Rate My Professor Jessi Smith

Jessi L. Smith served as Professor of Social Psychology in the Department of Psychology at Montana State University, becoming the first woman to advance through the academic ranks to full professor in the department. She earned her Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Utah in 2002, an M.S. in Psychology from the University of Utah in 2000, and a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Colorado Colorado Springs in 1997. Smith's research focuses on the social psychology of motivation, examining how stereotypes related to gender, ethnicity, and sexual orientation influence intrinsic motivation, performance, and persistence, particularly in STEM domains. She developed the Stereotyped Task Engagement Process (STEP) model, which integrates cultural stereotypes and individual factors to predict motivational mismatches in stereotyped fields. Her experimental and longitudinal studies address educational, political, and health contexts, with funding from the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health exceeding $10 million.

From 2012 to 2017, Smith was Principal Investigator and Director of the NSF-funded ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Project TRACS at Montana State University, a multimillion-dollar initiative that advanced women faculty in STEM and social/behavioral sciences by enhancing research capacity, work-life integration, and cultural attunement. The project won a national CUPA-HR award in 2015 for equitable workplace practices and informed strategies published in Science for creating inclusive academies. Key publications include 'Interest matters: The importance of promoting interest in education' (Harackiewicz, Smith, et al., 2016), 'Quality of evidence revealing subtle gender biases in science is in the eye of the beholder' (Handley et al., 2015, PNAS), 'When trying hard isn’t natural: Women’s belonging with and motivation for male-dominated STEM fields' (Smith et al., 2013), and her edited book 'Managing Interpersonal Sensitivity' (2011). Smith delivered over 40 public lectures, contributed to Montana's Governor’s Task Force on Equal Pay, and received the Cox Family Award for Excellence in Teaching (2013), Betty Coffey Award for Teaching (2010), and President's Commission on the Status of University Women Award (2014).