B.A., California State University, 1978
B.A., University of California, Santa Cruz, 1983
M.S., Cornell University, 1985
Ed.D., University of Massachusetts Amherst, 1997
Cristine Smith, a faculty member since 2006, focuses on research and project implementation in non-formal education and literacy; girls’ and women’s education; teacher professional development; early grade reading; and adult students’ transition to college. She is currently the Principal Investigator of the Adult Transitions Longitudinal Study (ATLAS), a $1 million, five-year project funded by the Nellie Mae Education Foundation to follow the educational trajectories of 225 adult students in New England.
Cris was also Principal Investigator for a two-year faculty development project in Palestine, and for an evaluation of a teacher professional development project in Ethiopia. She has worked on projects funded by USAID, the World Bank, UNESCO, the Ford Foundation, and the U.S. Department of Education.
Recently Cris became a co-editor of the Comparative Education Review when the editorship of the journal moved to CIE in the summer of 2013.
Cris is also a graduate of CIE, having received her doctorate from UMass in 1997, and she has lived in the Amherst area since 1990.
Recent Activities
Cristine Crispin Smith, was one of two faculty members in Education chosen to receive the College of Education’s 2015-16 College Outstanding Teacher Award. The awards honor individual faculty members for their teaching accomplishments within their own colleges. The awards are based on nominations and comments from students – some of which included:
Cris really takes an interest in her students, their professional development, their career paths, their learning and their work/life balance.
Cris is a true trainer at heart and leads all her classes as a training, engaging the active participation of the students, involving them in directing their own learning, and coming up with engaging ways to teach new content. Cris is someone who always goes the extra mile for her students. She inspires me and has given me the opportunity to grow as an individual.
Her dynamism, care, and concern for all students made her one of the most popular teachers in the education department. She made every student feel that they had valuable insights and that she valued us as people, not just as UMASS students.
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Cris was awarded the Promoting Literacy Nationally and Internationally, Kenneth J. Mattran Award which honors an individual who has a distinguished record of achievement in promoting literacy at the national or international level. She received the award at the March 2013 meeting of the Commission on Adult Basic Education in New Orleans. The citation reads in part:
Cristine Smith is uniquely qualified to receive COABE’s Kenneth J. Mattran Award for Promoting Literacy Nationally and Internationally. She has a distinguished record of achievement in promoting literacy at the national and international levels of more than 20 years through which she has demonstrated professional commitment to the field of adult basic education. She is a nationally recognized researcher and expert on teacher change and professional development in adult education.[2-13]
Recent Publications
- Smith, C. A. & Hudson, K. E, (Eds.) (2017). Faculty Development in Developing Countries: Improving Teaching Quality in Higher Education. New York: Routledge
- Smith, C. A., Stone, R. B. & Kahando, S. (2012). A model of women's educational factors related to delaying girls' marriage. International Review of Education, Vol. 58, Issue 4.
- Smith, C. (2009). Accountability Requirements and Professional Development in the U.S. Adult Basic and Literacy Education System. In A. Belzer & R. St. Clair (Eds), Literacy and Numeracy Studies: An international journal in the education and training of adults, special issue on accountability, Centre for Language and Literacy, University of Technology, Sydney