Anna Ferris

Assistant Professor

Anna Ferris is an assistant professor specializing in social work in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Delaware.

Her research seeks to understand how forced displacement is experienced across different humanitarian protection statuses and how policies governing humanitarian protection shape inequality among forced migrant communities. Her dissertation, Liminality of Forced Displacement: Syrian Refugee and Immigrant Lives in the United States, examines humanitarian protection through the lens of legal and geographic migration trajectories.

Dr. Ferris earned her M.S.W. and Ph.D. in Social Welfare from the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy and Practice.

Educational Background

• Ph.D., Social Welfare, School of Social Policy and Practice, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 2026
• M.S.W., Social Welfare, School of Social Policy and Practice, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 2016
• B.S.W., School of Social Work, University of North Carolina at Wilmington, Wilmington, NC, 2014

Professional Experience

• Assistant Professor, College of Education and Human Development, University of Delaware, 2026–present