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 adolescents. Before coming to the Brown School, Butler-Barnes was a NSF 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 developmental psychology and a BS in psychology from Michigan State University.
Her research agenda includes two particular areas of focus: the Strengths-Based Assets of Black Adolescents Project explores how Black youth draw on personal and cultural assets and resources to thrive despite challenges to their identities from interpersonal experiences of racism; the Celebrating Strengths of Black Girls Project focuses on advancing equity for women and girls of color.
