Stephanie Boddie

Education

PhD, School of Social Policy & Practice, University of Pennsylvania
MSW, School of Social Policy & Practice, University of Pennsylvania
BA, Johns Hopkins University

Research Interests

• Faith, social innovation and entrepreneurship
• Faith-based social services and policies
• Asset-based development
• Race and psychology of difference
• Community-based participatory research

Selected Publications

Smith, R. D., Boddie, S. C., & English, B. (2022). Racialized health, COVID-19, and religious responses: Black Atlantic contexts and perspectives. Routledge Press.

Boddie, S. C., & Hillier, A. (2022). The making and re-making of The Philadelphia Negro. The Digital Humanities Quarterly, 16(2).  

Boddie, S. C., *Howard, K., *Hong, K., *Nelms, S., *O’Quin, A., *Sessa, C., *Williams, S., & *Carter, S. (2022). Teen food insecurity in a Central Texas city: Teen perspectives using photovoice. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment. https://doi.org/10.1080/10911359.2022.2052222

Kyere, E., Boddie, S. C., & Lee, J. (2022). Visualizing structural competency: Moving beyond cultural competence/humility toward eliminating racism. Journal of Ethnic & Cultural Diversity in Social Work. https://doi.org/10.1080/15313204.2022.2057379

Kyere, E., & Boddie, S.C. (2021). Racial/ethnic socialization and faith: Essential ingredients for achieving liberation and empowerment among African American youth. Social Work & Christianity, 48(3), 259-274. https://doi.org/10.34043/swc.v48i3.245  

Boddie, S. C. (2021). Education from a gardener’s perspective. Social Work & Christianity, 48(3), 234-258. https://doi.org/10.34043/swc.v48i3.244

Boddie, S. C., Jiao, R., Webster, M., Zhao, Q., & Hodge, D. R. (2021). Establishing a social work model for China’s rural vitalization strategy. China Journal of Social Work, 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1080/17525098.2021.1938164

Boddie, S. C., & Park, J. (2021). Racializing the religious during the COVID-19 pandemic. Religions, 12(5), 341. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12050341

Taylor, R. J., Chatters, L. M., Woodward, A. T., Boddie, S. C., & Louise, G. (2020). African Americans’ and Black Caribbeans’ religious coping for psychiatric disorders. Social Work in Public Health, 36(1), 68-83. https://doi.org/10.1080/19371918.2020.1856749

Boddie, S. C., Kyere, E., & Adedoyin, A. C. (2019). A meta-theoretical framework for understanding educational disparities affecting Black youth in the United States: Implications for social workers. Urban Social Work, 3(2), 187-206. https://doi.org/10.1891/2474-8684.3.2.187

Yonas, M., Zuberi, A., Kasunic, A., Bamwine, P., Boddie, S., Tharp-Gilliam, S., & Wallace, J. (2017). Using concept mapping to explore and engage parent and youth residents of an economically underserved minority community around children's asthma. Progress in Community Health Partnerships: Research, Education, and Action 11(4), 332. https://doi.org/10.1353/cpr.2017.0040.

Smith, R. D., Boddie, S. C., & Peters, R. E. (2018). Urban ministry reconsidered: Contexts and approaches. Westminster John Knox Press.

Boddie, S. C. & Agnani, S. (2015, August 25). We are Measuring Poverty Wrong. Time Magazine online.

Smith, R. D., Boddie, S. C., & Peters, R. E. (Eds.). (2018). Urban Ministry Reconsidered: Contexts and Approaches. (Edited Volume).

Boddie, S. C. & Agnani, S. (2015, August 25). We are Measuring Poverty Wrong. Time Magazine online.

Shanks, T., Boddie, S. C. & Wynn, R. (2014). Wealth building in communities of color. In Larry E. Davis & Ralph Bangs (Eds). Handbook on Race & Social Problems. New York, NY: Springer Press.


Boddie, S. C., Massengill, R., & Shi, A. F. (2012). Did the religious group socioeconomic ranking change leading into the Great Recession? Sociology of Work. 23, 27-47. doi:101.1108/SO277-2833.

Shanks, T. R., Boddie, S. C. & Rice, S. (2010). Family-centered, community-based asset building: A strategic use of Individual Development Accounts. Journal of Community Practice. 18(1), 94-117. doi:10.1080/10705421003766735.

Boddie, S. C., Franklin, R. & Trulear, D. (2010). Healing communities: A framework for congregations in their ministry to families affected by incarceration. Baltimore, MD: The Annie E. Casey Foundation.

Background

Dr. Stephanie Clintonia Boddie joined the Baylor University faculty in 2017 as an assistant professor of Church and Community Ministries with affiliations at the Diana R. Garland School of Social Work, the George W. Truett Theological Seminary, and the School of Education. She is also affiliated with Baylor’s Digital Humanities program. Boddie is a senior affiliate at the University of Pennsylvania’s Program for Research on Religion & Urban Civil Society (PRRUCS) and the Partnership for Innovation, Cross-Sector Collaboration, Leadership, and Organization (PICCLO). She is a faculty associate at the Center for Social Development at Washington University in St. Louis and the Center for Equitable Family and Community Well-being at the University of Michigan as well as a co-convener of the Transatlantic Roundtable on Religion and Race and professor extraordinarius at the University of South Africa’s Institute for Gender Studies, and she is a 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 Villanova Church Management Fellow.

Previously, Boddie served as senior consultant for the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary’s Metro-Urban Institute and taught in the seminary’s Doctorate of Ministry Urban Change program. She held research appointments at Carnegie Mellon University and University of Pittsburgh. She also served as a senior researcher at the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion and Public Life, as well as lead consultant for the Anne E. Casey Foundation’s Faith & Family Portfolio and on the faculty of Washington University in St. Louis.

Boddie’s research explores congregation-based social services and trends in faith-based initiatives as well as social entrepreneurial approaches to address disparities in wealth, health, and food insecurity. She is co-director of the research, teaching and public history project, The Ward: Race and Class in Du Bois’ Seventh Ward. During her time at Carnegie Mellon University, she launched her research project, Unfinished Business: Religion & the Entrepreneurial Spirit and created the film Unfinished Business.

In addition to numerous journal articles and reports, Boddie has co-authored the following books: Racializing Health, COVID-19, Religious Responses: Black Atlantic Contexts and Perspectives; Urban Ministry Reconsidered: Contexts and Approaches; Faith-Based Social Services: Measures, Assessments, and Effectiveness; The Other Philadelphia Story: How Local Congregations Support Quality of Life in Urban America; The Invisible Caring Hand: American Congregations and the Provision of Welfare; and The Newer Deal: Social Work and Religion in Partnership. She has also co-produced four short films.  Her research has also been featured in Time Magazine, Religion News Service, Urban Faith, and other news outlets.

Boddie received her doctorate in social welfare and master's in social work from the University of Pennsylvania and her bachelor's degree in natural science from Johns Hopkins University. 

Boddie loves music, gardening and cooking. She finds ways to incorporate these passions into her teaching, research and community service. Listen to her sing one of her favorite spirituals.