{"id":32682,"date":"2017-07-03T12:33:57","date_gmt":"2017-07-03T16:33:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/?post_type=profile&p=32682"},"modified":"2026-03-23T19:05:26","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T23:05:26","slug":"renee-spencer-licsw","status":"publish","type":"profile","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/profile\/renee-spencer-licsw\/","title":{"rendered":"Ren\u00e9e Spencer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ren\u00e9e Spencer is interested in how supportive relationships with adults promote positive development in youth. This interest took her into the field of youth mentoring, where programs attempt to create such relationships every day. \u201cUnfortunately, too many of these relationships don\u2019t make it, and this is deeply troubling to me, as these programs tend to serve already marginalized youth\u2014for example, those who are low-income, of color, and in under-performing schools,\u201d she notes. \u201cI am dedicated to identifying processes that promote helpful, and not harmful, youth mentoring relationships.\u201d Spencer’s research identifies the relational processes at work in youth mentoring relationships – those that are successful and those that are not. Her work has delineated why and how relationships end prematurely, highlighted how parents are under-engaged stakeholders, examined how mentors\u2019 attitudes and behaviors can enhance or detract from a quality relationship, and highlighted the importance of tailoring mentoring to the specific needs of special populations of youth, such as systems-involved and military-connected youth. <\/span><\/p>\n

Her current research exploring these processes is funded with grants from the U.S. Department of Education and the William T. Grant Foundation. She is the author of more than 80 publications, including articles in peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of Adolescent Research<\/em>, Children and Youth Services Review<\/em>, and Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A BUSSW faculty member since 2002, Spencer has previously served as interim associate dean for research and chair of the Human Behavior Department. She is an editorial board member for <\/span>Qualitative Psychology<\/span><\/i> and<\/span> Applied Developmental Science <\/span><\/i>and<\/span>\u00a0a Fellow of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare<\/span>. She also serves on the National Mentoring Resource Center Research Board, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America Research Advisory Council, and the Friends of the Children Research Evaluation and Fidelity Committee.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11983,"template":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile\/32682"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/profile"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11983"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile\/32682\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61447,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile\/32682\/revisions\/61447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}