Jennifer Andrashko, Associate Professor

Profile

Jennifer joined the faculty in 2016 as an Assistant Professor at MSU, Mankato. She earned a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Minnesota and an undergraduate degree in French and Global Studies at the University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire. Jennifer completed interdisciplinary research fellowships in the School of Medicine at the Konopka Institute and with the Buckman Fellowship of Philanthropy – both of the University of Minnesota. Current research is centered around mental health service access for young adults in the child welfare system using the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect (NDACAN) at Cornell University and on population-based health outcomes in underserved and marginalized communities by means of community-based participatory research.
 
Jennifer has fifteen years of social work practice experience. Most recently, Jennifer developed and implemented a primary integrated behavioral health care program at a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC). In this role, she worked as both clinician and administrator providing trauma-informed clinical therapeutic services to clients and leadership to the Behavioral Health Department. She also spent time living in southern France working primarily with low-income and Muslim immigrant adolescents in the public school system. Jennifer’s early work with families experiencing homelessness and with incarcerated parents inspired her to think deeply and carefully about the powerful role of social policy in each of our lives. This passion for developing a greater understanding of social welfare policy has since directed her practice, her research and her life.