to Design and Analysis:  A Student’s Handbook