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
CV: Jessica Marie Shotwell CV-Updated2022.pdf84.15 KB
Degrees
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BSSociology
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MASociology
Awards
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2022-05-13BSOS Dean's Fellowship
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2022-04-21BSOS Dean's Research Initiative Award
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2021-04-20BSOS Dean's Fellowship
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2020-03-31National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship
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2020-04-20Honorable Mention, Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship
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2019-04-20Honorable Mention, Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship
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Graduate Fellows Award, Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society
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2018-08-06BSOS Dean's Diversity and Inclusion Fellowship
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2018-08-06Department of Sociology Summer Fellowship
Research
- (Deconstructing and theorizing) Black girl/womanhood
- Coping

Department of Sociology
Email
jshotwel [at] umd.edu