Janie Ward

Janie Victoria Ward, EdD is Professor Emeritus, Departments of Education, and Africana Studies, Simmons University in Boston, Massachusetts. Ward’s latest book, co-authored with Tracy L. Robinson-Wood, Sister Resisters: Mentoring Black Women on Campus (2022) advances a model of cross-racial mentorship in support of Black women that highlights growth and change for both mentors and their mentees. Ward’s earlier books include, The Skin We’re In: Teaching Our Children to be Emotionally Strong, Socially Smart and Spiritually Connected (Fireside Books, 2000) that focused on racial socialization in black families; and a co-edited compilation of sixteen autobiographical statements written by African American, Caribbean and black Canadian college students entitled, Souls Looking Back: Life Stories of Growing Up Black (1999). Ward is a co-editor of Mapping the Moral Domain: A Contribution of Women’s Thinking to Psychological Theory and Research (1988) with Carol Gilligan. For over thirty years her professional work and research interests have centered on the developmental issues of African American adolescents, focusing on identity and moral development in African American girls and boys. Along with her research responsibilities Professor Ward continues to work with youth counselors, secondary school educators, college personnel and other practitioners across a variety of settings.