Print
Email
Facebook
Twitter
Release
Share
Annual Smith leadership award
Craft honored with award for advancing role of women
Monday, Dec. 5, 2011
 |
| Craft with her award and Smith at the presentation. |
By Carol Ivory, College of Liberal Arts
PULLMAN, Wash. - The 2011 Samuel H. Smith Leadership Award was presented to Rebecca Craft, professor and chair in the Department of Psychology, at the Dec. 1 meeting of the Association for Faculty Women (AFW) at Washington State University.
The award was established in 2000 to show AFW’s appreciation to former President Smith for his leadership in advancing the role of women at WSU.
Craft’s research documents sex differences in the psychopharamacology of opioids and cannabinoids, which has applied implications for the recommended use and dosage of pain relievers, particularly as they relate to women. In addition, she has researched the gonadal steroid modulation of pain, analgesia and mood, developing an animal model to test certain aspects of postpartum depression.
Between 2007 and 2011, she was director of the doctoral program in experimental psychology at WSU. In that role, she implemented a new faculty development workshop series and fought for improved mentoring of junior faculty within the department.
Craft has received numerous academic honors and awards, including the WSU Faculty Woman of Distinction Award (2010), the Honors College Faculty Thesis Advisor of the Year award, and the Women’s Leadership Forum Research Faculty Mentor of the Year Award (both in 2009).
As a member of multiple university committees, she has worked for policies that improve the lives of other women. She coordinates the ADVANCE at WSU External Mentor Program, a National Science Foundation-sponsored effort to support women faculty in science, technology, mathematics and engineering. She has served as secretary, president-elect and president of AFW and on various AFW awards committees.
Craft was praised by a nominator as, "an unwavering source of support, a trusted confidant and valued sounding-board . . . (who) has worked hard to distinguish herself through individual accomplishment, but she has worked equally hard to elevate the women around her.”
The criteria for the award are: "An AFW member whose leadership has advanced the role of women in the Washington State University system and/or who has demonstrated leadership in higher education, the community or her profession at the local, state, regional, national or international level.”
The criteria for the award are: "An AFW member whose leadership has advanced the role of women in the Washington State University system and/or who has demonstrated leadership in higher education, the community or her profession at the local, state, regional, national or international level.”
Note: To share this article, please click the orange-colored 'Share' button at the top or bottom of the page