Dr. Parthenia L. Luke is an Assistant Professor in the University of South Carolina College of Social Work. Her research examines how place-based change shapes chronic stress, health, and everyday life, with particular attention to communities experiencing environmental, economic, and social transformation. Her work focuses on displacement pressure, a concept used to describe the chronic stress that can emerge when changes in physical or social environments make remaining in place feel uncertain.

Her scholarship spans urban, rural, and international contexts and is grounded in the belief that place matters deeply for wellbeing. Dr. Luke's work engages neighborhood change, rural decline, and long-term community vulnerability. She is affiliated with the Hazards and Vulnerability Research Institute and the Walker Institute of International and Area Studies and leads collaborative research in Liberia focused on environmental change and human impacts.

Dr. Luke earned her PhD and MSW from the University of South Carolina and her BA from Furman University.