HAMPTON, Va. – Hampton University’s School of Liberal Arts and Education announces that Dr. Zina T. McGee, Endowed University Professor of Sociology, has been selected for the 2026–2027 Virginia Humanities HBCU Scholars Fellowship.
The Virginia Humanities HBCU Scholars Fellowship provides resources to HBCU-affiliated faculty, writers, community scholars, and doctoral candidates to advance research, scholarship, publication, and public engagement. The fellowship aims to broaden the reach of humanities scholarship and highlight stories and perspectives from communities across the Commonwealth.
Dr. McGee is a faculty member in Hampton University’s Department of Sociology, Criminal Justice, and Homeland Security. Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, she earned a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts in Sociology from the University of New Orleans and a Ph.D. in Sociology from Tulane University. Her scholarship examines structural violence, victimization, resilience, juvenile justice, and the lived experiences of Black youth and other marginalized populations.
As a 2026–2027 HBCU Scholars Fellow, Dr. McGee will engage in the project titled “Structural Violence and Black Youth Resilience: Focus Group Inquiry among Urban Adolescents in Virginia.” Her fellowship application outlines a qualitative study examining how Black adolescents interpret and navigate exposure to community violence. The project will use focus groups to examine shared resilience strategies, collective meaning-making, coping, identity formation, and the influence of family, peers, neighborhoods, and broader structural conditions.
The study centers young people’s voices. Dr. McGee plans to engage approximately 60 Black adolescents, ages 13–18, through 10–12 focus groups in urban areas. The project builds on Dr. McGee’s longstanding scholarship on violence, victimization, coping, and adjustment among urban youth. Through the fellowship, she seeks to produce peer-reviewed scholarship as well as community-facing reports, policy briefs, and workshops that translate research findings into resources for youth, families, community organizations, and policymakers.
Dr. McGee stated, “This fellowship is an important opportunity to highlight the voices and experiences of Black youth and to better understand the structural challenges they face and the ways they demonstrate resilience, develop coping strategies, and draw strength from their families and communities. I look forward to producing scholarship that contributes to the academic literature and informs community dialogue, programs, and policies that affect young people.”
Dr. Sherree Davis, Interim Dean of Hampton University’s School of Liberal Arts and Education, congratulated Dr. McGee on the recognition. Dr. Davis said, “Dr. McGee’s selection as a Virginia Humanities HBCU Scholars Fellow recognizes her ongoing scholarly contributions and her commitment to research addressing significant issues in our communities. Her work demonstrates how the social and behavioral sciences illuminate lived experiences, elevate overlooked voices, and contribute to meaningful dialogue and positive change.”
Dr. McGee has authored books and peer-reviewed scholarship on youth violence, victimization, coping, and related social and behavioral outcomes. Her interdisciplinary work spans sociology, criminology, and community engagement, reflecting a career-long commitment to understanding how social structures shape individual and community experiences. She has also contributed her expertise to juvenile justice policy and community initiatives across Virginia.
The fellowship supports Hampton University’s commitment to faculty research that connects academic work to community impact. Dr. McGee’s project will contribute to the humanities and social sciences by preserving and interpreting youth narratives and by linking contemporary experiences to broader historical and structural conditions affecting Black communities in Virginia.
In addition to the Virginia Humanities HBCU Scholars Fellowship, Dr. McGee has received support through two UNCF/Mellon Programs awards for the 2026–2027 academic year. An Archival Research Project Grant will enable her to further explore the overlooked experiences of African American girls in the juvenile justice system using archival records and humanities-based research. She also received a Faculty Development Grant to support data collection, analysis, and dissemination for her research on the criminalization and adultification of Black girls within educational systems. Together, these projects extend her broader scholarship on the experiences of Black youth and girls across educational, community, and juvenile justice settings.
