Kenyette Garrett is a doctoral candidate in social work at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, with over 14 years of professional experience in child welfare, community mental health, and care coordination. Garrett’s research interests include racial equity in music education, culturally responsive pedagogy, and the experiences of Black women in doctoral social work programs. She is particularly focused on how institutions can move beyond symbolic diversity efforts to implement sustainable, systemic change. As an emerging scholar, she seeks to continue her interdisciplinary work, contribute to curriculum development, and mentor students committed to social justice. Her scholarship has consistently centered on systemically disadvantaged communities, advocating for equitable access to services and systems of care.
Her doctoral research is grounded in critical race theory and Black feminist thought, with a central goal of amplifying the voices and experiences of Black students. Her academic and professional journey is deeply informed by her lived experience as a single mother of three children, including twins, who navigated the world of orchestral music education and participated in honoring her children’s journeys. These lived experiences not only inform her dissertation, but they also fuel her commitment to advancing equity and inclusion in music and arts education spaces. Garrett’s work also reveals structural barriers and uniquely positions her to critically examine the racialized barriers Black students face in orchestral music and arts education. These are barriers that have persisted and evolved over the past decade within a sociopolitical climate deeply marked by both historical and ongoing racial violence and intentional exclusion. These experiences revealed the structural barriers Black families face in orchestral and arts spaces and inspired Garrett’s interdisciplinary inquiry into how social work principles can be applied to music education to address systemic exclusion. This enduring context continues to profoundly inform her research and advocacy.
Dissertation
From Performative Gestures to Transformative Practice: Reimagining Allyship in Orchestral Education Through a Social Work Lens
Research Interests
- Racial equity in music education
- Culturally responsive pedagogy
- Interdisciplinary approaches to inclusion and belonging,
- Allyship and anti-racist practice
- Doctoral social work education
- Intergenerational racial trauma and parenting
Education
- Anticipated spring 2026: PhD, Social Work, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
- MSW-University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- BSW- Methodist University, Fayetteville, NC
Featured Publications
- Garrett, K.S., Ward, C.J., & Chaffin, K.M. (in review) Won’t you celebrate with me? A conceptual framework for mentoring Black women pursuing research doctorates, Journal of Social Work Education.
- Zottarelli, L. K., Garrett, K. S., Stassen, R., & Hernandez, T. (2024). Symbolic and substantive compliance communication about pregnant students’ rights and access to services among Texas public postsecondary institutions. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1037/dhe0000574
“If I didn’t define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other people’s fantasies for me and eaten alive.”
Audre Lorde