Paula Smith
Paula Smith
Associate Professor
paula.smith@utah.edu

(801) 581-6017


Research and Teaching Interests -
      *  prevention of risky behavior by adolescents
      * development, implementation, and evaluation of school-based prevention programming
      * etiology of female delinquency and juvenile offending
Degrees -
            Ph.D., Developmental Psychology, University of Illinois at Chicago

Current Research and Teaching Projects

Teaching

I am currently developing a series of courses specializing in the prevention of academic failure.  I am the honored recipient of the 2006-07 University of Utah’s Early Career Teaching Award, the Kappa Omicron Honor Society Teaching Award and a Graduate Teaching Award from the Department of Psychology at the University of Illinois at Chicago.  I am also the faculty liaison for the master’s coop program at Escalante Elementary School.

Research

I am a prevention researcher with a keen interest in understanding and ultimately preventing problem behaviors among youth.  Most of my early work has been focused on etiological studies examining the impact of gender and race in the understanding of problem behavior development and the effectiveness of current prevention efforts.  My most recent collaboration with Utah's Department of Juvenile Justice Services has been instrumental in providing a voice to the experiences of largely invisible female juvenile offenders and also explores the value and limitations of our current definition and provision of gender-specific services.
As of July 2007, I am the newly appointed Executive Director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Center for Community of Caring program.  The program is built around five core values that empower young people to be responsible and caring members of a community: Caring, Respect, Responsibility, Trust, and Family.  The Community of Caring program is an evidence-based, nationally-recognized character education program in over 1,200 schools nation-wide and in Canada.  In this role, I am focused on creating stronger partnerships with schools, strengthening the program, enhancing training, and fostering greater collaboration among Community of Caring partners.