Department of Social Work and Equitable Community Practice
Department of Social Work and Equitable Community Practice
Dr. Christiana Best is a licensed social worker with a Ph.D. in Social Welfare and serves as an Associate Professor in the Department of Social Work and Equitable Community Practice at the University of Saint Joseph. Her teaching, scholarship, and activism focus on immigration, child welfare, and systemic oppression.She is the creator and host of the Inside Out/Outside In podcast, which facilitates powerful conversations bridging academia and community to amplify the voices of marginalized populations. Dr. Best also serves as co-chair of the Immigration and Global Social Work Committee of the New York State Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) and is a member of the Transition Committee that unified the NYS and NYC chapters. From 2014 to 2019, she served as Vice President of the NASW–New York City Chapter.
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Currently, Dr. Best is the co-principal investigator on three IRB-approved research studies:
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Moving the Needle on Organizational Culture (2024–present, IRB#24-002)
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Beyond Borders: Educating Migrant Children in U.S. Schools (2024–present, IRB#24-003)
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Exploring Student Learning in Social Work Practice with Immigrants (2025–2026, IRB#25-018)
​Her recent professional publications include Teaching While Black: A Call to Decolonize the Social Work Curriculum (2024), the co-authored research project Navigating the Immigrant Identity in the American Workplace (2022), I Too Am DACA: Awakened Childhood Memories (2020), and Transnational Parenting: The Hidden Cost of the Search for a Better Life (2017). She also co-authored the chapter A Racial Equity Staff Development Strategy for Public Human Service Organizations in Transforming Health and Human Services: An Antiracist Strategy (2016). She currently has three additional manuscripts under review at peer-reviewed journals.
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In 2017, Dr. Best curated Historical Child Welfare Timeline: A Transformational Experience, an exhibit chronicling 200 years of inequities in U.S. child welfare policies. Originally presented in New York City at the Administration for Children’s Services, the exhibit was later converted into a virtual format, with Dr. Best continuing to serve as a content expert throughout its development.
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She is currently leading an oral history project titled Rising from the Waves: Carriacou’s Stories of Survival and Strength, which documents the resilience of Carriacou residents following Hurricane Beryl. This will be the focus of her upcoming sabbatical.
In her free time, Dr. Best enjoys reading historical novels and nonfiction related to her areas of research. She also enjoys dancing, traveling, and writing poetry and essays that weave personal narrative with political reflection. Her creative work is both a form of healing and a method of resistance.
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Her professional and creative endeavors are grounded in a commitment to transforming oppressive systems through activism, education, and what she calls “soul work”, deep listening, and intentional acts that center the humanity and liberation of all people.
Publications
Dr. Christiana Best began publishing professionally nearly two decades ago and remains committed to exposing injustice and advocating for systemic change through both scholarly and creative writing. In addition to her academic research, she writes essays and poetry that reflect her intersecting identities and lived experiences as a Black immigrant woman in the United States. Her work both honors the communities she belongs to, and resists the limiting narratives imposed by dominant systems.
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The COVID-19 pandemic sparked a surge in her writing, resulting in several unpublished essays and a growing body of published work addressing grief, resilience, and social justice.
Her recent publications include:
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Five op-eds in the Hartford Courant
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A tribute to her mother published on the Women’s Activism NYC website
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An essay on racial incidents on college campuses in the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education
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Additional contributions in Ms. Magazine, The Seattle Times, Black Westchester, and Caribbean Magazine Plus​​
Projects
As of 2025, Dr. Best is engaged in five major projects that integrate research, storytelling, advocacy, and cultural preservation:
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Moving the Needle on Organizational Culture: A case study examining institutional efforts to shift culture and address racial bias within public service organizations.
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Beyond Borders: Educating Migrant Children in the U.S.: A multi-site research project exploring how schools and community-based organizations support the academic, emotional, and cultural needs of newly arrived migrant children.
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Inside Out/Outside In: A podcast that centers the voices of people of color and other historically excluded groups, fostering dialogue and shared learning through storytelling and education.
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Voices Unveiled: Navigating COVID-19 Through Community Stories: A documentary co-created with filmmaker Dr. Pablo Correa, and directed by Majella Mark, highlighting how the pandemic revealed deep structural inequities in healthcare, housing, and economic stability—and how communities responded with resilience and innovation.
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Rising from the Waves: Carriacou’s Stories of Survival and Strength: An oral history and digital archiving project capturing the lived experiences of Carriacou residents before, during, and after Hurricane Beryl, with a focus on cultural memory, survival, and intergenerational resilience.​
Podcast
Inside Out/Outside In (IOOI) is a podcast created by and for colleges and universities. It features rich, reflective conversations between scholars, students, and community members, creating dialogue that bridges academic spaces and the communities they serve.
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The podcast centers the voices and experiences of historically marginalized groups, offering a platform to share stories of joy, struggle, survival, and strength—stories too often unheard or devalued. These narratives deepen public understanding, build empathy, and strengthen community-campus relationships. At its heart, Inside Out/Outside In is a space where storytelling becomes a tool for truth-telling, solidarity, and transformation.