Jacquelyn Smith-Crooks is an educational consultant to faith communities, non-profit and other organizations, and a licensed minister (Spiritual Director/Life Coach). Her interests include helping individuals increase effectiveness and experience greater fulfillment in their personal and professional lives, supporting individual and community/consumer transformation, intergenerational oral history, and whole health for African American elders.
Jacquelyn earned an EdD in Humanistic Psychological Education from the University of Massachusetts/Amherst and a M.A.T. in Education from East Tennessee State University, and a B.A. in psychology from Eureka College (Illinois). She has done additional studies in psychology and religion at Andover Newton Theological Seminary, Harvard Divinity School, and St. John's Seminary.
Formerly, the Director of Community Outreach Programs at Harvard Medical School, Jacquelyn was a Ministerial Associate in the Protestant Chaplain’s Office at Smith College. She has pursued her research interest in intergenerational oral history as a Research Fellow at the Five College Women Studies Center/Mt. Holyoke College and as scholar in the Harvard Divinity School Center for the Study of World Religions—Women Healing Women Project.
She has acted as a resource to various community-based organizations, co-directed a major research project with Yale University School of Public Health on policies and practices for recruiting, retaining and promoting faculty of color.
With a strong commitment to building bridges, Jacquelyn has engaged in interfaith and international initiatives aimed at putting faith into action. Jacquelyn coordinated the Newton, MA planning group and actively participated in the year-long Interfaith Pilgrimage of the Middle Passage (1998-1999)