Education: BS, University of Washington, 1998; MS, University of Washington, 2001; PhD, University of Washington, 2002. At SPU since 2002.
Dr. Margaret Shenk is an experienced service-learning practitioner and has won awards for excellence in teaching, including the Distinguished Graduate Teaching Award from the University of Washington and the endowed Patricia M. Bentz Teacher of the Year Award from Seattle Pacific University. She was nominated in 2013 for the CASE/Carnegie Foundation’s U.S. Professor of the Year Award. Her current courses include “General Psychology,” “Social Psychology,” and “Advanced Research Methods in Social Psychology.”
Dr. Shenk’s research interests are in self-psychology and the intersection of prosocial behavior and intergroup relations. She is the recipient of a National Science Foundation fellowship, and the author of numerous professional publications.
She conducts rigorous, theory-based, experimental research on service learning. Her examinations of service learning as a form of counternormative helping behavior have revealed its impact on social justice attitudes. This line of research has also identified multiple mediators and moderators of this relationship, such as empathy, generosity, and intergroup contact. Her book on service learning in psychology examines the importance of civic education within the undergraduate curriculum, and provides a wealth of practical advice to faculty members and department chairs for successful implementation.
​Selected publications
Bringle, R.G., Reeb, R.N., Brown, M.A., & Ruiz, A. (2015). Service Learning in Psychology: Enhancing Undergraduate Education for the Public Good. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.
Brown, J.D., & Brown, M.A. (2015). The Self. Beijing, China: Posts and Telecom Press, in partnership with Taylor & Francis Group.
Brown, M.A., & Brown, J.D. (2014). Self-enhancement biases, self-esteem, and ideal mate preferences. Personality and Individual Differences, 74, 61–65. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2014.09.039
Brown, M.A. (2011). The power of generosity to change views on social power. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 47, 1285–90. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2011.05.021
Brown, J.D., & Brown, M.A. (2011). Self-reflection and feelings of self-worth: When Rosenberg meets Heisenberg. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 47, 1269–75. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2011.05.019
Brown, M.A. (2011). Learning from service: The effect of helping on helpers’ social dominance orientation. Journal of Applied Social Psychology 41, 850–871. doi: 10.1111/j.1559-1816.2011.00738.x
Please view Dr. Shenk’s CV (PDF) for additional publications.