Bette L. Bottoms PhD

Bette L. Bottoms is Professor of Psychology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She received her bachelor’s degree from Randolph-Macon Woman’s College, her master’s from the University of Denver, and her doctorate in social psychology from the State University of New York at Buffalo. She is Fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA) and a past President of APA’s Society for Child and Family Policy and Practice (Division 37) and a past president of APA’s Section on Child Maltreatment. Her research on psychology and law (i.e., children’s eyewitness testimony, jury decision making, child abuse) has been funded by the National Science Foundation and recognized with awards from the American Psychology-Law Society. She has edited five books and coauthored a handbook for child forensic interviewing and over 80 journal articles and book chapters. She has received a dozen national and university awards for excellence in graduate and undergraduate teaching and mentoring, including the APA Division 2 Robert Daniels Award.

Professor Bottoms also served as Vice Provost for Undergraduate Affairs for six years and Dean of the Honors College at UIC for nearly seven years, during which the college received its largest external grants and philanthropic gifts, and its students achieved their highest graduation rates. She is a founding member of the national Honors Education at Research Universities (HERU) organization, and founding co-editor of its journal, Honors in Higher Education.