John B. Pryor, Department of Psychology, received his Ph.D. in Psychology from Princeton University in 1977 and began teaching at Illinois State University in 1985. Pryor was the Director of the College of Arts and Sciences Research Office from 1995-1998 and was Acting Chair of the Department of Psychology in 1998-1999. He is a Fellow at the Association for Psychological Science and at the American Psychological Association and is a member of the Midwestern Psychological Association and the Society for Experimental Social Psychology. He has received 20 different awards and research grants totaling over 2.5 million dollars. Furthermore, he has published nearly 70 different papers in various academic publications and currently has seven different works in progress. “John is one of the most accomplished scholars in our department,” said Dr. David Barone, Chair of the Department of Psychology.

Pryor's two principal research interests include the study of stigma and sexual harassment. His research on stigma has influenced anti-stigma initiatives in many community-based HIV prevention organizations across the country. His research on sexual harassment has established his credentials as a consultant retained by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Department of Justice, as well as law firms from Rhode Island to Hawaii. His sexual harassment research has been featured in PBS' Nova series.

Pryor was the College of Arts and Sciences Lecturer in 1994. He was the Outstanding College Researcher in 1990 and the Outstanding University Researcher in 1994. He has authored or co-authored 161 convention presentations and invited addresses. International venues included the European Association of Experimental Social Psychology in Wuerzburg, Germany and again in San San Sebastian, Spain; the Evaluation and Emotions in Social Cognition Conference in Sopot, Poland; the International Language and Social Psychology Conference in Brisbane, Australia; the European Congress of Psychology in Athens, Greece; the International Congress of Psychology in Leipzig, Germany and again in Stockholm, Sweden; the Max Planck Institute for Psychological Research in Munich, Germany; the health sciences department in Maastricht University, The Netherlands' and psychology departments in the University of Heidelberg and University of Giessen in Germany and the University of Parma and Padova University in Italy.