Colin Wayne Leach (B.A. 1989, M.A. 1991, Boston University; Ph.D. 1995, University of Michigan) is a social and personality psychologist who studies status and morality in identity, affect, & motivation.  He is also interested in Cognitive appraisal, affect, & coping; Oppression, protest & resistance; Prejudice, stereotypes, …isms; Social & political dissensus; Meta-theory, methods, and statistics; and Trans-disciplinary perspectives (e.g., Africana Studies, social behavioral systems science).

At Columbia University, he is Professor of Psychology & Africana Studies at Barnard College; Graduate Faculty & Adjunct Senior Research Scientist in Psychology, Faculty of Arts & Sciences; Faculty Research Fellow at the Institute for Research in African-American Studies; Member of the Data Science Institute; Affiliate of the Zuckerman Mind, Brain, Behavior Institute.  Prof. Leach’s previous faculty appointments include the University of Connecticut, University of California-Santa Cruz, and the University of Sussex (England).  He is an elected fellow of the Society of Experimental Social Psychology and the Society of Personality and Social Psychology and has held research fellowships from the U.C. Berkeley Chancellor, as well as the Ford and Raoul Wallenberg foundations.