Assistant Professor Betty L. Wilson joined the College of Social Work faculty in 2024. She is a licensed social worker with experience in community development and nonprofit outreach in rural, historically underserved communities.

As an interdisciplinary scholar specializing in community-centered qualitative methods, Dr. Wilson focuses her research on three interrelated domains: (1) examining how police interactions shape individual- and community-level mental health outcomes, (2) exploring the socialization processes families use to prepare their youth for encounters with law enforcement, and (3) examining how partnerships with community stakeholders can be used to develop, implement, and evaluate culturally responsive interventions that foster community healing, improve police–community relationships, and reduce disparities in policing and public health. Her award-winning dissertation, “Black and Blue: An Exploratory Investigation of Black College Students’ Experiences of Exposure to Police Killings,” introduces an integrated conceptual framework that illustrates the psychosocial processes through which exposure to adverse police encounters influences trauma and mental health disparities among historically marginalized communities.

Dr. Wilson has published peer-reviewed articles in journals such as the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, Psychology of Violence, Journal of Black Psychology, Death Studies, and Journal of Interpersonal Violence.

Dr. Wilson earned her B.A. in Sociology from Claflin University and both her Master of Social Work and Ph.D. in Social Work from the University of South Carolina. She has received numerous awards and honors, including the Outstanding Leaders Under 40 Award from Claflin University, the Outstanding Social Work Doctoral Dissertation Honoree Award from the Society for Social Work and Research, the USC Breakthrough Graduate Scholar Award, the Southern Regional Education Board Dissertation Fellowship, and the USC College of Social Work Doctoral Student Award.