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.
The two lines of her research agenda include 1) Strengths-Based Assets of Black Adolescents Project which explores how Black youth draw on personal and cultural assets and resources to thrive despite challenges to their identities from interpersonal experiences of racism; and, 2) Celebrating Strengths of Black Girls Project focuses on advancing equity for women and girls of color.
