Amelia Seraphia Derr, PhD MSW

I am a scholar, educator, and writer who works at the intersection of grief, resilience, and justice. As an Associate Professor of Social Work at Seattle University, I guide students through complex emotional and structural landscapes and research ambiguous loss, anticipatory grief, and radical resilience.

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In the classroom, I aim to create space that is alive, where students can wrestle, reflect, and rebuild. In my research, I bring together creative and academic voices, often blending personal narrative, poetry, and critical frameworks. Outside the university, I am a parent to a child with a rare disease, and my lived experience informs everything I write and teach. I’m especially interested in how we make meaning amid uncertainty and how we stay open to joy, even at the edge of shadow. I am part poet, part pedagogue, part parent-warrior.