Kelly Jackson

Outstanding Doctoral Mentor

Associate Professor, School of Social Work, Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions

Bio:

Dr. Kelly Faye Jackson is an Associate Professor in the School of Social Work at Arizona State University. She earned her BSW from Cornell University, MSW from the University at Albany SUNY, and PhD from the University at Buffalo SUNY. Dr. Jackson’s research is grounded in Black Feminism and Critical (Mixed)Race theories. She utilizes critical narrative and visual participatory methods to examine the identity development and overall wellbeing of persons of mixed-race heritage. Dr. Jackson developed a new critical methodology known as Black Feminist Polyethnography to investigate gendered anti-Black racism in academia. Dr. Jackson is co-author of the book Multiracial Cultural Attunement (Jackson & Samuels, 2019), which introduces a critical, anti-racist model of practice for helping professionals serving mixed-race individuals and families. It is from the lens of cultural attunement that Dr. Jackson approaches her teaching, mentorship, and service work. Dr. Jackson identifies as a mixed Black (and white) cisgender woman and resides with her daughter and pup in Phoenix, Arizona - the ancestral homelands of the Akimel O’odham, Pee Posh, Quechan, and Tohono O’odham peoples.

Mentoring statement:

My mentoring philosophy has evolved in congruence with my own personal and professional growth as a social work scholar. As a mixed Black and white cisgender woman, I continuously engage critical reflexivity to examine my own positionality in student mentorship relationships in a conscious effort not to (re)enact cycles of privilege, power, and oppression that disproportionately impacts BIPOC students in higher education. 

Important touchstones that guide my approach to mentorship are rooted in Black feminism, critical (mixed) race theory, and the professional practice orientation known as cultural attunement. These touchstones include, (1) encouraging students to critically evaluate their research and practice pursuits in ways that acknowledge systemic racism as inherent in all US institutions, including academia. 

This is especially important during the current syndemic, which has heightened the need for social workers to recognize and dismantle racial inequities and the negative impacts of white supremacy on the mental, physical, and behavioral health of racially marginalized communities, especially Black and Indigenous communities. 

I deploy my privilege as a tenured professor to (2) create generative counterspaces for BIPOC students that affirm their diverse intersectional identities and facilitate opportunities for them to capitalize on their existing strengths in flexible, non-traditional/dominant ways. 

Finally, as a social worker, (3) I continuously advocate for the social welfare of students, especially Black women and non-binary persons of color who face compound challenges associated with gendered anti-Black racism in the academy, such as tokenism and racial battle fatigue. 

An essential component of this touchstone is affirming Black women graduate students’ experiences by facilitating opportunities to amplify their voices in the telling of their diverse stories within traditional platforms (journal articles and conference presentations), which have historically ignored or minimized their value.