Dr. Howard C Stevenson

Constance E. Clayton Professor of Urban Education

LocationPhiladelphia, PA

Email address

Telephone number2154325059

Websitewww.gse.upenn.edu

Twitter account@DrHoward_RECAST

Headshot of Howard C Stevenson

Biographical information

Dr. Howard Stevenson is the Constance Clayton Professor of Urban Education, Professor of Africana Studies, in the Human Development & Quantitative Methods Division of the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the Executive Director of the Racial Empowerment Collaborative, designed to promote racial literacy in education, health, and community institutions. Dr. Stevenson co-directs Forward Promise, a national philanthropy that funds community based organizations that help boys and young men of color heal, grow, and thrive above the trauma of historical and present-day dehumanization. He is a nationally recognized clinical psychologist and researcher on negotiating racial conflicts. His book, Promoting Racial Literacy in Schools: Differences that Make a Difference summarizes this work. Two National Institutes of Health funded research projects examine the benefits of racial literacy and culturally responsive interventions. The PLAAY (Preventing Long-term Anger and Aggression in Youth) Project uses basketball and group therapy to help youth and parents cope with stress and trauma from violence and social rejection. Dr. Stevenson also co-led the SHAPE-UP: Barbers Building Better Brothers Project with Drs. Lorretta and John Jemmott, training Black barbers as health educators to teach Black 18-24 year old males to reduce their risk of – HIV/STDS and retaliation violence – while they are cutting hair. He received the 2020 Gittler Prize, by Brandeis University, for outstanding and lasting scholarly contributions to racial, ethnic, and/or religious relations. He was also listed in the 2020 RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings of the top university-based scholars in the U.S. who did the most to shape educational practice and policy. Dr. Stevenson’s research focuses on helping children and adults assert themselves during face-to-face microaggressions. Key to this racial healing work is the use of culture to reduce in-the-moment threat reactions, increase access to memory, physical mobility, and voice