Rosa (preferred name: Rossella) Traversa is Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of West Georgia since January 1st, 2022.

She holds a PhD in Psychology from University of Bari, Italy. She is originally from Italy, a Southern-Italian woman more specifically.

Her doctoral dissertation was focused on carnal knowing as constitutive of psychological domain. 

After navigating the ideological landscapes over female subjectivities through psycho-semiotics, she has extended her entire research work including gender and sexual diversity around the concept of 'embodied sense-making' in public-private spheres. In particular, she has recently started to elaborate on the concept of visibility and bisexuality as key for reframing the mainstream discourse around coming out and the duality of intimate relationships. The body as a text-of-power is central to her research agenda on pleasure and pain dynamics and on the ‘missing discourse of desire' in psychology. She is also currently working on life-enjoyment and affectivity rights for people with physical disability and chronic pain conditions.

She loves photography and the fashion production of sense in contemporary urban societies.

During her visiting at Clark University (2010-2011, Worcester, MA, US) under the supervision of Jaan Valsiner and Rachel Falmagne, she has been able to make the most of all available opportunities in exploring new qualitative methodologies and fostering dialogue between different academic fields in social science. 

Her scientific interests are deeply interconnected with the issues of the role of art in society as she is a contributor for Artslife.com. She has published articles on international and peer-review journals such as Culture & Psychology, Integrative Psychological & Behavioral Science, Human Arenas, International Journal for Dialogical Science, International Journal of Body, Mind & Culture and About Gender-Journal of Gender Studies, Subjectivity, etc.. 

She is Associate Editor for the Springer journal "Trends in Psychology".

Rosa Traversa has been Full-Time Lecturer in Psychology from March 2017 to May 2019 at the University of New York in Tirana. She is also affiliated to IBEF- International Centre of Excellence on Innovative Learning, Teaching Environments and Practices, ECNU, Shanghai, China since September 2020.

Member of Division 52 (International Psychology), Division 17 (Counseling Psychology), and Division 35 (Psychology of Women) of the American Psychological Association. APA Div 17 - Section for the Advancement of Feminist Psychology (SAFP) Membership Chair since August 2024.

List of publications available on Academia.edu: https://westga.academia.edu/RosaTraversa. 

List of available talks and organized events at UWG and beyond: https://www.youtube.com/@rosarossellatraversa7084.