Marianne Smith

Citrus Community College District | Glendora, CA | 2022

Marianne Smith Portrait Photo

Biography

Marianne Smith is an educator focused on creating opportunities for first-generation, low-income, and other students who have unequal access to resources. For 10 years, she developed and led STEM programs at Citrus College, a public community college. In July 2022, she transitioned to the Oak Crest Institute of Science where she serves as Senior Education Faculty focusing on STEM mentoring, outreach, and program development and she continues to run a NSF project through the Cal Poly Pomona Foundation. An advocate of experiential learning, Marianne developed programs that include short-term, off-campus modules incorporating mentoring, career exploration, and networking and that allow students to complete small-scale research and design challenges, explore a range of STEM issues, and develop science communication skills. She started the summer research program at Citrus placing up to 50 students annually at one of nine partner sites including the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, City of Hope, and the California Botanic Garden. To ensure students had support navigating the barriers of higher education, she began a STEM TRiO Student Support Services project with funding from the U.S. Department of Education. Marianne has mentored nearly 1,000 community college students. A majority have transferred to a university in a STEM discipline, completed a B.S. degree, and advanced to the STEM workforce or graduate programs. She regularly presents her work at conferences, emphasizing the benefits of mentoring community college students early in their higher education trajectory. Marianne earned a B.A. in education from Prescott College, an M.A. in educational leadership from Chapman University, and a Ph.D. in institutional leadership and policy from the University of California, Riverside.

High-resolution version of the teacher profile photograph

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