Meet Jennifer Renick, MSU's Newest Community Psychologist

October 20, 2025 - Shelly DeJong

The Michigan State University Psychology Department welcomes Dr. Jennifer Renick as a new assistant professor in the ecological-community research area. Dr. Renick brings a passion for community psychology and youth engagement to Michigan State University.  

Originally from Southern California, Dr. Renick completed her undergraduate degree at Pitzer College in Claremont, California. After working in LA County for two years, she earned her PhD from University of California Irvine. With a background in educational psychology and a commitment to research that creates meaningful change, she joins MSU after previously working at the University of Memphis in their College of Education. 

 

Tell us about your interest in community research and education. 

As a community psychologist, my work focuses on educational contexts broadly including schools, after school programs, other community educational contexts, and how universities approach community engaged research.  

I got interested in community mental health in high school, thinking about how schools could better serve mental health needs since they're such a broad access point for young people. I brought that interest to college where I did a self-designed major called Community Mental Health: Schools and Youth that focused primarily on psychology and sociology. Initially I wanted to be a mental health care provider, but after interning with a school counselor and doing work in the Pomona Unified School District, I saw the challenges of direct service firsthand. It got me started thinking more about research.  

A professor told me about community psychology, and it felt like exactly what I wanted to do. At the Society for Community Research and Action (SCRA) Biennial in 2015, I met a community psychologist based at UC Irvine’s School of Education who ultimately became my PhD advisor. Being in a school of education, I proactively sought out community psychology opportunities, and I stayed involved in SCRA. After grad school, I took a position with the University of Memphis in their College of Education but remained interested in working in a community psychology program. 

 

Can you tell us more about your research interests? 

I classify my work in two buckets. The first is looking at the developmental appropriateness of educational contexts for adolescents, often focusing on the middle school years, but also high school students. A lot of that work has been with schools, but I've also worked for years with an out-of-school program. I often focus on adolescents' relational needs, so looking at how can we structure these environments to be more supportive for peer relationships and relationships with adults. And then thinking about increasing opportunities for youth voice in terms of autonomy and decision making. 

Some of that has involved doing youth participatory action research. This is a form of research where, instead of young people being subjects of research, they act as co-researchers alongside adult allies who teach them about the research process and support them to design and implement their own study with an action component to create change. Between undergrad and grad school, I worked for an organization where my boss had previously worked as a community organizer, and that experience really affirmed this value of wanting to make sure those most impacted by issues are at the center of decision making.  A lot of the work I do is trying to think about the most pressing problems of practice in a school where the most impacted people are youth, but they're not really at the table when it comes to decision making. 

The other bucket is thinking about what it takes to do community engaged research well, and how higher education can better meet their mission to the public. We need all different kinds of research but understanding that sometimes there's histories of harm when it comes to how communities have been treated by researchers—researchers that might be more extractive or promoting deficit narratives. And then thinking about how institutions can be more supportive of community engaged research. Trying to think about how the academic ecosystem can be more hospitable to scholars who want to do this work is important to me. 

 

Why is a community approach to research important to you? 

For me, research is the vehicle to create change and improve society, but I don't think you can do that without being meaningfully involved in the community. That's the way change occurs in society. The only way I can do good work that is impactful, that will improve the lives of people, is to have a really diverse range of voices contributing to whatever design and research I'm going to do. 

A lot of what I'm hoping to do is improve the lives of young people. But it's been a long time since I was in middle school so I can't design solutions for problems in isolation when I'm not living that reality. Having opportunities for those who are most impacted, those who are living these realities every day, is the best way to do research that's going to create the change I'm hoping to see. 

I believe that this approach can lend itself to better research because we’re asking the right questions. You can do a super well-designed study to collect data with young people only to realize that you’re only capturing a surface level problem. To get to the root cause, you need to hear from people living in that reality. 

 

Why are you excited to join the MSU eco community? 

Being a community psychologist and involved in the Society for Community Research and Action over the past decade, I’ve heard so much about the MSU Eco-Community program.  I have mentors who got their PhD here; I have colleagues and collaborators that came from this program. It stands tall in the field. I always knew that I would apply if MSU was ever hiring because it's the ideal setting for me —a public land grant university with this historic, so well-regarded eco-community psychology program where so many people I've talked to in the field speak so highly of it. 

Another reason I’m excited about being here is the rich tapestry of partnerships that already occur here in the local area, across the state, and outside the state. To help lay the foundation of my work, I’ve been meeting with a lot of people including the Office of Outreach and Engagement, the folks in public health doing community engaged work in Flint, and researchers doing work in Detroit and in Lansing. I’m looking to see if there is something already happening that I can support or even expand what’s working in one region to another.  

  

What's one of your favorite things about being a researcher or professor? 

I love the element of creativity that comes with being a researcher and professor. This freedom lets my priorities and values drive the work that I do. For me, I’m always thinking about what’s going to be useful and valuable to communities.  

Also working with students is a great opportunity for continuous growth, challenge, and improvement. Students push faculty to think about things in different ways and continue their own growth.