Shawna J. Lee

Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Professor of Social Work, School of Social Work

Dr. Shawna J. Lee is professor and Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs at the University of Michigan School of Social Work, where she also directs the Parenting in Context Research Lab and the Program Evaluation Group (PEG). Her research focuses on child maltreatment prevention, father involvement, parenting stress and family well-being.

An internationally recognized scholar, Lee serves as co-editor-in-chief of Children and Youth Services Review, a leading international journal in child and family research. Her work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Michigan Health Endowment Fund. Lee has authored more than 120 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters.

As faculty director of PEG since 2019, Lee has led community-engaged evaluation projects that strengthen organizational capacity and promote equity in health and social service systems. Previously, Lee was principal investigator and the inaugural director of Michigan’s statewide Title IV-E Child Welfare Educational Program, which advances workforce development across 18 universities and has resulted in millions of dollars of workforce development funding to schools of social work throughout Michigan.

Lee’s leadership and research advance the well-being of children and families through evidence-based interventions, evaluation and inclusive community partnerships.

Research Interests

Father's parenting risk behaviors, child maltreatment, community-based interventions

Curriculum Vitae

Contact Information

  • [email protected]

  • (734) 763-6565

  • 2848 SSWB
    University of Michigan
    School of Social Work
    1080 S. University
    Ann Arbor, MI 48109

Education

  • 2005 PhD Social Work and Psychology
    University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
  • 2003 MS Psychology
    University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
  • 2002 MPP Public Policy
    University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
  • 2001 MSW Social Work
    University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
  • 1997 BA Psychology
    University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

News

Activities

Publications

Gershoff, E. T., Lee, S. J., Lee, J. Y., Chang, O. D., & Taylor, C. A. (2025). Spare the dog, hit the child: Preliminary findings regarding parents’ beliefs about spanking and hitting children. Psychology of Violence, 5(1), 76-84.
Ward, K. P., Grogan-Kaylor, A., Ma, J., Pace, G. P., Lee, S. J., & Davis-Kean, P. E. (2025). Interactions of gender inequality and parental discipline predicting child aggression in low- and middle-income countries. Child Development, 96, 1, 7-20.
Klika, J. B., Lee, J. Y., Chang, O. D., Kirsch, J., & Lee, S. J. (2025). Child maltreatment during COVID-19: Triangulating data across reporting sources. Child Maltreatment.
Chang, O. D., Ward, K. P., Pace, G. T., & Lee, S. J. (2025). Mothers’ and fathers’ pregnancy intentions and interparental conflict: Is there harm in ambivalency? Journal of Interpersonal Violence.
Granner, J. R., Lee, S. J., Burns, J., Herrenkohl, T. I., Miller, A. L., Batshon, R., & Seng, J. S. (2025). Perinatal intervention desires of new fathers who have a history of child maltreatment: A mixed methods study. Child Maltreatment, 31(1), 124-138.
Lee, J. Y., Lee, S. J., Oh, S., Xu, A., Radney, A., & Rodriguez, C. M. (2025). Family stress processes underlying COVID-19 related economic insecurity and children’s internalizing behavior problems. Child and Family Social Work, 30(3), 510-523.
Harty, J. S., Walsh, T., Lee, S. J., Charles, P., & Pate, D. (2025). The institutional web: Fathers of color navigating child welfare and intersecting systems. Child Welfare, 102(5), 105-211.
Granner, J. R., Seng, J. S., & Lee, S. J. (2025). Families optimizing resilience via traumainformed father involvement (FORTIFI) theory synthesis. Child Welfare, 102(6), 203-225.
Ward, K. P., Chang, O. D., & Lee, S. J. (2025). “Tell Me What I’m Doing Wrong”: Criticism of Parenting Choices and Mental Health During COVID-19. Early Childhood Research, 70, 243-253.
Lee, J. Y. Lee, S. J., Xu, A., Steinke, H., & Weiland, C. (2024). Development, acceptability, and initial implementation of an interactive text-messaging program for fathers. Maternal Child Health Journal, 28(11), 1920-1932.

Honors and Awards

Year Description
2025 2025 SSWR Excellence in Research
2024 Shawna Lee Named Co-Editor-in-Chief of Children and Youth Services Review
2021 Diversity and Inclusion in Men in Families Research Article Award
2019 2017 Article of the Year by the journal Child Abuse and Neglect
2018 Fatherhood Research Practice Network
2017 Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) Fellow
2012-2014 Elected Member of the Editorial Board, Research on Social Work Practice
2010-2013 Elected Member of the NSF-funded Center for the Analysis of Pathways from Childhood to Adulthood (CAPCA), Ann Arbor, MI.
2008-present Elected Member of the Editorial Board, Child Maltreatment.
2008 Young Scholar Travel Grant Recipient, NIH Translational Research on Child Neglect Consortium (TRCNC).
2007-2009 NIH Clinical Research Loan Repayment Program Recipient, Bethesda, MD.
2006 NIH Summer Institute Fellow, Institute on Design and Development of Quantitative Research on Social Work Interventions in Health, Chapel Hill, NC.
2005 Early Career Prevention Network (ECPN) Travel Award, Society for Prevention Research (SPR).
2004-2005 Psychology Dissertation/Thesis Grant
2004-2005 Rackham Debt Management Award
2004-2005 Daniel Katz Dissertation Fellowship in Psychology, Institute for Social Research & Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI.
2004-2005 Rackham Travel Grant
2004 Discretionary funds (4/23/2004)
2003 International Positive Psychology Fellow, The Gallup Positive Psychology Center.
2003 Research Partnership (9/30/2003)
2002-2004 NIH Mental Health Prevention Research Pre-Doctoral Training Fellowship, Ann Arbor, MI.
2002-2003 Travel Grant from the Dean for SSWR conference
2002-2003 Training grant Daphna Oyserman (7/1/2002-6/31/2003)

Presentations

Year Description
2025 Khaimov, S., Eldeeb, N., & Lee, S.J. (April 2025). Mental health outcomes for minorities in child welfare prevention programs. Midwestern Psychological Association, 97th Annual Meeting,Chicago, IL
2025 Eldeeb, N., Khaimov, S., & Lee, S.J. (May 2025). Who benefits? Racial/ethnic representation and subgroup outcomes in Title IV-E “well-supported” programs. Society for Prevention Research, 33rd Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA
2024 Ma, J., Grogan-Kaylor, A., Lee, S.J., Ward, K. P., & Pace, G. (2024). Gender inequality in low and middle-income countries: Associations with parental physical abuse and moderation by child gender [poster presentation]. 27th Biennial Meeting of the International Society for the Study of Behavioural Development, Lisbon, PT.
2024 Ward, K. P., Grogan-Kaylor, A., Ma, J., Pace, G., & Lee, S.J. (2024a). Associations between 11 parental discipline behaviors and child outcomes across 60 countries [poster presentation]. 27th Biennial Meeting of the International Society for the Study of Behavioural Development, Lisbon, PT.
2024 Ward, K. P., Grogan-Kaylor, A., Ma, J., Pace, G., & Lee, S.J. (2024b). Gender inequality as a moderator of the associations between parental discipline and child aggression in low- and middle-income countries [poster presentation]. 27th Biennial Meeting of the International Society for the Study of Behavioural Development, Lisbon, PT.

Courses

Past Courses

Title Instructor Term Course Section Meeting Start Meeting End
Child Maltreatment Assessment and Treatment Lee, Shawna J. Spring / Summer 2025 801 06:00 pm 08:00 pm View Course
Evidence Based Parenting Interventions Lee, Shawna J. Winter 2025 001 09:00 am 05:00 pm View Course
Child Maltreatment Assessment and Treatment Lee, Shawna J. Spring / Summer 2024 801 06:00 pm 08:00 pm View Course
Program Evaluation and Applied Research Lee, Shawna J. Fall 2022 001 09:00 am 12:00 pm View Course
Essentials of Social Welfare Policy Lee, Shawna J. Fall 2021 010 02:00 pm 05:00 pm View Course
Essentials of Social Welfare Policy Lee, Shawna J. Fall 2021 002 09:00 am 12:00 pm View Course
Children and Youth Services and Social Policies Lee, Shawna J. Winter 2021 001 02:00 pm 05:00 pm View Course
Evaluation in Social Work Lee, Shawna J. Winter 2020 007 02:00 pm 05:00 pm View Course
Advanced Topics in Micro and Macro Social Work Lee, Shawna J. Winter 2018 002 09:00 am 05:00 pm View Course
Advanced Topics in Micro and Macro Social Work Lee, Shawna J. Winter 2018 005 05:00 pm 08:00 pm View Course