Brazaitis, Sarah J. (sjb33)

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Sarah Jean Brazaitis

Professor of Practice
MA Program Coordinator for Social-Organizational Psychology
212-678-3866

Office Location:

220 ZB

Office Hours:

By Appointment

TC Affiliations:

Educational Background

  • B.A., University of Pennsylvania
  • Ph.D., Teachers College, Columbia University

 

Scholarly Interests

  • Group dynamics and group relations
  • Diversity and inclusion in teams
  • High performing teams

 

Selected Publications

Brazaitis, S. J. (2017). Wilfred Bion’s organization change legacy: Without memory or desire. In Szabla, D. B., Pasmore, W.A., Barnes, M.A., & Gipson, A.N. (Eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of Organization Change Thinkers (pp. 1-13). New York: Springer Nature.

X-Ray Vision at Work: Seeing Inside Organizational Life. Noumair, D.A., Pfaff, D.L., St. John, C.M., Gipson, A.N., & Brazaitis, S.J. (2017). In A.B. (Rami) Shani & D.A. Noumair (Eds.), Research in Organizational Change & Development, Volume 25. Bingley, UK: Emerald Group Publishing.

Brazaitis, S.J. (2016, November 14). White women’s Trump card. Retrieved from: http://www.tc.columbia.edu/articles/2016/november/white-womens-trump-card.

Deutsch, M., Marcus, E.C., & Brazaitis, S.J. (2015). Developing a global community. In M. Gallucio (Ed.), Handbook of International Negotiation: Interpersonal, Intercultural, and Diplomatic Perspectives. Switzerland: Springer International Publishing.

Brazaitis, S. J. (2014). Group Relations and conflict resolution. In M. Deutsch, P. T. Coleman, & Marcus, E.C. (Eds.), The Handbook of Conflict Resolution, 3rd Ed. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.

Deutsch, M., Marcus, E. C., & Brazaitis, S. J. (2012). A framework for thinking about developing a global community. In P. T. Coleman (Ed.), The psychological components of a sustainable peace. New York: Springer.

Gushue, G.V., Greenan, D.E. & Brazaitis, S.J. (2005). Using the multicultural guidelines in couples and family counseling. In Constantine, M.G. and Sue, D.W. (Eds.) Strategies for Building Multicultural Competence in Mental Health and Educational Settings. NY: Wiley. 

Brazaitis, S.J. (2004). White women – Protectors of the Status quo, positioned to disrupt it. In S. Cytrynbaum and D. Noumair, (Eds.), Group Relations Reader 3 (pp. 99-116). Washington, D.C.: A.K. Rice Institute.

Brazaitis, S.J. & Gushue, G.V. (2004). Living on the moon –The case of a therapy group for people with AIDS. In S. Cytrynbaum and D. Noumair, (Eds.), Group Relations Reader 3 (pp. 359-378). Washington, D.C.: A.K. Rice Institute.    

Gushue, G.V & Brazaitis, S.J. (2003). Lazarus and group psychotherapy: AIDS in the era of protease inhibitors. The Counseling Psychologist, 31(3), 314-342.

Sarah J. Brazaitis (Ph.D., Teachers College, Columbia University) 

Dr. Sarah Brazaitis is an Associate Professor of Practice in the Department of Organization and Leadership at Teachers College, Columbia University where she also directs the MA program in Organizational Psychology. Dr. Brazaitis teaches courses on group dynamics and team performance to masters- and doctoral-level students as well as in the Executive Education programs. As part of her group dynamics course, Dr. Brazaitis runs an experiential group relations conference (based on the Tavistock model of human relations training) that provides participants with opportunities to learn in real time about covert processes affecting leadership and power in groups and organizations. Dr. Brazaitis has been on the consulting staff of numerous experiential group relations conferences, sponsored by the A.K. Rice Institute for the Study of Social Systems (AKRI). She is a Fellow of the A.K. Rice Institute and is a past member of AKRI’s Board of Directors.

 

Dr. Brazaitis maintains a private practice of organizational consulting with a specialty in working with diverse teams and she has 20+ years of experience in providing coaching, consulting and training to executives, leaders and high potentials including to those in the C-suite. Clients have included for profit and not-for-profit organizations such as BNP Paribas, Deloitte, EMC Corporation, Google, Hudson’s Bay Company, KPMG, LVMH, Thomson Reuters, Time Warner, Inc, Gay Men's Health Crisis, & Hudson Valley Urology Center; and schools and universities including Convent of the Sacred Heart, Nightingale Bamford School, Scarsdale High School, Columbia University Medical Center’s Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and School of International and Public Affairs, among others. As an expert on group dynamics in social systems, Dr. Brazaitis has publications in scholarly journals, industry books and the popular press on conflict resolution in diverse teams, challenges related to the global community, improving race relations in multicultural organizations, and understanding and leveraging implicit, hidden dynamics in the workplace.

 

Prior to becoming a full-time academic, Dr. Brazaitis worked as a counseling psychologist at the New York Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Manhattan where she held the position of Director of Psychological Services in Primary Care.  Dr. Brazaitis was responsible for developing and implementing all primary care psychological services including assessment, education and treatment, in a setting serving 18,000 patients.  She also provided consultation and training in state-of-the-art behavioral healthcare for physicians and other medical providers and served as the hospital’s liaison between the mental health division and several general medical and specialty departments. Dr. Brazaitis also served as the Associate Director of Training for the hospital’s psychology internship program which enjoys a national reputation for excellence in training.

 

Dr. Brazaitis received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania and her masters and doctorate in Counseling Psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University. She is a member of the American Psychological Association and is a licensed psychologist in New York State.

Academy of Management

American Psychological Association

A.K. Rice Institute for the Study of Social Systems

  • Board Member (10/04 to 09/07)
  • Fellow (awarded 2008)

Organization Development Network

Brazaitis, S. J., Noumair, D.A., von Numers, S., Yearwood, S., & Gipson, A. (2018, April). Exploring Privilege and Power, Racism and Sexism among Asian, Black, and White Women: Toward Loosening a Gordian Knot. Paper to be presented at the 2nd Annual Psychology@TC Conference, New York, NY.

Brazaitis, S.J. (2018, March). White women (in the) way forward? Gender, race and the group dynamics of our shared world. Paper presented at the Chicago Columbia Alumni Association, Chicago, IL.

Brazaitis, S.J., Noumair, D.A., & Tye, M. (2017, October). Democracy at risk: How group relations illuminates. Paper presented at Reimagining Human Relations in Our Time: A Festival Celebrating 70 years of The Tavistock Institute, London, England.

Brazaitis, S.J. & Gushue, G.V. (2016, October). Wisdom and strategies from research on raising competent and caring global citizens. Paper presented at Brave Parenting Series, Convent of the Sacred Heart, New York, NY.

Brazaitis, S.J. (2015, November). Driving and Leading High Performing Teams. Paper presented at Google, New York, NY.

Block, C.J., Brazaitis, S.J., Buontempo, G., & Noumair, D.A., (2014, February). Women & Leadership in the Workplace. Paper presented at the Teachers College Alumni Council Panel,Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY

Brazaitis, S., Dorsey-Elson, L., Kennedy, D., & Strauss, B. (2013, September). Group Relations in Academia. Paper presented at the Dialogues Conference of the A.K. Rice Institute for the Study of Social Systems, Chicago, IL. 

Brazaitis, S., Cyntrynbaum, S., McRae, M., & Monroe, T. (2010, October). The AKRI/Academy Boundary: Past, Present and Future. Paper presented at the Symposium of the A.K. Rice Institute for the Study of Social Systems, Chicago, IL. 

Brazaitis, S. (2009, March). White women – Protectors of the Status quo, positioned to disrupt it. Paper presented at Multicultural Women’s Leadership Forum: Conversations among Women from Diverse Race/Ethnic, Religious, National Origin, Sexual Orientation, and Class Backgrounds, George Mason University, Fairfax VA.

Holvino, E., Brazaitis, S., and Petriglieri, G. (2006, April). What are we doing really? An exploration of theories of learning in group relations. Paper presented at The Forum of the A.K. Rice Institute for the Study of Social Systems, Chicago, IL. 

Gushue, G.V. and Brazaitis, S.J. (1999, August). Lazarus and group psychotherapy: AIDS in the era of protease. In E.F. Carter (Chair), Research in group interventions. Paper presented at the 107th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, New York, NY.

Brazaitis, S.J. (1996, August). Voices in black and white: Transforming feminist psychological research. In D.A. Noumair (Chair), From accommodation to transformation in feminist psychology: What White women have to say. Symposium presented at the 104th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, Toronto, Canada.

Brazaitis, S.J. (1995, August). The psychological constructs of voice and silence across racial identities. In D.C. Jack (Chair), Self-silencing and Female Depression across Diverse Racial and Cultural Groups. Symposium presented at the 103rd Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, New York, NY. 

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