Marianne Smith

Citrus Community College District | Glendora, CA | 2022

Marianne Smith Portrait Photo

Receiving the Presidential Award is an incredible personal honor and recognition of the role community colleges play in broadening participation in STEM. I value the opportunity to partner with students as they begin and progress through their educational journey. I am humbled by the support I have received from colleagues both within and outside the institution that has enabled me to engage in this work.

The official biography below was current at the time of the award. Awardees may choose to provide their latest biographical information on their profile page.

Marianne Smith is an educator focused on creating opportunities for first-generation, low-income, and underrepresented minority (URM) students. 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. As an advocate of experiential learning, Marianne developed programs for Citrus students 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 like the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, City of Hope, California Botanic Garden, Oak Crest, and multiple universities. 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 over 700 community college students (85% URM). A majority have transferred to a STEM discipline, completed a B.S. degree, and advanced to STEM jobs 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. from Prescott College in education, an M.A. from Chapman University in educational leadership, and a Ph.D. in institutional leadership and policy from the University of California, Riverside.