Rate My Professor Marie-Anne Suizzo

Marie-Anne Suizzo is an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, focusing on human development, culture, and learning sciences within Psychology. She earned an Ed.D. in Human Development and Psychology from Harvard University in 1997, an M.Ed. in Human Development and Psychology from Harvard University in 1993, an M.A. in International Development Education from Stanford University in 1987, and a B.A. in Government from Georgetown University in 1981. Her professional career includes serving as Senior Research Associate at the National Academy of Sciences from 1997 to 1999, Post-doctoral Intramural Research Training Fellow at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health from 1999 to 2001, Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin from 2001 to 2007, and Associate Professor since 2007.

Marie-Anne Suizzo studies parent-child relationships across cultures and ethnic groups, examining how parent-child interactions and parenting practices shape adolescents' academic and social-emotional development, including achievement motivation, school engagement, cultural beliefs and values, and social-emotional well-being. Her research highlights parents' roles in supporting adolescents during school transitions to middle school and college, emphasizing cultural strengths among low-income and ethnic minority families facing racial and ethnic discrimination and economic disadvantage. She has conducted studies with Mexican American, African American, Asian American, and European American families, using quantitative and qualitative methods spanning psychology and anthropology. Recent work investigates distinct roles of fathers and mothers in adolescents' development by gender and effects of parent-adolescent conversations on academic and emotional socialization. Key publications include "Relations between colorblind socialization and children’s racial bias: Evidence from European American mothers and their preschool children" (2012), "Poverty, race, and parental involvement during the transition to elementary school" (2010), "Parents' goals and values for children: Dimensions of independence and interdependence across four US ethnic groups" (2007), and "Conceptualizing culture in research on parenting and child development: Carving, categorizing, and communicating" (2021). She has received Spencer Foundation Research Grants totaling over $90,000, College of Education Small Grants, Dean’s Fellowships in 2008, 2015, and 2020, NIH Intramural Research Training Award (1999-2001), and the Excellence in Teaching Award from the Department of Educational Psychology (2020-2021). Dr. Suizzo serves on editorial boards for Journal of Black Psychology (since 2012), Journal of Family Issues (since 2016), and Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology (since 2020), and has chaired graduate studies committees at the University of Texas at Austin.