Detris Adelabu
Clinical Professor
As chair of the Psychology and Human Development Department, Dr. Adelabu led efforts to improve faculty development and student success. She also led efforts to create the Counseling Psychology major which became one of the fastest growing majors at the College. As founder and director of the Emerging Scholars Program at Wheelock, she works to create a deliberate pathway to undergraduate research and graduate study for underrepresented students. She has made numerous presentations to educators on topics related to African American student achievement.
Dr. Adelabu’s most recent publications appear in the Journal of Community Engagement and Scholarship and the African American Learner. Her recent book chapter, “Homes without Walls, Families without Boundaries,” published in Real Sister: Stereotypes, Respectability, and Black Women in Reality TV, (Rutgers University Press, 2015) discusses the impact of reality television on the image of the African American mother and family and explores the impact of these images on children’s development.
Education
BS (Southern University-Baton Rouge) 1989
MS 1992, Purdue University
EdM 1993, Harvard Graduate School of Education
EdD 1997, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Selected Publications
Adelabu, D. H. (2015). Homes Without Walls Families Without Boundaries: How Family Participation in Reality Television Impacts Children's Development. In J. Ward Ellis (Ed) Real Sister: Stereotypes, Respectability, and Black Women in Reality TV. Rutgers University Press.
Adelabu, D. H. (2014). Confronting Resistance: Addressing Issues of Race and Class during Community Based Research, Journal of Community Engagement and Scholarship, 7 (2).
Adelabu, D. H. (2013). Gender differences in time perspective, optimism and school belonging among high achieving African American adolescents, African American Learner, 2.
Adelabu, D., Durand, T. & Jenkins-Scott, J. (2010). Full Service Community Schools. In V. Washington and J. D. Andrews (Eds.) Children of 2020, National Association for the Education of Young Children, Washington, DC.
Selected Presentations
Adelabu, D. H. (2015, July). The Road to College, Innis Public Library, Innis LA.
Adelabu, D. H. & Thayer, P. (2014, December) Teaching and Guiding First Generation Students to Success, Wheelock College, Boston, MA.
Adelabu, D. H. (2014, March). A Home Without Walls, A Family Without Boundaries, presented at 74th Annual Convention of the College Language Association, New Orleans, LA.
Adelabu, D. H. (2013, May). The Resilient Spirit of High Achieving Rural African American Adolescents. Presented at Conference on Research Directions: The African American Child in School, Hilton Head, SC.
Adelabu, D. H. (2013, April). We are Here: High Achieving Rural African American Adolescents. Presented at annual conference of New England Educational Research Organization, Portsmouth, NH.
Thibodeau, B., Lang, J., & Adelabu, D. (2011, October). The Working Student: How Employment Influences Academic achievement. Presented at the annual meeting to the New England Psychological Association, Fairfield, CT.
Adelabu, D. H. (2011, April). Creating Agents of Social Change: Bridging Communities Through Service Learning Research. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans.
Adelabu, D. H. (2010, March). Diversity Education and Children's Development. Meritor Academy, Middleton, MA.