Schnavia Smith Hatcher

Little Hall, home of the UA School of Social Work
Dean_Schnavia _Smith-Hatcher
2106002, Social Work Dean Schnavia Smith-Hatcher

Dean and Professor

Contact Information

Office: Little Hall 1001
Email: schnavia.hatcher@ua.edu
Phone: 205-348-3924

Areas of Interest and Expertise

  • Class and Social Policy Implications for Marginalized Communities
  • Health Promotion Strategies for Incarcerated Youth and Adults
  • Youth Development Models of Success in Higher Ed

Education

  • Ph.D. (School of Social Welfare, University of Kansas)
  • MSW (School of Social Work, University of Georgia)
  • BA, Psychology (Spelman College, Atlanta, Georgia)

Bio

Schnavia Smith Hatcher is the 8th Dean of the University of Alabama School of Social Work, bringing over 25 years of experience in clinical social work, community-engaged research, and higher education. As a native of Selma, Alabama, and a first-generation Pell Grant student, she is keen to advance the School’s social justice and community well-being initiatives.

Prior to joining UA, Hatcher was inaugural director of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte School of Social Work, where she established the Race and Social Equity Academy. At the University of Texas at Arlington, she founded the Center for African American Studies (the first one of its kind in north Texas) and held faculty appointments in Social Work and Criminology and Criminal Justice. Her first tenured faculty position and administrative role as BSW Program Director was at the University of Georgia.

Hatcher’s scholarship focuses on health promotion strategies for disenfranchised populations and marginalized communities. Her research has been supported by the National Institutes of Health, the Health Resources and Services Administration, and the U.S. Department of Justice, among others. She serves on the boards for the National Association of Deans and Directors of Schools of Social Work and the Grand Challenges for Social Work and is a Distinguished Fellow of the National Academies of Practice in Social Work.

Selected Publications

Hatcher, S. (2007). Transitional care for African American offenders with mental illness in jail: Mapping indicators of successful community reentry. Best Practices in Mental Health: An International Journal, 3(2), 38-51.

Hatcher, S., Toldson, I., Godette, D., & Richardson, J. (2009). Mental health, substance abuse, and HIV disparities in correctional settings: Practice and policy implications for African Americans. Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, 20(2A), 6-16.

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. doi: 10.1080/10509674.2010.519649

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. doi: 10.1177/1078345811401509

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. doi: 10.1080/15548732.2013.779623

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, 30(7), 559-566. doi:10.1080/19371918.2015.1073649

Hatcher, S., King, D., Barnett, T., & Burley, J. (2017). Mental health for youth: Applying an African centered approach. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 27(1/2), 61-72. doi: 10.1080/10911359.2016.1259930

Nordberg, A., McCoy, M.K., Stevens, M.A., & Hatcher, S. (2018). Precarity and structural racism in black youth encounters with police. Child and Adolescent Social Work, 35(5), 511-518. doi: 10.1007/s10560-018-0540-x

King, D., Orihuela, C., Mrug, S., & Hatcher, S. (2021). Future aspirations, leisure time, and sexual health risk behaviors among Black youth in one urban city. Urban Social Work,
5(1), 15-27. doi: 10.1891/USW-D-20-00007