Inaugural Barry Family Professor in Social Work
Boston College School of Social Work Professor Christopher Salas-Wright, whose on-the-ground experiences in Central and South America shaped his expertise in Latin American crisis migration and mental health, has been named as the inaugural Barry Family Professor in Social Work.
The Barry Family Professorship was established through a gift from University Trustee Steven M. Barry ’85 and his wife Tammy J. Barry ’85, M.Ed. ’87. The parents of two Boston College graduates, the Barrys are longtime BC benefactors who have supported the Connell School of Nursing, financial aid, athletics, the Wall Street Council Tribute Dinner, and Pops on the Heights, among other University priorities.
Salas-Wright, who is the BCSSW assistant dean for doctoral education, earned a doctorate from the school in 2012—he also holds a master’s degree from the Clough School of Theology and Ministry—and returned in 2020 as a tenured professor after teaching at the University of Texas-Austin and Boston University.
His research on the experiences of stress and resilience among Latin American crisis migrants, and how such experiences influence mental health, has been key to the development of the crisis-informed theory of cultural stress, which explores how individuals and families experience stress as a result of cultural changes and challenges when migrating across national borders. This theoretical basis enabled Salas-Wright to develop the crisis migration experiences scale to measure exposure to pre-migration stressors such as material hardship, physical danger, and psychological desperation.
“I’m very grateful to the Barry family for their generosity, and for the opportunity to make a positive impact in the area of crisis migration and mental health, and to teach the next generation of social workers. It’s a great honor to be the Barry Family Professor, and also a great responsibility—one that I take very seriously.” ”
In an age when migration is often a divisive topic, Salas-Wright seeks to keep a lens trained on the humanitarian dimensions of the issue. It’s a research area that aligns with the priorities of a Jesuit, Catholic university, he says, which makes him all the more certain he made the right choice in returning to BC.
“Every time I walk across campus, I feel very fortunate to be at BC,” said Salas-Wright. “Jesuit education is a perfect fit for social work education and research, because it speaks to concern for the individual, especially those in need. BC provides rigorous preparation focused not only on intellectual and professional development but also on the formation of the whole person.
“I’m very grateful to the Barry family for their generosity, and for the opportunity to make a positive impact in the area of crisis migration and mental health, and to teach the next generation of social workers. It’s a great honor to be the Barry Family Professor, and also a great responsibility—one that I take very seriously.”
“Professor Salas-Wright is a prolific scholar, a scientific mentor to several young faculty and postdoctoral fellows in the school, a respected teacher, and an assistant dean of our doctoral program,” said BCSSW Dean Gautam Yadama. “That’s a grand slam.”
Salas-Wright is leading two National Institutes of Health-funded studies on crisis migration and cultural stress. The Adelante Boricua study focuses on so-called “María migrants”: Puerto Ricans displaced to the United States mainland after Hurricane María in 2017. The only longitudinal study of “María migrants,” Adelante Boricua examines how pre-migration hurricane trauma and post-migration cultural stress shape the resettlement experiences of climate migrants and influence mental health.
The Venezolanos en Nuevos Entornos study charts the experiences of nearly 2,000 Venezuelan children and adults resettling in Bogotá and Medellín, Colombia, and in Florida. VENE is the sole longitudinal, cross-national study of Venezuelan crisis migrants, providing unique and timely evidence on one of modern history’s most significant population movements.
“Friends, family, and community are important pillars of support as well as a means to maintain relationships with people left back home, which is crucial to migrants’ mental health. This is what we need to understand better about the factors that aid the transition: not just the role of social services and family support, but those of optimism and faith. I believe there are spaces for these kinds of conversations.”
Salas-Wright traces his original interest in crisis migration and related issues to the first summer he spent in rural El Salvador as a Santa Clara University undergraduate. The impact of the country’s devastating civil war was evident, including violence-related poverty and trauma, he said, and these factors contributed to the migration of many Salvadorans; today, he noted, roughly one in four Salvadorans lives in the United States.
“Those first experiences forced me to grapple with the challenges of poverty, violence, and crises that lead to mass migration,” said Salas-Wright, who later lived in El Salvador for five years and wrote his doctoral dissertation on the role of spirituality and faith in the lives of young people living in high-crime communities in San Salvador. “The opportunity to enter into the lives of people on the margins, and reflect on those experiences in the heart, mind, and faith, was transformative in my personal and professional discernment.”
Two other career keystones of the past decade for Salas-Wright—the Adelante Boricua study in Puerto Rico and the Venezolanos en Nuevos Entornos project—solidified his belief in the importance of discerning the quality of life among the populations in need he studied, rather than simply record data points. He talked with the Puerto Rican migrants in Florida about how they had fared since Hurricane Maria, how they had been treated in their new place, and the state of their emotional and mental health. He spoke with Venezuelans who had fled to Colombia in the wake of their country’s economic collapse, to find out about the high levels of depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress many have experienced.
“While there are aspects unique to the situations in Puerto Rico or Venezuela, these are universal human concerns,” he said. “Down through the centuries, we’ve all heard stories or songs about migration, and one thing is clear: Losing your home, or being forced to leave it, is a deeply troubling and stressful experience. If you have some kind of support system in place—through family or friends, or aid organizations—then you stand a better chance of adjusting to this change and moving forward.
“Despite adversity, many—in fact, most—migrants settle into their new lives and do quite well,” he said. “Friends, family, and community are important pillars of support as well as a means to maintain relationships with people left back home, which is crucial to migrants’ mental health. This is what we need to understand better about the factors that aid the transition: not just the role of social services and family support, but those of optimism and faith. I believe there are spaces for these kinds of conversations.”
Salas-Wright has authored more than 250 publications, including two books and first-author articles in journals such as the American Journal of Public Health, Addiction, and the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. He was selected for the Deborah K. Padgett Early Career Achievement Award from the Society for Social Work in Research in 2019 and the National Award of Excellence in Research by a Senior Investigator from the National Hispanic Science Network in 2023.