Meet Our Faculty

Sara Beeler

Assistant Professor

Professional Interests: Substance use disorders, formerly/incarcerated populations, service utilization and help seeking behavior, and health, wellness, and recovery   Learn More »

Kathryn Bocanegra

Assistant Professor

Professional Interests: Community violence prevention, complex trauma and bereavement, working with survivors of violent crime, and examining the intersection of the criminal justice system with urban neighborhoods   Learn More »

Pamela Brown

Director of Field Instruction and Clinical Assistant Professor

Professional Interests: School social work, community mental health, and children, adolescents and their families   Learn More »

Alice K. Butterfield

Professor

Professional Interests: Social Work Education in Ethiopia Partnership, international social work education, asset based community development, higher education partnerships, family policy   Learn More »

Shih-Ying Cheng

Assistant Professor

Professional Interests: Gender-based violence, evidence-based practice, and recent immigrants   Learn More »

Daysi Diaz-Strong

Assistant Professor

Professional Interests: Educational outcomes and experiences of Latinx undocumented immigrants, developmental trajectories of Latinx undocumented immigrants, impact of immigration policy on immigrants and immigrant families, identity development of immigrant populations   Learn More »

Otima Doyle

Associate Professor

Professional Interests: Familial risk and protective factors related to emotional and behavioral problems among culturally diverse, underserved youth, the role of fathers and co-parenting in the prevention of youth aggression, depression and suicide, and the development and evaluation of prevention interventions with fathers and children   Learn More »

Ray Eads

Assistant Professor

Professional Interests: Improving treatment for traumatized youth and families and expanding the benefits of behavioral health treatments to vulnerable groups through person-centered and strengths-based practices and techniques  Learn More »

Marybel Flores

Assistant Dean for Admissions and Financial Aid and Clinical Assistant Professor

Professional Interests: Policy initiatives affecting aging vulnerable populations, and increasing minority inclusion in the health sciences and the health professions   Learn More »

Andrew Scott Foell

Assistant Professor

Professional Interests: Examining housing relocation and interorganizational partnerships in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Choice Neighborhoods Initiative (CNI), housing stability in HUD’s Family Unification Program (FUP), and consequences of community violence exposure for youth living in public housing  Learn More »

Jennifer Geiger

Associate Professor

Professional Interests: Promoting and supporting foster care alumni in postsecondary education settings, resilience in families and children involved in the child welfare system, and assessing and cultivating empathy   Learn More »

Walter Gómez

Assistant Professor

Professional Interests: Substance use interventions for sexual minority men, structural, social, and cultural barriers to HIV prevention interventions, aging with HIV, social and sexual networks, social capital and social movements, qualitative and mixed methods in social welfare, and syndemics, intersectionality, and stress and coping theories and frameworks   Learn More »

Creasie Finney Hairston

Dean and Professor

Professional Interests: Social work, families and the criminal justice system, and higher education administration and leadership, and social policies, social programs and social justice   Learn More »

John Holton

Visiting Research Professor

Professional Interests: Gerontology and health equity for older populations, child health and well-being, and engagement with government and community stakeholders   Learn More »

Charles Hounmenou

Associate Professor

Professional Interests: Human trafficking, commercial sexual exploitation of children, and the human rights of detainees and immigrants   Learn More »

Chang-ming Hsieh

Associate Professor and Director of the PhD Program

Professional Interests: Quality of life, subjective well-being, and life satisfaction, and client satisfaction of social services for older adults   Learn More »

Annette Johnson

Clinical Associate Professor

Professional Interests: Children’s mental health, social and emotional learning, critical service learning, and clinical practice in schools   Learn More »

Sonya Leathers

Professor

Professional Interests: Child welfare services and evaluation, child and adolescent mental health needs and services, and effective training in evidence-based practices   Learn More »

Laurenia Mangum

Assistant Professor

Professional Interests: Sexual health/reproductive health inequities among Black women, including biomedical and behavioral HIV prevention interventions such as PrEP use among young Black women and optimal ART treatment adherence among Black mothers living with HIV  Learn More »

Cassandra McKay-Jackson

Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Student Services

Professional Interests: Race, and the development and analysis of school-related interventions, which encourage youth responsibility and resilience.  Learn More »

Branden McLeod

Associate Professor

Professional Interests: Fatherhood among Black fathers and families, reentry into society from incarceration, and criminal justice reform   Learn More »

Christopher Mitchell

Associate Professor and Director of Academic Program Development and Assessment

Professional Interests: Social determinants of health and health inequities, integrated care and behavioral health practice, HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment adherence, cognitive-behavioral interventions, interprofessional education, and social work ethics   Learn More »

Tiffany Nelson

Assistant Professor

Professional Interests: Experience working in the social work field and in educational settings that include primary, secondary and higher education environments. A Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Nelson holds a Professional Educator License with a Social Social Work Endorsement   Learn More »

Chastity Owens

Lecturer

Professional Interests: Understanding evidence-based interventions in schools, with clinical and administrative work centering around advocating for students, teachers and families  Learn More »

Michelle-Ann Rhoden Neita

Assistant Professor

Professional Interests: Educational and health outcomes of youths involved in the child welfare and justice systems, trauma-informed care for youths and young adults with adverse childhood experiences, biomarkers for psychological trauma, and community reintegration programs in faith-based settings   Learn More »

Lisa Salvadore

Lecturer

Professional Interests: Counseling sexology and sexual wellness best practices and positivity, social justice and fighting stigma against mental illness, harm reduction advocacy, and promoting wellness in the GLBTQIA , kink and sexual minorities community  Learn More »

James Swartz

Professor

Professional Interests: Treatment for alcohol and other substance use disorders, integrating behavioral and primary health care, epidemiology of health conditions among persons with serious mental illnesses, health and behavioral health care for LGBTQ populations, preventing opioid overdoses and prescription drug abuse, and developing data monitoring systems for substance use and substance use-related issues   Learn More »