Maureen Smith, PhD (she/her)

Professor, Child & Adolescent Development

Maureen Smith is a Professor of Child and Adolescent Development. She teaches courses in imagination, play, and creativity as well as risk and resilience. She is passionate about teaching the 100W writing course and the policy-informed senior seminar. She has been involved in numerous projects related to curriculum and program development to promote student success. Her research has three strands: (1) social and emotional development in at-risk children; (2) academic identity development and self-concept in undergraduate students; and (3) imagination and reading for pleasure.

Education

• Ph.D., Developmental Psychology, Cornell University
• M.A., Developmental Psychology, Cornell University
• B.A., Psychology (Minor Human Development), University of California, Davis

Recent Publications

• Smith, M. C. & Fusaro, M. (2021). Imagination and fantasy: Correlates of preschoolers’ science relevant inquisitiveness. Imagination, Personality, and Cognition, 40(4), 393-417.

• Smith, M., Wei, B., & Rhee, J. (2020). Women in Engineering: Promoting identity exploration and professional development. Proceedings of the 2020 American Society of Engineering Education Conference and Expo.

• Smith, M.C. (2019) Imagination and well-Being in blind, deaf, and typically developing school children. Imagination, Personality, and Cognition, 38(3), 290-314.

• Fusaro, M. & Smith, M. (2018). Preschoolers' inquisitiveness and science-relevant problem solving. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 42, 119-127

Recent Presentations

• Carr, V., Smith, M. C., & Wei, B. (Forthcoming). Learning experiences of social science students in an interdisciplinary computing minor. Paper presented at the 2021 American Society of Engineering Education Conference and Expo, July 2021, San Diego, CA.

• Smith, M. & Fusaro, M. (2021). Promoting Science Inquiry Skills, Imagination, and Literacy. ECSTEM 2021 Conference (Virtual): February 26, 2021

• Smith, M., Wei, B., & Rhee, J. (June 2020). Women in Engineering: Promoting identity exploration and professional development. Paper presented at the 2020 American Society of Engineering Education Conference and Expo, June 22-26, 2020, virtual conference (formerly Montreal, Canada)

• Backer, P., Kato, C., Peck, D., Morgan, J., Seah, DF., Smith, M., & Anastasovitou, L. (2019). Improving retention and graduation rates at SJSU: Project Succeed. SJSU Student Success Symposium. San Jose: April 2019.

Noteworthy Grants and Awards

• Department of Education (2014-2019) $2,500,000 Scharberg, M., Backer, P., Smith, M., & Alainz, M: Project Succeed: Title III Strengthening Institutions Proposal

Areas of Research Interest

• Imagination
• Reading for pleasure
• Risk and resilience
• Science identity
• Science inquiry

Recommended Reading

• Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
• Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling
• Last Chance to See by Douglas Adams and Mark Cawardine
• All books by Georgette Heyer

Personality Playlist

Listen to Maureen's playlist below and access all of the personality playlists on our Lurie College of Education Spotify account