HIRR Welcomes New Employee, Announces Promotion

The Hartford Institute for Religion Research is excited for these two team members.

Dr. Brittany Clarvon Watts has joined the Hartford Institute for Religion Research as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow and is also a Visiting Faculty Associate at Hartford International University. She specializes in qualitative research on behalf of the Exploring the Pandemic Impact on Congregations (EPIC) project.

Dr. Watts completed her master’s and doctorate in Sociology at Kent State University, Kent, OH. She studied Religion, and Africa, African American Diaspora Studies at Wheaton College. She focused on Black Liberation Theology, Womanism, and Systematic Theology in her Master of Divinity from Duke University, Durham, NC.

Dr. Watts has also researched and co-published on Black Christian women’s lived mental health experiences in “Keeping Ourselves Sane: A Qualitative Exploration of Black Women’s Coping Strategies” and plans to explore mental health paradoxes, utilization of health services, and access to care within faith communities and in the EPIC project. 

Additionally, she serves as the Program Director and Grant Writer at Shiloh Development Corporation, Inc., and provides education, resources, and care with dignity and pride to anyone in need.

If her name sounds familiar, it is because Brittany is closely related to our own Bishop Dr. Benjamin Watts, Director of the Black Ministries Program and Faculty Associate in Religion and Community Life. She's his daughter!

Tracy Simmons,  content editor, writer, and social media consultant to the EPIC project, has become the communications manager.

Tracy is the Executive Director of SpokaneFAVS.com, a digital journalism start-up covering religion news and commentary in Spokane, Washington. She is also a Scholarly Assistant Professor at the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication at Washington State University and writes for the Religion News Service, as well as The Spokesman-Review.

Tracy has been with the Hartford Institute team since the EPIC project began but is taking on additional duties as HIRR worksto communicate the results of its research. 

Welcome, Dr. Brittany Watts, and congratulations, Tracy Simmons!