Skip to content

Jessica Leveto

Associate Professor of Sociology, Kent State University

Topics of expertise
  • Labor & Workforce
  • Parenthood: Motherhood/Fatherhood
  • Work & Family

Email: jleveto@kent.edu
Website: https://www.kent.edu/sociology/profile/jessica-leveto
Twitter/X: @profjess

Jessica A. Leveto, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Sociology. She is a sociological social psychologist with expertise in family, motherhood, identity, mental health, neurodiversity, emotion, scholarship of teaching and learning, and higher education.

Dr. Leveto is currently examining the impact and experiences of mothers/caregivers in academia and policies that will make higher education more accessible; her work addresses the impact of COVID-19, faculty burnout, and the accessibility of higher education for parenting/caregiving students. Dr. Leveto has experience in quantitative, qualitative, and mix-method research, including analysis using SPSS, STATA, AMOS, and MAXQDA. She has been published in various outlets, including Sociology Compass, Current Psychology, Advances in Group Processes: Biosociology and Neurosociology, and New Directions in Identity Theory and Research (Oxford University Press).

Dr. Leveto is the founder and administrator of Ph.D. Mamas. Ph.D. Mamas is a global online support community of over 16k mothers in academia. Dr. Leveto recently became Vice President of Academic Mama Foundation, with a mission of empowering academic mamas by awarding grants supporting the pursuit of an academic career while raising children.

She is a proud first-generation college graduate committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion of historically underrepresented and marginalized groups. She is the mother of three, Liam (22), Ryleigh (8), and Lillian (6)

Last Updated: 12/15/25