Jessica Marie Shotwell, born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee, is a Doctoral Candidate in the Department of Sociology at the University of Maryland, College Park. As an interdisciplinary scholar, Jessica's dissertation research draws from Black feminist and critical sociology studies to understand Black women's interpretations of their coping processes as young girls in the U.S. public school system. Jessica is currently preparing her dissertation proposal, funded by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program. Jessica also studies health disparities as a mechanism of difference on racial lines, interrogating the structural conditions and systemic issues that shape health outcomes. 

Areas of Interest

  • Black feminism
  • Education
  • Health
  • Intersectionality
  • Critical qualitative methodologies

Degrees

  • BS
    Sociology
  • MA
    Sociology

Awards

  • 2022-05-13
    BSOS Dean's Fellowship
  • 2022-04-21
    BSOS Dean's Research Initiative Award
  • 2021-04-20
    BSOS Dean's Fellowship
  • 2020-03-31
    National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship
  • 2020-04-20
    Honorable Mention, Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship
  • 2019-04-20
    Honorable Mention, Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship
  • Graduate Fellows Award, Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society
  • 2018-08-06
    BSOS Dean's Diversity and Inclusion Fellowship
  • 2018-08-06
    Department of Sociology Summer Fellowship

Research

  • (Deconstructing and theorizing) Black girl/womanhood
  • Coping
Image of Jessica Shotwell
1103A Parren J. Mitchell Art-Sociology Building
Department of Sociology
Email
jshotwel [at] umd.edu