Amanda Durik

Amanda Durik earned her PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2003, in Social and Personality Psychology, after receiving her undergraduate degree in 1995 from Centre College, Danville, KY.  Following graduate school she completed postdoctoral training at the University of Michigan.  In 2005 she joined the psychology faculty at Northern Illinois University where she currently serves as department chair.

Her research examines the factors that influence motivation in achievement situations, with particular focus on how interests develop.  This includes how factors such as goals, prior knowledge, and contextual influences combine to move individuals toward exploration and learning.