PSU History
Jessica Rodriguez-JenKins, PhD, LICSW (she/her/ella) is an Associate Professor in the School of Social Work. She joined PSU in 2017 after receiving her doctoral degree in Social Welfare from the University of Washington’s School of Social Work in Seattle, Washington.
Experience
After receiving her MSW degree, Dr. Rodriguez-JenKins worked for over 10 years as a social work practitioner across several areas of practice, including as a community mental health child and family therapist, infant and early childhood mental health consultant, perinatal medical social worker, and owned her own private practice. During her doctoral training, she was a NIMH Prevention Fellow and a CSWE SAHMSA Minority Fellow. Dr. Rodriguez-JenKins has advanced training in mixed methods research.
Academic/Research Interests
Dr. Rodriguez-JenKins engages in practice-informed qualitative and quantitative research to support parenting in highly stressed families, particularly in the Latine community, through culturally relevant engagement and intervention strategies targeting access to resources, parenting supports, parent mental health, parent-child well-being, and understanding cultural and contextual factors that influence parenting beliefs. She is committed to research that includes partnerships with community providers to develop sustainable, culturally responsive interventions and increasing access to an array of systems of support. Her work specifically seeks to support families served by complex public agencies and programs such as the public child welfare system, early childhood education, and other public agencies to decrease the extent to which minoritized children and families experience social and health disparities throughout their childhood.
Dr. Rodriguez-JenKins has experience teaching across the social work curriculum, both undergraduate and graduate courses. Primarily teaching in the BSW program, her pedagogical approach is grounded in liberatory and emancipatory healing, critical race theory, queer theory, social constructivism, and centering the voices of minoritized communities.
In her research, teaching, and service, Dr. Rodriguez-JenKins is dedicated to advancing the field of social work in a way that gives voice to the history, politics, culture, legacies, and current urgent needs of Latine communities.
Personal Interests
When not working, Dr. Rodriguez-JenKins loves spending time with her fierce children, playing video games, exploring the city, and traveling.