Brea Banks B.S. ’10, Ph.D. ’15, joined the Department of Psychology this semester as an assistant professor in the school psychology program.
After growing up in Chicago’s south suburbs, Banks earned Bachelor of Science degrees in psychology and philosophy and a Ph.D. in school psychology at Illinois State University. She went on to complete a predoctoral internship in pediatric psychology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s Munro-Meyer Institute and finished her postdoctoral fellowship at Skill Sprout in Normal. She returns to Illinois State from Colorado State University, where she held a position as a staff psychologist within the counseling center, assigned specifically to work with the university’s diversity offices.
Banks’ primary research interests involve the impact of microaggression on cognition, student of color experiences in higher education, and autism spectrum disorder. Her research has been published in journals such as the International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education and Contemporary School Psychology.
Banks’ clinical areas of interest include the assessment of autism spectrum disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and learning disorder. She is most interested in intervention services that focus on behavior problems, anxiety disorders, racial/ethnic identity development, and experiences related to oppression and microaggression.
Banks and her husband, Keenan Wimbley B.S. ’11, M.S. ’14, were student-athletes at Illinois State and are excited to be back in Redbird Country. They enjoy spending time with family, friends, and their dog, Smokee; participating in recreational sports; attending sporting events and concerts; and staying up-to-date with their favorite television shows.
