Smith, Rachelle, PhD

Biography

Rachelle Smith earned her Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Maine, Orono and joined the faculty at Husson in 2009. She teaches a variety of psychology courses and specializes in child development and evolutionary psychology. Her research centers on the development of social intelligence, attraction from a cross-cultural perspective, and the support of effective learning. Dr. Smith was the recipient of the Owen Aldis Award for her dissertation research and is a member of the International Society for Human Ethology and the Society for Research in Child Development. She is the author of The Biology of Beauty: The Science behind Human Attractiveness and Lies: The Science behind Deception.

As a professor here at Husson University, I enjoy meeting and working with a diverse student population. I believe that to develop professional abilities, students must participate in the process and be active learners. This means that students must not only learn to listen, read, and write effectively, but also to think about new material and discover how it applies in their own lives. Psychology provides a wealth of opportunities for such self-exploration and I hope to assist students with this endeavor throughout my career here.