Mashek is the executive director of Heterodox Academy, a non-profit organization committed to advancing open inquiry, viewpoint diversity and constructive disagreement on college campuses and in academic disciplines. Mashek has spent two decades studying how people form relationships with each other. She earned a bachelor’s in psychology/biology from Nebraska Wesleyan University. She received both a master’s degree and Ph.D. in social/health psychology with an emphasis in quantitative methods from Stony Brook University. After completing a three-year postdoctoral fellowship at George Mason University, she moved to the Claremont Colleges, where she served 13 years as a professor of psychology in the Department of Humanities, Social Sciences, and the Arts at Harvey Mudd College (HMC). She has published more than 30 academic articles and chapters and has edited two academic books. She has won multiple awards at both local and national levels for her teaching. Her favorite courses to teach are Psychology of Collaboration, Intellectual Virtues and I’m Right; You’re Wrong.
