Gwen C. Marchand, Ph.D. is the associate vice president for research and a professor of educational psychology. She previously served as the associate dean of research and sponsored projects in the UNLV College of Education and as the director of the UNLV Center for Research, Evaluation, and Assessment. Her administrative role includes the oversight of the Office of Sponsored Programs, the Office of Clinical Trials, and the Office of Research Integrity, as well as facilitation of interdisciplinary research development initiatives and strategic research development.

Marchand’s scholarship applies complexity and mixed methods research approaches to investigate academic motivation and engagement classroom systems, student mobility, and collaborative team processes. Marchand engages in interdisciplinary research and research practice partnerships as foundational elements of her work. Her work has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, and state and local agencies.

Her teaching includes courses in advanced research methods, program evaluation, motivation, and quantitative analyses. Marchand’s professional service includes program chair and treasurer of division 15 of the American Psychological Association (APA), secretary/treasurer for the Complexity Theories in Education Special Interest Group of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), and president of the Scholarly Consortium for Innovative Psychology in Education (SCIPIE). She has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Educational Psychology and Contemporary Educational Psychology and has co-guest edited a special issue on complex systems for the Journal of Experimental Education and another on mixed-methods in educational psychology for Contemporary Educational Psychology. Marchand’s work has been published in top educational psychology journals, including the Educational Psychologist and the Journal of Educational Psychology.

She earned her Ph.D. in systems science: psychology from Portland State University in 2008 with an emphasis in human development, student motivation and engagement, and quantitative research methods. Her current research focuses on the motivational development of school-aged children and the social and personal factors that influence student engagement.