Amanda M. Durik

Amanda M. Durik is a Professor and Department Chair in the Department of Psychology at Northern Illinois University (NIU). Her research focuses on optimal motivation, task engagement, and how social, situational, cognitive, and developmental factors influence interest and achievement. She earned her B.S. in Psychology and Sociology from Centre College (1995) and her Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (2003).

• Research Themes: Motivation, task values, utility interventions, stereotype threat, and cross-cultural motivational patterns.
• Grants: Multiple funded projects from the National Science Foundation, James S. McDonnell Foundation, and U.S. Department of Education.
• Teaching: Offers courses in social psychology, motivation, and group processes at both undergraduate and graduate levels.

Her work bridges educational psychology and developmental science, emphasizing how mental representations of tasks and contexts mediate goal adoption and value perception. She has also examined longitudinal trends in children's interest development and gendered influences on academic choices.

Scientific Awards:

• Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award

Recent Publications highlight interdisciplinary approaches to understanding how self-generated utility value, cultural context, and social categories like gender and ethnicity shape educational outcomes and persistence in STEM and literacy fields.