Dr. Howes earned her bachelor's degree in psychology and public relations from the University of Central Missouri, her master's degree in industrial and organizational (I/O) psychology from Missouri State University, and her Ph.D. in I/O psychology from Texas A&M University. At the end of her graduate studies, she worked as a consultant in a Chicago branch of a global leadership solutions consulting firm. She then transitioned back into academia, working for a year at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls before joining the faculty in the Department of Psychological Sciences at Kansas State University, where she was awarded the College of Arts and Sciences William L. Stamey Teaching Award in 2012. She later moved to the Department of Management in the College of Business Administration at Kansas State University, where she was awarded the Ralph E. Reitz Outstanding Teaching Award in 2015 and the Outstanding Contributions in Research Award in 2015.

Dr. Howes is a regular contributor in the fields of management and I/O psychology. On the human resources/industrial psychology side, she has engaged in a great deal of work around performance management and feedback as well as with employment selection (with an emphasis on employment interviews). On the organizational behavior/organizational psychology side, her interests have included occupational health (with a concentration on work-life conflict and facilitation and workplace stress and well-being) and motivation (to include more specifically engagement, goal orientation, and flow). Recently, she has ventured into the area of judgment and decision making. Within these areas, she has authored and, along with undergraduate and graduate students, coauthored numerous journal articles and chapters in edited volumes. Her work has appeared in such journals as the Journal of Applied Psychology, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Human Relations, and Journal of Vocational Behavior. In addition, Dr. Howes is the coauthor (with Paul M. Muchinsky) of the best-selling I/O psychology textbook, Psychology Applied to Work. 

Dr. Howes is an active member of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, the Academy of Management, the American Psychological Association, and the Society for the Teaching of Psychology. She was the 2016 recipient of the Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology’s prestigious Distinguished Teaching Contributions Award. When not working, Dr. Howes enjoys running, golfing, and spending time with her family.