Sheri Parks

Sheri Parks, PH.D. is a public intellectual, strategist, senior higher education professor, administrator, and author, working to bridge the wisdom of communities and the academy to address urgent societal challenges.

Her signature public projects include Baltimore Stories: Narrative and the Life of an American City, funded and named as a national model for deep community conversations, and the Baltimore Thinkathon. She leads the Natural Dye Initiative, building a Baltimore-based ecosystem of indigo farming, processing, small businesses, and art with community partner the Upton Planning Committee.

She mentors Korner Boyz Enterprises LLC, a successful four-year entrepreneurial project with former squeegee workers and community partners.  Past community-facing projects have been funded by the Andrew Mellon Foundation, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, and Maryland state agencies. 

Her awards include Maryland Top 100 Women in 2019 and national broadcasting awards from GLADD and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. 

She is the author of two editions of the book, Fierce Angels, which traces the Sacred Dark Feminine and the Strong Black Woman.