Karl Kelley

I arrived at North Central College in the Fall of 1988.  My original plan was to stay for 4 to 5 years then return home to the East Coast (Virginia, Maryland, or North Carolina).  However, North Central College is a great place to work, and I have overstayed my projected time by a bit.

My teaching and research interests focus on Industrial/Organizational Psychology and Applied Psychometrics.  In a typical year, I have the pleasure of teaching classes such as Statistics, Industrial/Organizational Psychology, Personality, Psychological Assessment, and occasionally Positive Psychology.  I have also taught classes on the history of science (Landmarks in Science - exploring the development of science from ancient Greece to the early 1900s) and Portraits of Health (taught in London UK where we explore the interrelationships among developments in medical and psychological care with art and theater).

As an Industrial/Organizational psychologist, my overall goal is to develop psychologically healthy organizations that yield high performing teams (business, athletics, classroom, and relationships).  My research focuses on how interpersonal trust and justice create important foundations for developing these high performing teams.  My most recent research addresses how a willingness to disclose vulnerabilities (issues of mental and physical health) can increase performance.  I am also collecting data on how we create balance in our lives by managing time allocations to work, family, community, and self.  Along with my undergraduate research teams, I have presented work related to these topics at national (Chicago, Washington D.C., San Francisco, Boston) and international (Athens Greece, & Dublin Ireland) conferences.    

I am delighted to serve as the Faculty Athletic Mentor to Women's Lacrosse - NCC Athletics.  I am also a First-Generation College student and enjoy working with our First-Generation Programs.    

In my free time, I enjoy bike riding (I have several bikes including a Cervélo Áspero, Giant Revolt, and a Klein Aura X), traveling with my wife Jai'neen (we have recently traveled to Alaska, Germany, Austria, Iceland, Greenland, Canada, and Ireland), reading (psychology, history, medieval murder mysteries, and biographies, fantasy, and science fiction), listing to Irish/Celtic music, and spending time with my rescue dogs (Florence Nightingale the Dog --named after Florence Nightingale the Person and Beagle the Dog --named after Darwin's ship HMS Beagle).  

Florence on her first Kayak adventure https://thumbnails-photos.amazon.com/v1/thumbnail/KNNPCdGLQD2pYBQXh3sDaw?viewBox=693%2C924&ownerId=AAJFWN26YHI01

Florence and Beagle getting ready to go for a walk https://thumbnails-photos.amazon.com/v1/thumbnail/UmLLxMbQTX-s-l0T0CZo0w?viewBox=693%2C924&ownerId=AAJFWN26YHI01 

Selected Scholarship

Kaczmarek, S. & Kelley, K. N. (2025, May).  Sounds Two Good: The Effects of Audio Quality in Online Interviews. Oral Presentation accepted at the 37th Annual Convention of the Association for Psychological Science, Washington, DC

Johnson, E. & Kelley, K. N. (2025, April). Sense of Coherence Training: Increasing GRIT and PERMA.  Oral Presentation at the 97th Annual Meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL. 

Bicking, F., Kelley, K. N., and Baker, M. L. (2024, May). Executive Function and Escape Rooms: Generalizability of the Trails-X and Wisconsin Card Sorting Tests. Poster at the 36th Annual Convention of the Association for Psychological Science, San Francisco, CA

McAloon, B. M., Kelley, K. N. & Gatto, O. J. (2023, May). Time Well Spent: Visualizing Time and Well-Being during the Pandemic. Poster at the 35th Annual Convention of the Association for Psychological Science, Washington DC. 

Kelley, K. N. (2023).  The Psychometric History of the 16-PF: From 1947 to the 5th edition.  In Janet F. Carlson, Kurt F. Geisinger, and Jessica L. Jonson (Eds.), The Twenty-second Mental Measurements Yearbook.  Lincoln, NE: Buros Institute of Mental Measurements.

Courses Taught

PSYC 250 Statistics

PSYC 270 Industrial Organizational Psychology

PSYC 320 Personality

PSYC 360 Psychological Assessment