Dr. Jennifer M. Gómez Promoted to Associate Professor with Tenure
BU School of Social Work (BUSSW) is proud to announce the promotion of Prof. Jennifer M. Gómez to associate professor with tenure, recognizing her significant contributions to trauma research, social justice scholarship, and higher education leadership. Her promotion reflects BUSSW’s ongoing commitment to supporting equity-driven scholarship that addresses some of society’s most urgent challenges.
A former Ford Fellow, Dr. Gómez is a Black feminist trauma researcher and critical race scholar whose work centers the lived experiences of individuals and communities impacted by violence and systemic oppression. She is the creator of Cultural Betrayal Trauma Theory, which explores how societal inequalities magnify the impact of trauma within marginalized communities, particularly sexual abuse. Her theory has led to research that has shaped contemporary understandings of trauma, race, and healing.
Her book, The Cultural Betrayal of Black Women & Girls: A Black Feminist Approach to Healing from Sexual Abuse, earned the 2024 Frank W. Putnam Outstanding Book Award from the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD). By offering both theoretical insights and paths toward individual and collective healing, it speaks to a broad audience from race scholars and trauma clinicians to Black feminists and advocates, to survivors.
Dr. Gómez was recently named a Top Scholar by ScholarGPS which recognizes researchers for their outstanding performance in various fields, disciplines, and specialties. Her strong publication record, the impact of her work, and the notable quality of her scholarly contributions placed her in the top 0.5% of all scholars worldwide, according to the most recent rankings.
In addition to her research on trauma and cultural betrayal, Dr. Gómez continues to illuminate the lived realities of systemic discrimination within academia. Her chapter, “I Am Not Just a Body, But Also a Soul: The Power of Erasure Amidst Hypervisibility on a Faculty Search Committee,” appears in the 2024 volume Betrayal U: The Politics of Belonging in Higher Education, edited by Rebecca G. Martínez and Monica Casper. In the chapter, she recounts her experience on a tenure-track faculty search committee at her former institution, illustrating how institutional standards were inconsistently applied by being bent or lowered for white candidates and raised or distorted for candidates of color. Gómez shares how she, as a Black woman, was negatively treated throughout the process, and concludes with a reflection on solidarity with another Black colleague and her continued commitment to fighting for equity in higher education despite the systemic and interpersonal barriers she faced.
Since joining BUSSW in 2022 as an assistant professor and faculty affiliate with the school’s Center for Innovation in Social Work & Health (CISWH), Gómez has brought intellectual rigor and visionary leadership to her scholarship and teaching. Her national leadership roles further underscore her impact. Dr. Gómez serves as:
- A featured plenary speaker at the 2025 Society for Sex Therapy & Research (SSTAR) Annual Meeting, delivering the address “Cultural Betrayal, Sexual Abuse, & Black Women: Promoting Change in Gynecological Healthcare through Institutional Courage & Dreamstorming”
- A keynote and workshop presenter at Gonzaga University’s Office of Inclusive Excellence 2nd Annual Symposium (2025), offering the keynote “How To Be Effective? Institutional Courage & Dreamstorming for Collective Action” and the plenary workshop “Critical Writing in Critical Times: Engaging in a Practice of Dreamstorming”
- A board member, chair of the Research Advisory Committee, and research grant reviewer for the Center for Institutional Courage
- A board member for the ISSTD and End Rape on Campus
- An advisory committee member for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, & Medicine (NASEM) Action Collaborative on Preventing Sexual Harassment in Higher Education
- A faculty affiliate with the University of Michigan’s RacismLab
- A former research scientist with the Michigan Center for Urban African American Aging Research (MCUAAAR), funded by the National Institute on Aging
- Lead co-editor of the upcoming special issue on intersectional oppression and dissociation in Journal of Trauma & Dissociation
She also serves on the editorial boards of Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, Journal of Trauma & Dissociation, and Psychological Science.