NCID-0910
Sruthi Swami
Assistant Professor, School Psychology Ed.S/MA Program
California State University, Sacramento
Education/Degree:
1 Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology (University of California, Santa Barbara)
About
Dr. Sruthi Swami is an Assistant Professor in the School Psychology specialist (Ed.S.) program at California State University, Sacramento. She received her degree in Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology from the University of California, Santa Barbara. In her research, clinical work, and teaching, she focuses on promoting equity for youths and families from marginalized backgrounds, with a particular focus on social justice and dismantling racism and discrimination within K - 12 school systems. Her training is also in mental health and special education assessment and intervention; as such, she teaches courses related to the assessment for special education services and best practices for providing mental health services in school with attention to culturally and linguistically relevant services.
Current Work
Dr. Swami's research is focused on three broad areas: 1) racism and discrimination, 2) the role of literacy and motivation in school success (academic and social-emotional wellbeing), and 3) Asian American mental health and identity development. Previous projects include working with local schools and juvenile justice systems on creating more equitable school discipline policies to address the finding that more Latinx and African American kids are suspended or expelled from school as compared to White students. These projects resulted in trainings addressing implicit biases in teachers and mental health providers. She has upcoming projects related to stigma in special education enrollment in ethnic minority families, understanding how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted motivation for school and mental health in first-generation college students, and understanding identity development in South Asian adults in conjunction with anti-Blackness and experiences of racial discrimination.
Research Area Keyword(s)
youth mental health, racism, discrimination, special education, education