Rebecca Craft
Association for Faculty Women’s 2011 Samuel H. Smith Leadership Award
The 2011 Samuel H. Smith Leadership Award was presented to Rebecca Craft, Professor in the Department of Psychology, at the December 1st meeting.
2011 Smith Award recipient Dr. Rebecca Craft with President Emeritus Smith.
Dr. Craft’s research documents sex differences in the psychopharamacology of opioids and cannabinoids, work that 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 the Director of the Doctoral Program in Experimental Psychology at WSU. In that role, Rebecca implemented a new Faculty Development Workshop series and fought for improved mentoring of junior faculty within the department. She currently serves as Chair of the Department of Psychology.
Dr. 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, Dr. Craft has worked for policies that improve the lives of other women. She coordinates the ADVANCE at WSU External Mentor Program, an NSF-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. Dr. 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 Samuel H. Smith Leadership Award was established in 2000 to show AFW’s appreciation to President Smith for his leadership in advancing the role of women at WSU. The criteria for the award are as follows: “The recipient of the Award shall be 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.”
Samuel H. Smith Leadership Award recipients (left to right), Fran McSweeney (2001), Marcia Saneholtz (2007), Sue Durrant (2000), KNona Liddell (2004),Erica Austin (2008 ), Rebecca Craft (2011), Lori Carris (2009) and Carol Ivory (2010) with President Emeritus Smith at the December 1 award presentation.