Schnavia Smith Hatcher serves as the inaugural director of the School of Social Work (SSW) at UNC Charlotte College of Health and Human Services. Hatcher coordinates strategic planning for the newly transitioned unit, promotes research and scholarly activities for approximately 20 full-time faculty and 300 students in the undergraduate and graduate programs, and sits on the College’s Administrative Council. In her prior position as inaugural director of Center of African American Studies at University of Texas Arlington, Hatcher also guided policy decisions related to administrative, academic, and research functions, student development initiatives, and community engagement opportunities. She has held appointments as tenured faculty in the aforementioned institutions as well as the University of Georgia.
Schnavia Hatcher has been a social worker for approximately 20 years, serving as a licensed clinical practitioner, university professor, community-based researcher, and unit administrator. The majority of her scholarship has focused on issues of race, class, and social policy implications for the Black community specifically and the broader society generally. As SSW director, she will advance the mission to prepare competent social workers and promote community well-being and social justice through teaching, scholarship, and service with special attention to vulnerable populations. As a social and behavioral scientist, Hatcher has also continued to focus on developing health promotion strategies for disenfranchised populations in social justice venues. Utilizing grant funds, her projects have examined health risk behaviors, e.g., substance abuse, suicide, risky sexual activities, of youth and adults in jails and prisons; assessed interventions that facilitate consummate care and community integration for offenders; and researched individual, systemic, and processual characteristics that influence the cycle of detention.
Hatcher earned her Ph.D. from the University of Kansas School of Social Welfare, master’s degree from the University of Georgia School of Social Work, and her baccalaureate degree in psychology from Spelman College. Previous administration and research leadership roles include center director, undergraduate program director, visiting faculty, postdoctoral research fellow, grants manager, and project supervisor.
Education
- 2005 Ph.D., School of Social Welfare, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas
Dissertation Title: Identifying indicators of successful community re-entry for persons with mental illness affiliated with the criminal justice system: A concept mapping process
- 1998 M.S.W., School of Social Work, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia
- 1996 B.A., Department of Psychology, Spelman College, Atlanta, Georgia
Research Interests/Areas of Expertise
- Race, Class, and Social Policy Implications for the Black community;
- Disenfranchised populations in social justice venues;
- Health promotion strategies for incarcerated youth and adults;
- Youth development models of success in higher education
Fellowships and Leadership Programs
- Leadership Academy for Deans and Directors (LADD), National Association of Deans and Directors of Schools of Social Work
- Spectrum Aspiring Leaders Program, American Council on Education
- Mental Health and Substance Abuse in Corrections Clinical Research Scholars Program, Postdoctoral Fellowship funded by NIMH, organized by Morehouse School of Medicine
Selected Publications
Hatcher, S., King, D., Barnett, T., & Burley, J. (in press). Mental health for youth: Applying an African centered approach. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment.
King, D., Hatcher, S., & Bride, B. (in press). Adolescent predictors of female dating violence perpetration. Vulnerable Children and Youth Services, DOI: 10.1080/17450128.2016.1243820.
King, D., Hatcher, S., Blakey, J. & Mbizo, J. (2015). Health risk behaviors and dating violence victimization: An examination of associated risk behaviors among detained female youth. Social Work in Public Health, DOI:10.1080/19371918.2015.1073649.
Nordberg, A., Praetorius, R., Crawford, M., Hatcher, S. (2015). Exploring minority youths’ police encounters: A qualitative interpretive meta-synthesis. Child & Adolescent Social Work Journal, DOI: 10.1007/s10560-015-0415-3.
King, D., Hatcher, S., & Bride, B. (2015). An exploration of risk factors associated with dating violence: Examining the predictability of adolescent female dating violence perpetration. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 25(8), 907-922.
Blakey, J., & Hatcher, S. (2013). Trauma and substance abuse among child welfare involved African American mothers: A case study. Journal of Public Child Welfare, 7(2), 194-216.
Hatcher, S., Bride, B., Oh, H., King, D., & Catrett, J. (2011). An Assessment of secondary traumatic stress in juvenile justice education workers. Journal of Correctional Health Care, 17(3), 208-217.
Toldson, I., Ray, K., Hatcher, S., & Louis, L. (2011). Examining the long-term racial disparities in health and economic conditions among Hurricane Katrina survivors: Policy implications for Gulf Coast recovery. Journal of Black Studies, 42(3), 360-378.
Hatcher, S. (2010). Recognizing perspectives on community reentry from offenders with mental illness: Using the Afrocentric framework and concept mapping with adult detainees. Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, 49(8), 536-550.
