Dani Smith – Biography

Dr. Dani Smith joined the Fisk faculty in 1996 to integrate research methods and behavioral statistics into a single cognate course required of psychology, sociology, and political science majors. Building on her specialty in criminology, Dr. Smith spearheaded the efforts to create the criminal justice major now offered at Fisk. She has chaired the Department of Behavioral Sciences since 2011. Prior to that, she chaired the Department of Sociology.

Over the past 12 years, Dr. Smith has supervised the research projects of 50 sociology seniors who have presented their research at the Southeastern Undergraduate Sociology Symposium (SEUSS). Her students have placed first and second twice and third three times in the undergraduate paper competition.

Dr. Smith collaborated on a Department of Justice sub-grant to integrate victimization studies into the university curriculum. Learning modules related to victimization over the life cycle were produced for introductory courses in psychology and sociology. Dr. Smith participated in a University of Michigan workshop on quantitative analysis of crime data. Most recently, she has involved her media students in her current research on gender stereotypes in young reader fiction.

Dr. Smith teaches two required courses in sociology, social theory and senior seminar, as well as the interdisciplinary cognate, methods and statistics for social research. She teaches several sociology courses which are part of the criminal justice curriculum, criminology, deviance and social control, juvenile delinquency, and law and society. She also teaches the sociology electives social psychology and media, society, and culture.