Prof. Jacobson López & Colleagues Examine Role of Racism & Sexism on College Students’ Bystander Actions
Daniel Jacobson López, PhD, LCSW, an assistant professor at Boston University School of Social Work (BUSSW), is embarking on new research as co-investigator for a pilot project highlighting the experiences of Black women sexual assault survivors.
Funded with a grant from the University of Pittsburgh’s Center on Race & Social Problems, the project will explore the roles of racism and sexism in college students’ bystander responses to sexual assault against Black women.
Jacobson López and his colleagues hope that the data collected in the project will help to identify possible barriers to bystander intervention, informing potential changes to existing bystander intervention training programs used on college campuses.
The project is led by Dr. Lynissa R. Stokes who holds a doctoral degree in clinical psychology from Boston University and is finishing her postdoctoral training at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine’s Pediatrics Department. Dr. Stokes and Dr. López are both alumnus of Pitt’s CEED diversity program. Dr. Stokes’ research focuses on racial and gender biases towards Black women, particularly within the context of intimate partner violence (IPV).
The project team also includes co-investigator Dr. Maya Ragavan, an assistant professor of pediatrics at University of Pittsburgh whose research focuses on adolescent immigrants and refugees experiencing IPV, and project coordinator Larissa Allen, BSN, RN, a DNP/PhD student at the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing and a trained sexual assault nurse examiner.
Jacobson López, PhD, LCSW, is an assistant professor of social work in BUSSW’s Macro Practice Department and a faculty affiliate at the School’s Center for Innovation in Social Work and Health. A certified sexual assault counselor, his work focuses on gay Black men and the effects of racism and homophobia on their relationships. Prior to joining Boston University, Jacobson López completed a T32 postdoctoral fellowship at University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public Health where he conducted research on the well-being of Black and Latino “MSM” (men who have sex with men) and examined the effects of COVID-19 and violence on marginalized communities. He holds a PhD certificate in gender, sexuality, and women’s studies.
This project is the first collaboration for Jacobson López, Stokes, Ragavan and Allen.