Sheretta T. Butler-Barnes

Dr. Sheretta T. Butler-Barnes is Professor and Dean’s Distinguished Professorial Scholar at Washington University in St. Louis (Wash U) School of Social Work with affiliations in African and African American Studies and the Division of Data and Computational Sciences. During the 2023-24 academic year, she was the Inaugural Sojourner Truth Visiting Professor of Racial and Social Justice at Rutgers University School of Social Work. Her training is in developmental science, and she has expertise and scholarly work on the impact of racism and the use of culturally strength-based assets on the health and wellbeing outcomes of Black American families. Butler-Barnes received her PhD and MA in psychology from Wayne State University and a BS in psychology from Michigan State University. She was a National Science Foundation (NSF) SBE postdoctoral fellow at the University of Michigan, Center for the Study of Black Youth in Context (CSBYC). The two lines of her research agenda include 1) Black families and Racial Justice Project, which is a mixed methodological investigation of Black families' vulnerability to or resilience against marginalization, focusing on parenting practices and adolescent developmental trajectories, and 2) Equity for Black Women and Girls Project which focuses on advancing equity for women and girls of color by identifying risk and protective factors in learning spaces and creating culturally responsive programming that promotes resiliency.