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Jessica Leveto

Jessica Leveto

Department of Sociology and Criminology
Associate Professor
Contact Information
Email:
jleveto@kent.edu
Phone:
440-964-4568
Fax:
440-964-4269
Personal Website: LinkedIn

Biography

Jessica A. Leveto, Ph.D., is a sociologist, educator, and organizational strategist whose work connects research, leadership, and systems-level innovation in higher education. An Associate Professor of Sociology at Kent State University, she brings more than two decades of experience examining identity, family, mental health, neurodiversity, and the evolving structures and cultures of academic institutions.

Her research focuses on the lived experiences of caregiving scholars (faculty and students), exploring how institutional norms, policies, and expectations shape academic participation and progress. Dr. Leveto investigates how higher education systems can be redesigned to better reflect the full range of realities, responsibilities, and identities that individuals carry into academic spaces.

She is a leader in developing research-informed strategies that help institutions become more responsive, adaptable, and sustainable. Her work emphasizes flexible course design, student-centered learning, and practical career alignment—particularly for parenting students, neurodivergent learners, and first-generation college students. Drawing on design thinking, sensemaking, and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), Dr. Leveto creates tools and frameworks that strengthen student engagement, retention, and long-term success.

Dr. Leveto brings research methodology and program evaluation expertise, with advanced training in qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-method approaches. She is proficient in analytical tools, including STATA, MAXQDA, SPSS, and NVivo, and she applies this skill set to institutional initiatives focused on program assessment, instructional design, faculty development, and student success. Her work ensures that innovation is grounded in evidence, informed by data, and aligned with measurable outcomes.

In her institutional leadership roles, she contributes to university-wide strategic planning, curriculum development, and mentoring initiatives. She has led efforts to build structural support for caregiving students and faculty and mentors emerging scholars engaged in research on access, identity, and student success.

Beyond the university, Dr. Leveto is the founder of Ph.D. Mamas, an international online community of over 20,000 academic mothers, and serves on the board of the International Association of Maternal Action and Scholarship (IAMAS). Through her consulting practice, IntegratEd Coaching and Consulting, LLC, she offers leadership development, faculty coaching, assessment, and strategic advising for institutions and organizations seeking to create more human-centered environments. She holds advanced certification in intentional and developmental coaching and integrates evidence-based coaching practices into her work with individuals and organizations.

Her work has been published in Sociology Compass, Current Psychology, and in edited volumes from Oxford University Press and Routledge. Recent publications include a chapter on institutional support for parenting graduate students in Making Colleges Supportive Spaces for Pregnant and Parenting Students. She serves on the Editorial Board of Teaching Sociology. She actively shapes national discourse on caregiving and structural reform in academia through collaborations with the Aspen Institute, the American Sociological Association, and other scholarly organizations.

Her recent work includes participation in nationally recognized initiatives such as the Sensemaking Seminar for Student Success (Miami University, supported by the Lumina Foundation) and the Aspen Institute’s Postsecondary Success for Parents Initiative, where she contributes to developing actionable strategies that reflect the realities of caregiving students, faculty, and staff in higher education.

A first-generation college graduate and mother of three—Liam (25), Ryleigh (10), and Lillian (9)—Dr. Leveto brings both personal insight and professional expertise to her mission: helping institutions evolve to support the full scope of human experience in academic life and educational pursuits. 

Education

2012 Ph.D., Sociology, Kent State University
2005 M.A., Social Sciences, Pennsylvania Western University (PennWest) Edinboro
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2024 Weatherhead Coaching Certificate, Case Western Reserve University
2023 Weatherhead Foundations of Coaching Certificate, Case Western Reserve University
2021 Online and Blended Teaching and Learning Postgraduate Certificate, Kent State University

Publications

  • CohenMiller, Anna and J. A. Leveto. 2024 “Motherscholars” Oxford Annotated Bibliographies, Education. Series Editor Susan Faircloth. Oxford University Press.
  • Leveto, Jessica A. 2024. “Nurturing Equity and Access: Compassion in Action for Parenting Graduate Students” in Making Colleges Supportive Spaces for Pregnant and Parenting Students, edited by Catherine Riley and Katie B. Garner. Routledge.
  • CohenMiller, A and J. A. Leveto. 2023 "Centering voices of motherscholars during the COVID-19 pandemic shows overwhelming responsibilities, ingrained gender roles, and blurred boundaries." Leading Change in Gender and Diversity in Higher Ed. Routledge
  • Leveto, Jessica A. 2022 Invited Review, “Living on the Spectrum,” Contemporary Sociology.
  • Leveto, Jessica A. 2021. "Embedding Career Readiness Throughout the Curriculum: A Case for Explicit, Transparent Connections." Teaching Learning Matters, American Sociological Association Teaching and Learning Section.
  • Leveto, Jessica A. 2020. “Exploring the Relationships Between Discrepancies in Perceptions of Emotional Performance Among College Students on Self-Esteem and Psychological Distress” Current Psychology. Springer.
  • Leveto, Jessica A. 2018 “Toward a Sociology of Autism and Neurodiversity” Sociology Compass. Wiley.
  • Leveto, Jessica A. 2016. “Happiness and Identity Theory” New Directions in Identity Theory and Research. Volume 1. Volume Editors Jan E. Stets and Richard T. Serpe. Oxford University Press.
  • Leveto, Jessica A. and Will Kalkhoff. 2012. "Biosocial Interaction Rituals of Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Research Agenda for Neurosociology." Advances in Group Processes, Biosociology and Neurosociology Vol. 29. Volume Editor Will Kalkhoff.

Awards/Achievements

  • Faculty Fellow, AY22-23 KSU Center for Teaching and Learning, Addressing Course Accessibility for Parenting/Caregiving Students
  • Platinum Teaching Recognition Award, “Career Pathways in Sociology, Criminology and Justice Studies” Kent State University Center for Teaching and Learning (2022)
  • University Research Council Grant, “The Impact of COVID19 on Mothers in Academia.” (2022)
  • Summer Teaching Development Grant, University Teaching Council, Center for Teaching and Learning, Kent State University, “Embedding Support of Career Readiness Competency Throughout the Sociology Curriculum” (2020)
  • Honoree, “Mothers, Mentors & Muses” Kent State University Women’s Center (2014)

Documents

PDF icon Leveto Vita Oct 24V3.pdf

News Stories

Ashtabula County: What matters in Ohio’s northeast corner as presidential election nears (Cleveland.com, Oct 2024), Ad hoc committee tackles race as a public health issue (Star Beacon, Oct 2024), Panel discusses race the arts, society (Star Beacon, Oct 2024), Community Service Award Presented to Dr. Jessica A. Leveto (Gazette, Jan 2024), Breaking Barriers for Parenting Students is Goal of Professor's Research (Kent State, Mar 2023), More psychologists are exploring alternative careers outside of academia (APA Trends Report, Jan 2023), How Covid Slowed Basic Science (John Hopkins, Global Health Now, July 2022), Has the ‘great resignation’ hit academia? (Nature, May 2022), Ashtabula NAACP's Black History and Me contest open for submissions (Star Beacon, Feb. 2022),
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