Jomella Watson-Thompson has been awarded the 2014 Ernest A. Lynton Award for the Scholarship of Engagement. The award recognizes early-career faculty who practice exemplary engaged scholarship through teaching and research. Recipients are selected on the basis of their collaboration with communities, institutional impact, and high-quality academic work.
Dr. Watson-Thompson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Applied Behavioral Science, and Associate Director for the Work Group for Community Health and Development at the University of Kansas. Through her collaborative research, teaching, and service she partners with communities to address community health and development issues through the application of community-based behavioral psychology. Her research has focused on neighborhood development, positive youth development, and adolescent substance abuse and violence prevention. Dr. Thompson supports community capacity-building efforts to address social determinants of health through community-based participatory research with populations and communities experiencing disparities, particularly in urban neighborhoods. Her research has focused on examining the effects of community-based processes and interventions to promote community mobilization and change in addressing the interrelated conditions affecting community health.
Dr. Thompson has extensive experience in providing training, technical support, and evaluation for community-based initiatives. Dr. Watson-Thompson attained her B.A. in Urban Studies from Jackson State University in Jackson, Mississippi, a Masters of Urban Planning, a M.A. in Applied Behavioral Science, and a Ph.D. in Behavioral Psychology all from the University of Kansas.