Helen Bader School of Social Welfare faculty and staff have always immersed themselves in the prevailing issues of the time and of the community.

Today, the school’s faculty and staff are an exceptional group in terms of research, teaching, community service, and engagement.

In the community, they are taking the lead with partnering agencies to address issues that include trauma-informed care, the aging population, drug courts, human trafficking, homeless veterans, children as caregivers, prisoner reintegration, and more.

Behind the scenes, they are building the knowledge used to address major social issues – helping individuals, families, and communities to thrive.

Aging
    • Colleen Galambos
      Applied Gerontology
      Care transitions and advance care planning
      Aging in place
      Health and long term care systems quality improvement
      Gerontechnology
    • Yura Lee
      Cognitive function in later life
      Caregivers of older adults with dementia
      Intergenerational support
    • Rhonda Montgomery*
      Caregiving
      Long-term care policy
      Family care policy
      Home care workers
    • Jerry Rousseau*
      Aging mindfully
      Caring for older family members
      Self-care for the caregiver
      Getting to know who you are becoming as you grow older
    • *Emeritus Faculty

Child Welfare
  • Colleen Janczewski
    Child welfare practice and policy
    Differential response
    Agency decision making
    Family engagement
  • Livy Malle
    Child welfare policy and practice
    Child maltreatment
    Family preservation
    Foster care
    Adoption
    Placement stability
    Childhood trauma
  • Steven McMurtry
    Child Protective Services
    Foster care
  • Joshua Mersky
    Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)
    Trauma
    Evidence-based treatments
  • David J. Pate Jr.
    Father involvement
    Non-custodial parents
  • Dion Racks
    Child welfare practice and policy
    Child and family issues with trauma
    Adverse childhood experiences
    Supervision in child welfare
    Case management in child welfare
  • Nancy Rolock
    Child welfare practice and policy
    Kinship care
    Foster care
    Post-adoption and post-guardianship outcomes
    Intervention research
  • Susan Rose
    Child neglect
    Cross-cultural perspectives
    Child welfare policy and practice
  • Marla Seay
    Foster care
    Adoption
    Kinship care
    Case management
    Supervisor support
  • Dimitri Topitzes
    Consequences and prevention of child maltreatment
  • Jose Torres*
    Multicultural perspectives
  • Jeanne Wagner
    Foster care
    Family preservation
    Child abuse and neglect
    Adoption
    Working with substance affected families in child welfare
    Case management
    Safety in the field
  • Quinn Wilder
    Foster/adoptive parent training
    Out-of-home youth worker
    Competency development
  • *Emeritus Faculty
Community Practice
    • Candace E. Coates
      Community support program
      Targeted case management
    • Rebecca Headley
      Neighborhood characteristics and local non-economic institutions on crime outcomes
    • Sharon Keigher*
      Community studies
      Geography and health
    • R. L. McNeely*
      Community organizing tactics and techniques
    • Katie Mangan*
      Multi-systems
      Family therapy
      Home-based outreach
    • Susan Rose
      Local political organizing
    • Devin Thomas
      Sexual assault and domestic violence services
      Aging out of foster care
    • Jeanne Wagner
      Foster care
      Family preservation
      Child abuse and neglect
      Adoption
      Working with substance affected families in child welfare
      Case management
      Safety in the field
    • Trina Salm Ward
      Community-engaged research
    • *Emeritus Faculty
Conflict Resolution and Social Work Practice
  • Roberta Hanus*
    Process-oriented leadership and conflict resolution
  • Jerry Rousseau*
    Learning the skills of successful conflict engagement
    Appreciating those who disturb us as necessary allies
  • *Emeritus Faculty
Corrections
  • Rebecca Headley
    Parole
    Prisoner re-entry
  • Thomas LeBel
    Intervention strategies with correctional clients
    Parole
    Prisoner reintegration
    Rehabilitation
    Women in jail
    Alternatives to incarceration
  • David J. Pate Jr.
    Child support
    Welfare and males
  • Susan Rose
    Women in jail
    Addiction and child welfare needs
  • Stan Stojkovic
    Prisons and jails
    Prison administration
    Prisoner re-entry
Crime
Criminal Justice Policy and Administration
Criminal Justice Process
Cultural Diversity Issues
  • Ruben Burgos
    Cultural sensitivity training
    in law enforcement
  • Tina Freiburger
     Race/ethnicity in the juvenile
    and adult criminal justice systems
  • Kimberly D. Hassell
    Race/ethnicity
    and the criminal justice system
  • Melinda S. Kavanaugh
    Latino families and caregiving
  • Thomas LeBel
    Formerly incarcerated persons’ simultaneous stigmas
  • Gwat-Yong Lie
    Diversity and its implications for social work education
    social work with Asian Americans
  • R. L. McNeely*
    Race and interpersonal communication
  • Katie Mangan*
    Multi-systems family therapy in an urban setting
  • Deborah Padgett*
    Diversity and organizations
  • Patricia Parker
    Training in:
    Cultural humility
    Cultural intelligence (CQ)
    Culturally competent social work practice
    Cultural inclusiveness in organizational culture
    Generational diversity
  • David J. Pate Jr.
    Black families
  • Devin Thomas
    Celebrating LGBTQ identities in social services settings
  • José Torres*
    Multicultural mental health education and training
    Direct social work practice
    social work practice with Latinos/Hispanics
  • *Emeritus Faculty
Death and Dying
  • Roberta Hanus*
    The intersection of spirituality and social work
  • Katie Mangan*
    Death in family systems
  • *Emeritus Faculty
Disabilities
  • Melinda S. Kavanaugh
     Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)
    Movement disorders
    Huntington’s Disease
  • Sharon Keigher*
     Consumer directed care
    Older developmentally disabled
    HIV/AIDS
  • *Emeritus Faculty
Economic and Social Policy Issues
  • Colleen Janczewski
    Federal and state policy development
    Organizational theory
    Social workers as change agents
    Vulnerable families inside public systems
  • Sharon Keigher*
     Poverty
    Housing and homelessness
    Social Security
    Medicaid and Medicare
  • Thomas LeBel
     Civil disabilities of formerly incarcerated persons
    Prisoner reintegration
  • Steven McMurtry
     Human service organizations and non-profit agencies
  • R.L. McNeely*
     Occupational social work
    Job satisfaction in human service employment
  • Rhonda Montgomery*
    Long-term care policy
    Healthcare policy
  • Deborah Padgett*
    Management and organization theory
  • Laura Otto-Salaj
    Working with human service organizations and non-profit agencies
    Organizational theory
    Social power
  • David J. Pate Jr.
    Social welfare policy
    Non-custodial fathers
  • Trina Salm Ward
    Social and economic determinants of racial disparities in infant health
  • *Emeritus Faculty
Health and Medical
  • Joanne Barndt*
    Medical Social Work (emergency room)
    Medical ethics
  • Lisa Berger
    Alcohol interventions in general medical settings
  • Steven G. Brandl
    Health and safety issues in policing
  • Roberta Hanus*
    Chronic symptoms and community processes
  • Melinda S. Kavanaugh
     Health and social work
    Child caregivers
    Chronic illness and families
  • Sharon Keigher*
    Health policy
    Medicaid
    Managed care
    Health insurance
    HIV/AIDS
    BadgerCare
    GAMP
  • Katie Mangan*
    Medical social work
    Chronic and acute management in families
  • Joshua Mersky
    Population health
    Home visiting
  • Rhonda Montgomery*
    Health policy
    Medicaid
    Managed care
    Health insurance
  • Laura Otto-Salaj
    HIV/AIDS
    Alcohol and drug addiction
  • Jerry Rousseau*
    Exploring the psychological aspects of physical symptoms
  • Julie Schuppie
    Social and economic determinants of racial disparities in health
  • Dimitri Topitzes
    Health disparities
    Educational predictors of adult health
  • Trina Salm Ward
    Health and social work
    Infant and family health
    Health disparities
    Public health and social work
  • *Emeritus Faculty
Homelessness
  • Candace E. Coates
    Homeless/housing first
    Harm reduction housing
    Supportive permanent housing
  • Gwat-Yong Lie
    Chronicity
    Treatment of co-occurring disorders
    Shared Office for Administration of Research (SOAR)
    Targeted Case Management (TCM)
    Supportive permanent housing
    Housing First
  • Devin Thomas
    Supportive permanent housing
    Harm reduction housing first models
International Social Development
Juvenile Justice
Law Enforcement
  • Police decision making and behavior
    Police policy
    Criminal investigation
    Police management
    Hazards of police work
  • Criminal investigation
    Police management
    Gang crimes intel
  • Police decision making and behavior
    Police policy
    Police management

    Data-driven policing
    Women and policing

LGBTQ
  • Devin Thomas
    LGBTQ anti-violence work
    Sexual violence and intimate partner violence in LGBTQ identities
    Helping clients explore coming out process
    Exploring gender and sexuality
    Healthy relationships and sexuality
Marriage and Family
  • Melinda S. Kavanaugh
    Family caregiving across the life span
    Impact of illness on family
  • Sharon Keigher*
    Income support for family caregiving
  • Gwat-Yong Lie
    Family preservation and the home-building model
    Family violence and its impact on children
  • Katie Mangan*
    Marriage and family therapy
    Death in the family
    Balancing work and family systems
    Blended family systems
  • Rhonda Montgomery
    Lifespan family development
    Work and family issues
  • Patricia Parker
    Training in:
    Family-centered practice
    Strength-based practice with families and community development
    Strength-based interventions
    Empowerment and family development practice
    Solution-focused interviewing
  • David J. Pate Jr.
    Fatherhood and domestic violence
  • Susan Rose
    Marriage and family therapy
  • Jerry Rousseau*
    Communication skills for couples and families
    Understanding what is really going on when we fall in love
    Mindfully utilizing the ways we disturb each other to create emotional intimacy in our relationships
  • Dimitri Topitzes
    Family systems interventions
  • José Torres*
    Marriage/couples and family therapy
  • Trina Salm Ward
    Infant mortality
  • *Emeritus Faculty
Mental Health/Mental Illness
      • Candace E. Coates
        Residential behavioral health care
        Dual diagnosis
      • Roberta Hanus*
        Individual and couples/group process work
      • Sharon Keigher*
        Community support programs
        Community health
      • Gwat-Yong Lie
        Coping skills and survival strategies of battered
        partners and rape survivors
      • Katie Mangan*
        Individual, marriage and family therapy
      • Laura Otto-Salaj
        Health intervention models
        Health behaviors
        Dual diagnosis
      • Dion Racks
        Working with families affected by mental illness in child welfare
        Understanding the effects of mental health within family systems
      • Susan Rose
        Mental health practice issues
        Managed behavioral health care
      • Jerry Rousseau*
        Holiday stress reduction
        Practicing self-acceptance
        Individual, couple, and group psychotherapy
        Learning to live compassionately with a family member with mental illness
        Getting to know the shadow side of who we are
      • Dimitri Topitzes
        Trauma resolution with individuals
      • José Torres*
        Individual, couple and family therapy
      • Trina Salm Ward
        Infant and family health
        Family adjustment to caring for a newborn
      • *Emeritus Faculty
Mental Health and African Americans
  • Crystal D. Carter
    Health disparities in underserved communities
    Trauma/community trauma
    Marriage and the family
    Women’s issues
  • Dimitri Topitzes
    Trauma resolution with individuals
Prevention and Intervention
  • Joshua Mersky
    Prevention science
    Translational research
  • Trina Salm Ward
    Preventing infant deaths
    Interventions to reduce risks in infant sleep environment
  • Quinn Wilder
    After school/community youth program quality
Research Methods and Data Analysis
  • Qualitative research and case study method
  • Multivariate analysis
    Research design
    Questionnaire readability
  • Rebecca Headley
    Geospatial analysis of neighborhood effects on crime outcomes
  • Colleen Janczewski
    Applied evaluation study design
    Mixed methods
    Survey design and implementation
    Secondary analysis of administrative data
    Multivariate analyses and advanced statistical modeling
  • Joshua Mersky
    Program evaluation
    Longitudinal research
    Screening and assessment
    Randomized trials in community settings
  • Brief standardized scales
    Surveys
    Cohort studies
  • Quantitative and qualitative study design
    Program evaluation
    Randomized clinical trials
    Ethics in human subjects research
  • David J. Pate Jr.
    Qualitative research methods/focus groups
  • Use of rapid assessment instruments in clinical practice
    GIS
Social Work Ethics and Boundaries
  • Joanne Barndt*, Gwat-Yong Lie, Deborah Padgett*:
    Advanced ethics and boundaries for social workers
    and human service professionals
  • Deborah Padgett*
    Working with groups
    Managing healthy organizations
  • Advanced ethics and boundaries workshop
    Ethics and boundaries in a world of technology
    In-home services
    Hospice and palliative care
    Social work ethics in supervision
    Administration and macro practice
Substance Abuse
  • Treatment of alcohol use disorders – brief interventions
    and motivational interviewing
    Screening and assessment
  • Substance abuse and trauma
  • Treatment issues for prisoners
    Recovery processes in addictions
    Drug courts
  • Co-occurring addictions
    Women’s treatment issues
    and risk factors
    Dual diagnosis
  • Dion Racks
    Substance abuse and its impact on families in child welfare
    Substance abuse and trauma
  • Screening and assessment
  • Working with substance affected families in child welfare
Supervision
  • Joanne Barndt*
    Supervision of volunteers and volunteer management
  • Deborah Padgett*
    Leadership
    Management
  • Jose Torres*
    Supervision of clinical Social Work and
    marriage/couples and family therapy
  • Jeanne Wagner
    Effective leadership in human service organizations
  • Quinn Wilder
    After school/community youth program supervision skills and strategies
  • *Emeritus Faculty
Technology in Social Welfare Education
Trauma and Trauma-Informed Care
    • Joan Blakey
      Women involved with criminal justice and child welfare systems
    • Linda Britz
      Working with traumatized families and individuals
    • Candace E. Coates
      Trauma-informed care and mental health
    • Devin Thomas
      LGBTQ individuals impacted by trauma
    • Dimitri Topitzes
      Basic and applied research into early trauma-based interventions and practice principles
Welfare Reform
  • Sharon Keigher*
    Impacts on health
    Medicaid
  • Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
    Child support
    Fathers
  • *Emeritus Faculty