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Felicia M. Mitchell joined the School of Social Work at Arizona State University in August 2016. She is a descendant of the Chickasaw Nation and the Chickasaw Freedmen of Oklahoma. Mitchell received her master's degree from the Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis and her doctorate from the University of Kansas School of Social Welfare.
Mitchell is committed to social justice for all oppressed and marginalized peoples and advocates for the advancement of environmental and health equity in communities of color. Her primary research interests focus on social determinants of health (which is inclusive of environmental determinants) and their impact on Indigenous health and well-being. In support of Social Work's Grand Challenge to Create Social Responses to a Changing Environment (http://envchange.org/), Mitchell's work seeks to promote public and policy responsiveness to the social and anthropological dimensions of environmental change. Mitchell uses Photovoice methodology infused with community-based research principles to partner with communities and organizations around group-identified health and ecological concerns.
Mitchell's secondary line of scholarship focuses on advancing social work education through critical reflection and engagement that seeks to dismantle settler-colonial standards in academia. Using a critical lens, she examines teaching and curriculum standards to increase accurate representations of historically underrepresented populations in the classroom and advocates for the eradication of oppressive social work education and research practices. Mitchell recently co-developed an online course titled, "International Indigenous Health" with her colleagues in the School of Public Health and Community Medicine at the University of New South Wales in Sydney Australia.
Mitchell's article, “Engaging in Indigenous CBPR within Academia: A Critical Narrative” was selected as the winner of the 2018 Affilia Award for Distinguished Feminist Scholarship and Praxis in Social Work.
Health and well-being of historically underrepresented populations
Social and environmental determinants of health
Community-Based Research methods
Social work education
Faculty Research Affiliate, Southwest Interdisciplinary Research Center, School of Social Work, ASU, 2017-present
Faculty Affiliate, Southwest Collaborative on Immigration, Inequality, and Poverty (SCIIP), ASU, 2017-present
Senior Sustainability Scholar, Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability, ASU, 2017-present
*Winner of 2018 Affilia Award for Distinguished Feminist Scholarship and Praxis in Social Work
Lechuga-Peña, S., Becerra, D., Mitchell, F.M. et al. (2019). Subsidized housing and low-income mother's school-based parent involvement: Findings from the Fragile Families and Child Well-being Study wave five. Children Youth Care Forum, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10566-018-9481-y
Mitchell, F. M. (2019). Water (in)security and American Indian health: Social and environmental justice implications for research, policy, and practice. Public Health, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2018.10.010
Billiot, S., & Mitchell, F. M. (2018). Conceptual interdisciplinary model of exposure to environmental changes to address Indigenous health and well-being. Public Health, doi: 10.1016/j.puhe.2018.08.011
Mitchell, F. M. (2018). “Water is Life”: Using Photovoice to document American Indian perspectives of water and health. Social Work Research, https://doi.org/10.1093/swr/svy0
*Mitchell, F. M. (2018). Engaging in Indigenous CBPR within academia: A critical narrative. Affilia, 33(3), 379–394. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886109918762570
Sangalang, C., Becerra, D., Mitchell, F. M., Lechuga-Peña, S., Lopez, K., & Kim, I. (2018). Trauma, migration status, and mental health: A comparative analysis of refugees and immigrants in the United States. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, doi: 10.1007/s10903-018-0826-2
Mitchell, F. M. (2016). Creating space for the ‘uncomfortable’: Discussions about race and police brutality in a BSW classroom. Reflections: Narratives of Professional Helping, 21(3), 4-9. https://www.reflectionsnarrativesofprofessionalhelping.org/index.php/Ref...
Mitchell, F. M. (2016). Water is life: A community-based participatory study of the significance of water and its relationship to the health and well-being of the Kickapoo Tribe in Kansas (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (Order No. 10240244)
Mitchell, F. M. (2015). Racial and ethnic health disparities in an era of health care reform. Health & Social Work, 1-9, 10.1093/hsw/hlv038
Petr, C., Johnson-Motoyama, M., & Mitchell, F. M. (2014). Factors associated with success in doctoral social work education. Journal of Social Work Education, 50(3), 548-558. https://doi.org/10.1080/10437797.2014.916955
Mitchell, F. M. (2012). Reframing diabetes in American Indian communities: A social determinants of health perspective. Health & Social Work, 37(2), 71-79. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/hsw/hls013
PI/Training Fellow ($20,000), Lauhoe - Indigenous HIV/AIDS Research Training program, Indigenous Wellness Research Institute, University of Washington (NIH funded) (2017-2019)
Co-PI w/Community Coalition ($10,000 + ASU SSW internal funding of $12,800), Perspectives of Food Sovereignty: Engaging Tribal Youth in Participatory Research through Photovoice, Cross-Jurisdictional Sharing Small Grants Program, Kansas Health Institute (2017-2018)
PI, Kansas Humanities Grant, Kansas Humanities Council ($3,500), 2015-2017
| Fall 2019 | |
|---|---|
| Course Number | Course Title |
| SWG 533 | Diversity/Oppression/Soc Work |
| Spring 2019 | |
|---|---|
| Course Number | Course Title |
| SWG 585 | Macro Social Work Practice |
| Fall 2018 | |
|---|---|
| Course Number | Course Title |
| SWG 533 | Diversity/Oppression/Soc Work |
| Spring 2018 | |
|---|---|
| Course Number | Course Title |
| SWG 585 | Macro Social Work Practice |
| Fall 2017 | |
|---|---|
| Course Number | Course Title |
| SWU 411 | Social Work Practice III |
| Spring 2017 | |
|---|---|
| Course Number | Course Title |
| SWU 411 | Social Work Practice III |
| Fall 2016 | |
|---|---|
| Course Number | Course Title |
| SWG 533 | Diversity/Oppression/Soc Work |
Lechuga-Peña, S., Becerra, D., Mitchell, F. M., Lopez, K., & Sangalang, C. (2019, January). Low-income mother's school-based parent involvement and the role of subsidized housing: Findings from the Fragile Families and Child Well-Being Study Wave Five. Oral presentation to be presented at the annual conference of the Society for Social Work Research, San Francisco, CA.
Sangalang, C., Lechuga-Peña, S., Mitchell, F. M., Maglalang, D., & Nakaoka, S. (2019, January). Back to the future: Reflecting on 50 years of ethnic studies to inform new directions for social work research, policy, and practice. Roundtable presentation to be presented at the annual conference of the Society for Social Work Research, San Francisco, CA.
Lechuga-Peña, S., & Mitchell, F. M. (2018, November). Research in action: Using photovoice with diverse communities. Oral presentation in the Research and Program Evaluation Track presented at the annual program meeting of the Council on Social Work Education, Orlando, FL.
Sangalang, C., Becerra, D., Mitchell, F. M., Lechuga-Peña, S., Lopez, K., & Kim, I. (2018, November). Trauma, post-migration stress, and mental health: A comparative analysis of refugees and immigrants in the United States. Paper accepted for the annual program meeting of the American Public Health Association, San Diego, CA.
Mason, L. R., Palinkas, L. A., Mitchell, F. M., & Billiot, S. (2017, October). Teaching Transdisciplinary and Translational Science Skills for Addressing the Grand Challenges. Grand Challenges Teaching Institute to be presented at the annual program meeting of the Council on Social Work Education, Dallas, TX.
Mitchell, F. M. (2017, January). A community-based participatory study of the significance of water and its relationship to health and well-being in an American Indian community. E-poster session presented at the annual conference of the Society for Social Work Research, New Orleans, LA.
Billiot, S., Beltran, R., Fernandez, A., Brown, D., & Mitchell, F. M. (2017, January). Strengthening social responses to global environmental changes Grand Challenge: An Indigenous approach. Roundtable presented at the annual conference of the Society for Social Work Research, New Orleans, LA.
Mitchell, F. M. (2016, November). The relationship among water, health, and well-being in a Midwestern Tribal community. Interactive poster presentation presented at the annual program meeting of the Governor’s Conference on the Future of Water in Kansas, Manhattan, KS.
Billiot, S., & Mitchell, F. M. (2016, November). Reframing Indigenous mental health through an Indigenist model of ecological change. Interactive poster session presented at the annual program meeting of the Council on Social Work Education, Atlanta, GA.
Mitchell, F. M. (2016, November). The relationship among water, health, and well-being in a Midwestern Tribal community. Oral presentation presented at the annual program meeting of the Council on Social Work Education, Atlanta, GA.
Mitchell, F. M. (2015, November). Promoting CBPR in Tribal communities: Building trust, sustaining relationships, and moving forward. Oral presentation presented at the annual program meeting of the American Public Health Association, Chicago, IL.
Mitchell, F. M. (2015, October). Promoting CBPR in Tribal communities: Building trust, sustaining relationships, and moving forward. Interactive poster session presented at the annual program meeting of the Council on Social Work Education, Denver, CO.
2018 Affilia Award for Distinguished Feminist Scholarship and Praxis in Social Work
Consulting Editor, Health & Social Work
Council on Social Work Education (CSWE)
Council on Social Work Education Minority Fellowship Program (MFP) Alumna
Indigenous and Tribal Social Work Educators’ Association (ITSWEA)
National Association of Social Workers (NASW)
Society of Social Work Researchers (SSWR)
Member (Invited), Provost’s Native American Advisory Committee, ASU, 2017-present
Collaborator (Invited), PLuS Alliance, Indigenous PLuS Alliance, ASU, 2017-present
Speaker (Invited), Opening Reception for Native Voices: Native Peoples’ Concepts of Health and Illness Traveling Exhibit from the NIH National Library of Medicine, Hayden Library, ASU, 2016