2020 Distinguished Service to SPSSI Awards: 
Citations for Jamie Franco-Zamudio and Margo Montieth

Dr. Jamie Franco-Zamudio

We are delighted to recognize Jamie Franco-Zamudio with the 2020 SPSSI Distinguished Service Award. Dr. Franco-Zamudio earned her PhD in Social Psychology from the University of California Santa Cruz where she worked with Heather Bullock, Martin Chemers, and Faye Crosby. She earned an undergraduate degree in psychology from Ohio State University. Dr. Franco-Zamudio is currently Professor of Psychology at Spring Hill College in Mobile Alabama.

Throughout her career, Dr. Franco-Zamudio has focused on social justice issues related to education including identity formation, self-handicapping, mentoring, safe spaces in the academy, and instruction to facilitate social change. Her interest in applying her research and scholarship to the challenges embodies core values and concerns of SPSSI. We recognize the many ways that Jamie has carried her commitment to these issues into significant service work for the Society.

During graduate school Jamie became active with SPSSI’s Graduate Student Committee, eventually chairing that body. She also served as SPSSI’s representation to APAGS (APA’s Graduate Student organization). Her enthusiasm for SPSSI continued after graduate training. She served on SPSSI’s diversity committee and co-chaired the Teaching and Mentoring Committee for five years.

Dr. Franco-Zamudio also served on SPSSI’s Task Force for engaged scholarship, on the NITOP Awards Committee, and on the Crosby-Spendlove Travel Grant Selection Committee. She also served on the Dalmas Taylor Summer Minority Public Policy Fellow Selection Committee.

SPSSI recognized Jamie’s contributions to teaching in 2014, when she received our Innovative Teaching Award. She received the SPSSI Speaker at the 2014 National Institute for Teaching of Psychology (NITOP) Award.

Like many SPSSI members, Dr. Franco-Zamudio’s service to SPSSI occurred while advancing through the tenure track and promotion to Full Professor at Spring Hill. We should note that she has served her College in myriad ways including Co-Directing the Center for Community Collaboration; serving on the Rank and Tenure committee; and chairing the College IRB. She drew upon this experience and served on SPSSI’s Task Force on Proposed Changes to the IRB Common Rule. It may come as no surprise that Jamie’s activities at Spring Hill have – so far -- garnered two different awards for service as well as the teacher of the year award.

Last year, Jamie has completed her three-year term on SPSSI Council, the latest of many roles in which she has served the Society. We recognize Jamie Franco-Zamudio with the SPSSI Distinguished Service Award for 2020, with deep appreciation for her significant contributions.

Dr. Margo Monteith

We are delighted to recognize Margo Monteith with the 2020 SPSSI Distinguished Service Award.  Dr. Monteith earned her Ph.D. in Social Psychology in 1991 from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, after receiving her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from Moorhead State University. Dr. Monteith is a Professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences at Purdue University, where she has been on the faculty since 2006.

Dr. Monteith is widely known for her research on stereotyping and prejudice, inequality and discrimination, and fostering positive intergroup relations and inclusion.  Her contributions to these important areas of study are theoretical, empirical, and practical. She has investigated the self-regulation of prejudice, strategies and processes of change in implicit stereotyping and prejudice, and effective strategies for confronting prejudice. She has received numerous internal and external grants to address pressing social issues, including female under-representation in positions of power and leadership, the implications of diversity and inclusion for science and society, and student inclusion on the college campus. Her research is transformative and translational: she applies prejudice and discrimination research to develop practical interventions to reduce inequality.

Dr. Monteith has been a SPSSI Fellow since 2001. She has actively contributed to the functioning of the society in numerous ways. She was elected to serve as a member of SPSSI’s Governing Council from 1999-2002. She served on three task forces during her time on SPSSI Council in 2001: the Bibliographies Task Force, On-Line Voting Task Force, and Scientist in the Public Interest Review Task Force, the latter of which she chaired. She has also served on the Gordon Allport Intergroup Relations Prize Committee (2008-2009), which recognizes excellence in research and highlights its relevance to intergroup relations in the real world. Along with her active involvement in SPSSI, Dr. Monteith has made other major contributions to the profession as President of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Executive Committee member of the Society for Experimental Social Psychology, and Council member of the Midwestern Psychological Association. She has served as Associate Editor of Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Social Cognition, and Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, and she is currently the Editor-in-Chief for Social Psychological and Personality Science. She is a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, the American Psychological Association, the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, the Society for Experimental Social Psychology, and the Midwestern Psychological Association.

The Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues is proud to recognize Margo Monteith with the SPSSI Distinguished Service Award for 2020, with deep appreciation for her substantial contributions to SPSSI as an organization and to its mission of applying psychological research to important social issues.

Past winners