Shawna White is the Director of School Safety for WestEd’s Justice and Prevention Research Center (JPRC).
White is a co-implementation lead on several U.S. Bureau of Justice Assistance STOP school violence grants working with state, regional, and local education agencies to establish behavioral threat assessment programs aimed at early identification and intervention to prevent violent incidents in schools. She also plays a substantive role in a National Institute of Justice evaluation of state school safety centers to develop a promising practices framework for these organizations. She continuously works to expand WestEd’s portfolio of school safety research and technical assistance.
Prior to joining WestEd, White worked with the Texas School Safety Center for nearly six years in various roles, including almost four years as Associate Director of Research and Evaluation. She served as project director on federal and state-funded research and technical assistance grants spanning a variety of school safety matters, including school policing, behavioral threat assessment, and communicable disease outbreaks. She also oversaw the evaluation of Center trainings and events to develop practical, actionable recommendations for programmatic improvement.
White has authored several scholarly publications and technical reports on various school safety topics. She has also presented findings from school safety projects to key stakeholders at national conferences and local education agencies.
White earned a PhD in mass communication from Texas Tech University. She also earned a MA in mass communication and a BA in psychology from Texas State University.