• Ph.D. Sociology, Mississippi State University (2014)
• M.S., Sociology, Mississippi State University (2008)
• B.S., Sociology, Millsaps College (2005)

Dr. Sheena Gardner began her career at the SSRC as a graduate research assistant in the Wolfgang Frese Survey Research Laboratory. In 2008, she began working as a research associate, and upon completion of her Ph.D. in 2014, she completed a two-year postdoctoral fellowship. Over the past several years she has worked on several projects with her role generally involving data collection and management, qualitative analysis, and manuscript development. Dr. Gardner has worked with numerous state agencies, including the Department of Mental Health, the Department of Public Safety, the Attorney General’s Office, the Department of Human Services, and the Department of Health and nonprofit organizations such as the Mississippi Alliance of Nonprofits and Philanthropy, and has collaborated with other SSRC scientists on federal grants funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Currently, Dr. Gardner is an assistant research professor at the SSRC. Her work centers largely on the implementation and evaluation of systems-level change with a primary interest in the Mississippi juvenile justice system. Current projects include program evaluations for the Mississippi Alliance of Nonprofits and Philanthropy, Rankin County Youth Court, MS State Department of Health, and the MS State Department of Mental Health as well as a HRSA-funded project focused on developing a statewide system of early childhood developmental screenings and interventions.