Zara Jillani is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Sociology at the University of Georgia. Zara earned her MA in sociology from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Zara’s primary research interests include social psychology and group processes, with a focus on developing and testing formal theories of inequality, status, and power in small groups.

In her ongoing and published work, Zara seeks to expand and develop sociological theory using experimental and survey methods, with a particular emphasis on explaining interactions within organizational settings. For example, in her dissertation, Zara develops and tests a novel theoretical argument that examines the conditions under which status inequality that arises in formal task groups is reproduced when group members meet in informal social settings. This theoretical extension can show new pathways to reducing inequality across interactional contexts. Zara’s dissertation research is funded by the ASA Social Psychology Section’s Graduate Student Investigator Award, as well as through competitive internal funding at UGA.

Zara has published empirical work on status processes, including a recent paper on status and idea theft in Social Sciences and an accepted paper on status and motivation in Social Psychology Quarterly. Additionally, she has published chapters on experimental methods, as well as on status across micro, meso, and macro levels of analysis. Zara has several research papers in progress, including an invited paper on the effects of status on honesty in the workplace and a meta-analysis examining changes in status effects over time.

Zara's prior research experience focused on applied research in organizations, including work on experiences and perceptions of motherhood in healthcare organizations. She also co-authored a scoping review on technical assistance–an individualized approach to capacity building in organizations–and co-developed a measurement instrument to help technical assistance providers assess recipient engagement.

As an instructor, Zara teaches in both online and face-to-face formats and has served as instructor of record for several courses. Zara is prepared to teach quantitative analysis, quantitative and qualitative research methods, sociological theory, and social psychology courses. She has also served the discipline in multiple capacities: she is currently a co-editor (with Will Kalkhoff and Shane Thye) on a special issue on social status that will be published in Social Psychology Quarterly in 2027 and has served as managing editor for Social Science Research for five years. Zara also served as newsletter editor for the ASA Section on Social Psychology from 2021 to 2025, and she was recently elected to serve as student representative to the section council.