Shirley L. Yu

Professional Website

Shirley L. Yu is associate professor of educational psychology in the Department of Educational Studies. Her research interests are centered on the relations of self-regulated learning, motivation, and instructional factors to retention and achievement in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), with a particular emphasis on women and ethnic minority students. She is director of the Graduate Certificate in College and University Teaching, and she serves on the editorial boards for the Journal of Experimental Education and Educational Psychology for Policy and Practice. She is a recipient of OSU’s Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching (2024-2025) and the College of Education and Human Ecology’s Distinguished Teaching Award (2018).

• PhD, Education and Psychology, University of Michigan
• MA, Psychology (Developmental), University of Michigan
• BA, Psychology, University of California at Los Angeles

• Educational Psychology
  • Motivation
  • Self-regulated learning
  • STEM achievement
  • Underrepresented populations

• Lee, H., Yu, S. L., Lin, T.-J., & Kim, M. (2025). “Am I trying hard or harder than others?”: Gender differences in reciprocal relations between perceived effort, science self-concept, and achievement in chemistry. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 80, 102349. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2025.102349
• Allen, E. C., Perry, A. H., Black, A., & Yu, S. L. (2024). Barriers to success: Do achievement goals predict differential cost perceptions and outcomes? Social Psychology of Education, 28, 47.https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-024-09988-y
• Kim, Y., & Yu, S. L. (2024). Brief research report: Motivational regulation and motivational interference during study and leisure. Journal of Experimental Education. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220973.2024.2372309
• Yu, S. L., Black, A., & Kaletunç, G. (2023). Becoming AWARES: Mentoring undergraduate women in engineering and sciences. In D. Law & N. Dominguez (Eds.), Making Connections: A Handbook for Effective Formal Mentoring Programs in Academia. Utah State University Press.
• Kim, Y., Yu, S. L., Wolters, C. A., & Anderman, E. M. (2023). Self-regulatory processes within and between diverse goals: The multiple goals regulation framework. Educational Psychologist 58(2), 70-91. https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.2022.2158828
• Brady, A. C., Wolters, C. A., & Yu, S. L. (2022). Self-regulation of time: The importance of time estimation accuracy. Frontiers in Psychology: Educational Psychology, 13:925812. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.925812
• Kim, Y. , Yu, S. L., Koenka, A. C., Lee, H. W. , & Heckler, A. F. (2022). Can self-efficacy and task value buffer cost? Exploring interactive relations in introductory- and upper-level physics courses. The Journal of Experimental Education, 90(4), 839-861. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220973.2021.1878992
• Kim, Y., Yu, S. L.,& Shin, J. (2021). How temptation changes across time: Effects of self-efficacy for self-regulated learning and autonomy support. Educational Psychology, 42(3), 278-295. https://doi.org/10.1080/01443410.2021.2009774
• Kim, Y., Yu, S. L., Wolters, C. A., & Anderman, E. M. (2021). Academic, social, and well-being goals in the classroom: The dynamic interplay between multiple goals and self-regulatory processes. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 67. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2021.102018
• Lee, H., Yu, S. L., Kim, M., & Koenka, A. C. (2021). Concern or comfort with social comparisons matter in undergraduate physics courses: Joint consideration of expectancy-value theory, mindsets, and gender. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 67. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2021.102023 
• Tornwall, J., Xie, K., Yu, S. L., Stein, D., Zurmehly, J., & Nichols, R. (2021). Effects of knowledge and value on quality of supportive peer feedback. Nurse Educator, 46(3), 173-179. https://doi.org/10.1097/NNE.0000000000000897
• Kaletunç, G., & Yu, S. L. (2018). Retention and advancement of women in STEM: Mentor and peer network relationships. The Chronicle of Mentoring and Coaching, 2, 478-483.
• Won, S., & Yu, S. L. (2018). Relations of perceived parental autonomy support and control with adolescents' academic time management and procrastination. Learning and Individual Differences, 61, 205-215. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2017.12.001
• Emery, M., Sanders, M., Anderman, L. H., & Yu, S. L. (2018). When mastery goals meet mastery learning: Administrator, teacher, and student perceptions. Journal of Experimental Education, 86, 419 441. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220973.2017.1341863
• Yu, S. L., Corkin, D. M., & Martin, J. P. (2017). STEM motivation and persistence among underrepresented minority students: A social cognitive perspective. In J. T. DeCuir-Gunby & P. A. Schutz (Eds.), Race and ethnicity in the study of motivation in education (pp. 67-81). New York: Routledge.