Sheretta Butler-Barnes is a developmental psychologist and has expertise and scholarly work on the impact of racism and the use of culturally strength-based assets on the educational and health outcomes of Black American families.
She is currently an Associate Professor at the WUSTL Brown School of Social Work. Before coming to the Brown School, Butler-Barnes was a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Michigan's School of Education affiliated with the Center for the Study of Black Youth in Context. Butler-Barnes received her PhD and MA from Wayne State University in psychology and a BS in psychology from Michigan State University.
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.