Priscilla Kennedy,LMSW

Email: plkennedy2@uh.edu
Curriculum Vitae

Personal Statement

My research focuses on developing conceptual frameworks for social work education that cultivate students’ cultural competence, critical consciousness, and transformative potential. I am particularly interested in the process by which White social work students learn to address their positionality, power, and privilege in relation to their own roles in perpetuating discriminatory systems. This interest has led me to my dissertation research, which is to explore the lived experiences of social work students who participated in a course that focused on structural racism as it is manifested in the system of mass incarceration.  

My interest in addressing the root causes of structural racism comes from seven years of community social work practice experience, working in neighborhoods and within non-profit organizations to build coalitions and capacity to address structural determinants of health.  

Research Interests

• Structural competence, critical consciousness, and transformative potential as social work competencies
• Positionality, power, and privilege in the context of social work practice
• Qualitative research interview as intervention
• Experiential learning in social work education
• Mentoring in PhD education

Education

• PhD Candidate, Graduate College of Social Work, University of Houston, Houston, TX 
• MSW, Graduate College of Social Work, University of Houston, Houston, TX, 2015 
• MS, University of Houston, 2003 
• BA, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, 1988 

Licenses and Certifications

• Licensed Master of Social Work – State of Texas 

Teaching Experience

• Social Work and Mass Incarceration (TA)
• Program Planning & Evaluation (guest lecturer)
• History & Philosophy of Higher Education (guest lecturer)