Jessica A. Leveto

Dr. Jessica A. Leveto, Ph.D., has over two decades of experience navigating academia and motherhood. Currently serving as an Associate Professor of Sociology, her fields of specialization encompass family, motherhood/caregiving, identity, mental health, neurodiversity, emotion, the scholarship of teaching and learning, and the broader landscape of higher education.

Attuned to the cultural contradictions of being a motherscholar, Dr. Leveto's research scrutinizes the complexity of motherhood within academia, considering both micro and macro frameworks. She strives to bridge theoretical and empirical research with applied public sociology. Dr. Leveto combines empirical research, personal insight, and professional coaching skills to shift institutional policy and advocate to shift culture and practice to empower mothersholars in their pursuit of academic work-life integration.

Much of her work is directed toward conceiving policies that could render higher education more accessible and accommodating for faculty and students with caregiving responsibilities. In this vein, she explores pedagogical practices that center access and inclusion for students juggling academic and parental roles. Dr. Leveto's work is rooted in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, wherein she develops approaches to embed flexibility, access, innovation, and career readiness throughout her pedagogical practice.

Equipped with proficiency in quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-method research, Dr. Leveto has cultivated skills utilizing analytical tools such as SPSS, STATA, AMOS, and MAXQDA. Her academic contributions are widespread, with her works published in esteemed platforms like Sociology Compass (Wiley), Current Psychology (Springer), Advances in Group Processes: Biosociology and Neurosociology (Emerald), Leading Change in Gender and Diversity in Higher Education Internationally from Margins to Mainstream (Routledge) and New Directions in Identity Theory (Oxford University Press).

Demonstrating her commitment to supporting academic mothers and public sociology, Dr. Leveto founded Ph.D. Mamas in 2015, an online community of over 19,000 mothers in academia from around the world dedicated to promoting and working towards social equity for individuals who identify as mothers+ in the academic community. Ph.D. Mamas is committed to empowering, educating, engaging, and supporting individuals' mental, emotional, professional, intellectual, and physical well-being. She serves as the Vice President for the Academic Mama Foundation, an organization that aims to support academic mothers through grants to balance academic pursuits alongside child-rearing. She is a board member of the International Association of Maternal Action and Scholarship (IAMAS), a non-profit organization that promotes empowered mothering via research on and advocacy for (and with) mothers. 

Dr. Leveto is a first-generation college graduate. She is the proud mother to Liam (24), Ryleigh (10), and Lillian (8). Her academic and personal endeavors are intrinsically tied to building and nurturing a culture where work and family integration is not just possible but celebrated.