University of Michigan Interdisciplinary PhD in Social Work and Social Science Doctoral CV Booklet 2015-2016
University of Michigan Interdisciplinary PhD in Social Work and Social Science 2014-2015 Doctoral CV Brochure
Table of Contents Elizabeth Armstrong, Social Work and Sociology CV.......................................................................... 5 Research Statement ................................................................................................................................ 14 Teaching Statement ............................................................................................................................ 18 Matthew Chin, Social Work and Anthropology CV .......................................................................... 20 Research Statement ................................................................................................................................ 28 Teaching Statement ............................................................................................................................ 30
Adrian Gale, Social Work and Developmental Psychology CV....................................................... 32 Research Statement ................................................................................................................................ 37 Teaching Statement ............................................................................................................................ 40
Na Youn Lee, Social Work and Sociology CV ................................................................................... 42 Research Statement ................................................................................................................................ 51
John Mathias, Social Work and Anthropology CV .......................................................................... 53 Research Statement ................................................................................................................................ 62 Teaching Statement ............................................................................................................................ 66
Amanda Tillotson, Social Work and Political Science CV................................................................ 68 Research Statement ................................................................................................................................ 84 Teaching Statement ............................................................................................................................ 91
Maria Wathen, Social Work and Sociology CV................................................................................ 96 Research Statement .............................................................................................................................. 107 Teaching Statement .......................................................................................................................... 112 Abigail Williams, Social Work and Developmental Psychology CV .............................................. 114 Research Statement .............................................................................................................................. 122 Teaching Statement ..................................................................................................................... 125
ELIZABETH M. ARMSTRONG elimarie@umich.edu Department of Sociology 500 S. State St., Rm. 3001 Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1382
School of Social Work 1080 S. University Ave., Rm. 3680 Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1106
EDUCATION 2016 (Expected)
Ph.D. Joint Doctoral Program in Social Work and Sociology, University of Michigan. Committee: Elizabeth A. Armstrong and Beth Glover Reed (Co-Chairs), Jason OwenSmith, Eve Garrow, Michelle McClellen Dissertation: Bridging the Intimate Partner Violence and Alcohol and Other Drug Intervention Fields. Preliminary Exam (Social Work): “A Field Analytic Approach to the Integration of Intimate Partner Violence and Substance Abuse Interventions,” Winter 2012. Committee: Beth Glover Reed (Chair), Karen Staller, David Tucker, Elizabeth A. Armstrong Preliminary Exam (Sociology): Culture/Knowledge, Fall 2009. Committee: Geneviève Zubrzycki (Chair), Muge Goçek, Frederick Wherry
2007
Master of Social Work, School of Social Work, University of Michigan. Practice Method: Social Policy & Evaluation, Community Organizing (Minor) Practice Area: Communities & Social Systems
2007
Graduate Certificate in Women’s Studies. Rackham Graduate School, University of Michigan.
2003
B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies, Psychology and Human Services (Concentrations), Simon’s Rock College of Bard, Great Barrington, MA. Magna Cum Laude.
RESEARCH INTERESTS Organizational theory & analysis Feminist scholarship
Intimate partner violence Alcohol and other drug use
Qualitative methods Mixed methods
History of social policy Feminist practice
Program evaluation Human services organizations
TEACHING INTERESTS Research methods Grant writing
FELLOWSHIPS AND AWARDS 2015-2016
Rackham One Term Dissertation Fellowship. Rackham Graduate School, University of Michigan.
Elizabeth M. Armstrong CV |
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2014-2015
Mary Malcomson Raphael Fellowship. Center for the Education of Women, University of Michigan. Rackham Predoctoral Fellowship. Rackham Graduate School, University of Michigan.
2012-2014
Predoctoral Fellowship. National Institutes of Health Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award T32 DA007267. University of Michigan Substance Abuse Research Center/National Institute of Drug Abuse.
2011-2012
Susan M. Lipschutz Award. Rackham Graduate School, University of Michigan. Community of Scholars Fellowship. Institute for Research on Women and Gender, University of Michigan. Henry J. Meyer Award for the best paper integrating social work and social science. Joint Doctoral Program in Social Work and Social Science, University of Michigan.
2008-2009
Joint Doctoral Program Fellowship. Joint Doctoral Program in Social Work and Social Science, University of Michigan. School of Social Work Summer Funding. Joint Doctoral Program in Social Work and Social Science, University of Michigan.
GRANTS 2014-2015
Travel Grant to the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA) Annual Meeting. Rackham Graduate School, University of Michigan. Doctoral Research Support Grant. Nonprofit and Public Management Center, University of Michigan.
2013-2014
Research Grant. Rackham Graduate School, University of Michigan. Doctoral Dissertation Research Grant. Department of Sociology, University of Michigan.
2011-2012
Travel Grant to the Society for the Study of Social Problems Annual Program Meeting. Rackham Graduate School, University of Michigan.
2010-2011
Research Grant. Rackham Graduate School, University of Michigan. Spring/Summer Research Partnership (with Professor Beth Glover Reed) Rackham Graduate School, University of Michigan. OVPR Faculty Grant & Curtis Center Faculty Grant for Pilot Projects. Organizational Innovations to Negotiate Two Contested Fields (Intimate Partner Violence and Alcohol and Other Drugs): Logics, Timing, and Strategies. (Proposal Co-Author; PI: Beth Glover Reed). University of Michigan Office of the Vice President for Research, Faculty Grants and Awards Program.
2009-2010
Small Grant. Interdisciplinary Committee on Organizational Studies Small Grant: Organizational Position-Taking in Contested Spaces. (Proposal Co-Author; PI: Beth Glover Reed). University of Michigan. Elizabeth M. Armstrong CV |
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Faculty Grant. Institute for Research on Women and Gender. Addressing both Intimate Partner Violence and Alcohol and Other Drugs: Field Analyses of Contested Spaces. (Proposal Co-Author; PI: Beth Glover Reed). University of Michigan. Grant for Research, Scholarship and Creative Activities. Institute for Research on Women and Gender, University of Michigan. Travel Grant to the Council for Social Work Education Annual Program Meeting. Rackham Graduate School, University of Michigan. Spring/Summer Research Partnership (with Professor Beth Glover Reed) Joint Doctoral Program in Social Work and Social Science, University of Michigan.
PEER REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS Armstrong, Elizabeth A; Laura Hamilton; Elizabeth M. Armstrong and J. Lotus Seeley. (2014). “Good Girls: Gender, Social Class, and Slut Discourse on Campus.” Social Psychology Quarterly, 77(2): 100-122. Armstrong, Elizabeth M. (2014). “Shared Subjects, Divergent Epistemologies: Sociology, Social Work and Social Problems Scholarship.” Qualitative Social Work, 13(6).
MANUSCRIPTS IN PREPARATION Armstrong, Elizabeth A; Laura Hamilton; Elizabeth M. Armstrong and J. Lotus Seeley. "Toward a Field Theory of Gender Relations: Explaining Reproduction and Change." Armstrong, Elizabeth M. “You Can’t Just Get Up in the Morning and Do It: A Field Analytic Approach to Intimate Partner Violence and Substance Abuse Interventions.” Armstrong, Elizabeth M. “Bridging the Intimate Partner Violence and Substance Abuse Intervention Fields.” Armstrong, Elizabeth M. "Hybridity, Status, and Strategy: Service Provision for Intimate Partner Violence and Alcohol and Other Drug Use." Elizabeth M. Armstrong, Larry Bennett & Beth Glover Reed. “How ‘Integrated’ are Integrated Substance Abuse and Domestic Violence Programs: A Survey of Organizations.”
PRESENTATIONS 2015
Lauren Whitmer, Tasnuva Islam, Beth Glover Reed & Elizabeth M. Armstrong. “Addressing Intimate Partner Violence and Substance Use: The Importance, Challenges and Innovations in “Contested Spaces”” [Paper]. National Conference on Health and Domestic Violence. Washington, DC. March 19-21, 2015. Elizabeth M. Armstrong. "Hybrid Service Provision at the Intersection of the Intimate Partner Violence and Alcohol and Other Drug Use Intervention Fields.” [Paper]. Society for Social Work Research Annual Conference. New Orleans, LA. January 14-18. (Accepted; Withdrawn by author). Elizabeth M. Armstrong. “Who Works on Intimate Partner Violence (IPV)?: The Provision of IPV Services in Non-IPV Organizations” [Paper]. Society for Social Work Elizabeth M. Armstrong CV |
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Research Annual Conference. New Orleans, LA. January 14-18. (Accepted; Withdrawn by author). 2014
Elizabeth M. Armstrong. "Hybrid Service Provision at the Intersection of the Intimate Partner Violence and Alcohol and Other Drug Use Intervention Fields.” [Paper]. Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA) Annual Meeting. Denver, CO. November 20-22. Elizabeth A. Armstrong, Laura T. Hamilton, Jessica L. Seeley & Elizabeth M. Armstrong. ““Good Girls”: Gender, Social Class and Slut Discourse on Campus.” [Paper; Invited Session on Gender, Race, Culture and Sexuality]. Eastern Sociological Society Annual Program Meeting. Baltimore, MD. February 20-23.
2013
Elizabeth M. Armstrong. “Bridging the Intimate Partner Violence and Alcohol and Other Drug Intervention Fields.” [Poster]. Dissertation Poster Session. Interdisciplinary Committee for Organizational Studies. Ann Arbor, MI. February 22.
2012
Larry W. Bennett, Elizabeth M. Armstrong and Beth Glover Reed. “How “Integrated” Are Integrated Substance Abuse and Domestic Violence Programs: A Survey of Organizations.” [Paper]. Society for Social Work Research Annual Program Meeting. Washington, DC. January 11-15.
2011
Reed, Beth Glover; Michelle McClellen; Jolene Sanders; Kyla Day and Elizabeth M. Armstrong. “Illuminating Addiction and Recovery through Feminism(S).” [Panel]. Annual Conference of the National Women’s Studies Association. Atlanta, GA. November 10-13. Amanda M. Gengler; Nancy A. Naples; Shawn A. Cassiman and Elizabeth M. Armstrong. “Addressing Inequalities: Building Bridges Between Sociology and Social Work.” [Panel]. Society for the Study of Social Problems Annual Program Meeting. Las Vegas, NV. August 19-21.
2010
Beth Glover Reed and Elizabeth M. Armstrong. “Integrated Approaches for Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) and Alcohol and Other Drugs (AOD): Services, Organizational and Field Analyses of Contested Spaces.” [Poster]. University of Michigan Substance Abuse Research Center Annual Symposium. Ann Arbor, MI. September 17. Deena Policicchio and Elizabeth M. Armstrong. “Navigating Youth Voice and Program Fidelity: Lessons from the Girl Smart Process Evaluation.” [Poster]. XVIII International AIDS Conference, Vienna, Austria. July 18-23.
2009
Reed, Beth Glover; Larry W Bennett; Priti Prabhugate and Elizabeth M. Armstrong. “Addressing Both Domestic Violence and Substance Abuse: Integrating Approaches in Contested Spaces.” [Panel Presentation]. Council of Social Work Education Annual Program Meeting, San Antonio, TX. November 6-9.
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE 2012-2015
Principal Investigator. Bridging the Intimate Partner Violence and Substance Abuse Intervention Fields. (Dissertation Research). Interdisciplinary, mixed-methods exploration of the relationship between the social service systems for intimate partner violence (IPV) and alcohol and other drug use (AOD). Elizabeth M. Armstrong CV |
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Quantitative analysis of differences between IPV and AOD organizations in a Midwestern metropolitan area. Archival research into state-level activities related to both issues. Semistructured, in-depth interviews with policy makers, funders, and practitioners in both fields. 2008-2015
Researcher. Contested Spaces/ Policy Research on Women and Drugs. (PI: Beth Glover Reed, University of Michigan School of Social Work) Developed conceptual framework for project, protocols and measures for qualitative and quantitative data collection; Supervised MSW and undergraduate research assistants; Conducted interviews and site visits; Developed and implemented analytic strategies for quantitative and qualitative data; Assisted with grant-writing.
2010-2015
Researcher. College Social Life Project. (PIs: Elizabeth A. Armstrong, University of Michigan Sociology Department and Laura Hamilton, University of California-Merced) Developed and implemented a coding scheme for in-depth qualitative interviews; Coded interview transcripts using NVivo; Developed text towards book (Paying for the Party: How College Maintains Inequality) and journal articles.
2009-2010
Researcher. Custody Evaluators’ Beliefs about False Domestic Violence Allegations. (PI: Daniel Saunders, University of Michigan School of Social Work). Conducted semi-structured interviews; Coded interview data by hand and using NVivo; Drafted analytic memos; Analyzed open-ended responses to survey items; Provided feedback on final report to National Institute of Justice.
ADDITIONAL METHODOLOGICAL TRAINING 2013
Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) and Fuzzy Sets. American Sociological Association Pre-Conference Course. New York, NY. August 9.
2011
Social Network Analysis. Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) Summer Course. Ann Arbor, MI. June 21-July 15.
2010
Introduction to NVivo. Center for Statistical Consultation and Research. University of Michigan. Ann Arbor, MI. March 18.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE 2012-2013
SOC 447: Sociology of Gender, Grader Primary Instructor: PJ McGann, PhD Fall 2012, 58 students Graded exams and papers; Maintained grade book; Calculated final course grades.
2011-2012
SOC 310: Introduction to Research Methods, Graduate Student Instructor Primary Instructor: Professor Jennifer Barber Winter 2012, 27 students Facilitated weekly discussion sections; Provided detailed feedback on written assignments (course fulfills the University’s upper-level writing requirement); Graded exams and papers; Held weekly office hours; Maintain graded book; Calculated final course grades.
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2010-2011
SOC 310: Introduction to Research Methods, Graduate Student Instructor Primary Instructor: Professor Jennifer Barber Winter 2011, 59 students Facilitated weekly discussion sections; Graded exams and papers; Held weekly office hours; Maintain graded book; Calculated final course grades. SOC 447: Sociology of Gender, Grader Primary Instructor: PJ McGann, PhD Winter 2011, 45 students Graded exams and papers; Maintained grade book; Calculated final course grades. SOC 345/WS 348: Sociology of Sexualities, Graduate Student Instructor Primary Instructor: PJ McGann, PhD Fall 2010, 54 students Facilitated weekly discussion sections; Graded exams and papers; Held weekly office hours; Maintain graded book; Calculated final course grades.
PEDAGOGICAL TRAINING 2012
Teaching Writing in the Disciplines. (WRITING 993). Sweetland Center for Writing. University of Michigan. Ann Arbor, MI. January 24-March 13.
2010
Evaluating Student Writing. Graduate Student Instructor Teaching Orientation. Center for Research on Learning and Teaching. University of Michigan. Ann Arbor, MI. August 31. Facilitating Discussions in the Social Sciences. Graduate Student Instructor Teaching Orientation. Center for Research on Learning and Teaching. University of Michigan. Ann Arbor, MI. August 31.
POST-MSW PRACTICE EXPERIENCE 2007-2010
Evaluation Consultant, Alternatives For Girls, Detroit, MI & National AIDS Fund, Washington, DC. Designed evaluation tools measuring fidelity to curriculum, participant outcomes, and participant satisfaction for an adaptation of the Street Smart program for use with adolescent peer educators; Analyzed data using SPSS; Prepared and presented interim and final reports to organization and funding agency.
2009
Interviewer, Family Success Program Evaluation, Starfish Family Services, Inkster, MI & University of Michigan School of Social Work, Ann Arbor, MI As part of an evaluation team, traveled to participants’ homes to collect structured interviews regarding experiences with an intervention meant to improve parent-children relationships.
2009
Graduate Student Services Assistant, School of Social Work, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI. Conducted an extensive literature review on international social work practice; Developed an online resource for faculty interested in including content on international social work in their courses.
2008
Research Assistant, Formative Evaluation Research Associates (FERA), Ann Arbor, MI. Took detailed notes during focus groups and project planning meetings; Assisted with drafting interim and final reports. Elizabeth M. Armstrong CV |
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2008
Outreach Worker, The Safe Choices Project, Alternatives For Girls, Detroit, MI. Conducted harm-reduction-based street outreach to women in the street-level sex trade; Supervised volunteer outreach workers; Designed monthly newsletters for distribution during outreach.
PARAPROFESSIONAL PRACTICE EXPERIENCE 2007
MSW Intern, The Safe Choices Project, Alternatives For Girls, Detroit, MI. Developed and implemented outcome evaluation procedures for the Safe Choices Project Street Outreach program; Using SPSS, designed a database to house Safe Choices Project outcomes and provided training for staff in basic data analysis; Implemented evidencebased assessment procedures for Street Outreach and provided training for staff and volunteers on their use.
2005-2006
Personal Protection Order Advocate, SafeHouse Center, Ann Arbor, MI. Assisted survivors of intimate partner violence with preparation and filing of petitions for Personal Protection Orders (PPOs); Created protocol and database for tracking all PPO requests in Washtenaw County; Developed manual detailing court procedures related to PPOs for agency use; Provided training for SafeHouse staff on PPO court proceedings; Provided training to law students on intimate partner violence.
2005
Families First Advocate, SafeHouse Center, Ann Arbor, MI. Provided short-term, intensive case management and advocacy for survivors of intimate partner violence and their children residing in four local shelters; Developed goals and action plans with clients using a service-participant centered, strength-based approach focused on self-sufficiency and sustainability; Networked and collaborated with other human service and state agencies to assist clients in reaching goals.
2004-2005
Youth Counselor (Dona Maria), Vista Maria, Dearborn Heights, MI. Facilitated group therapy, provided individual counseling and daily supervision for courtappointed female adolescents in a residential program focused on treatment of physical and sexual abuse and neglect.
2003-2004
Residential Caseworker (Children’s House), The KEY Program, Pittsfield, MA. Facilitated group therapy and provided daily supervision in a group home setting for emotionally/behaviorally disturbed children; Developed/implemented individual treatment plans for a caseload of 2 to 3 clients; Maintained weekly contact with parents, guardians and referring workers.
ACADEMIC SERVICE Elected Positions 2010-2011
Doctoral Student Representative to Faculty Meetings. Department of Sociology, University of Michigan.
Fall 2011
Doctoral Student Representative to Supervisory Committee. Joint Doctoral Program in Social Work and Social Science, University of Michigan.
2008-2010
Doctoral Student Representative to M.S.W. Curriculum Committee. University of Michigan School of Social Work. Doctoral Student Representative to the Global Privilege, Oppression, Diversity and Social Elizabeth M. Armstrong CV |
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Justice Subcommittee. MSW Curriculum Committee. University of Michigan School of Social Work.
Invited Talks “Funding 101: Finding and Applying for Grants and Fellowships during Grad School,” Sociology Department, “Graduate School and Beyond” Workshop Series (Professor Sarah Burgard), November 2013. “You Can’t Just Get Up in the Morning and Do It: A Field Analytic Approach to Intimate Partner Violence and Substance Abuse Interventions,” School of Social Work, DOC 800: Proseminar in Social Work and Social Science (Professor Berit Ingersoll-Dayton), October 2012. “Theorizing Consensus, Theorizing Conflict: Field Approaches to the Integration of IPV and AOD Interventions,” School of Social Work, SW 598: Reducing Disparities and Consequences by Jointly Addressing both Intimate Partner Violence and Substance Use [Innovations, Challenges] (Professor Beth Glover Reed), September 2012.
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS American Sociological Association Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations Society for Social Work Research Society for the Study of Social Problems
JOURNAL REVIEWER Qualitative Social Work REFERENCES Beth Glover Reed Associate Professor Social Work and Women’s Studies University of Michigan School of Social Work 1080 S. University Ave., Room 3736 Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1106 Phone: (734) 763-5958 Email: bgr@umich.edu
Elizabeth A. Armstrong Associate Professor Sociology and Organizational Studies University of Michigan Room 3001, LSA Building 500 South State St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1382 Phone: (734) 763-0144 Email: elarmstr@umich.edu
Jason Owen Smith Professor Sociology and Organizational Studies University of Michigan Room 3001, LSA Building 500 South State St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1382 Phone: (734) 936-0700 Email: jdos@umich.edu
Larry Bennett Professor & South Bend BSW Program Coordinator Indiana University School of Social Work 2227 Wiekamp Hall 1700 Mishawaka, PO Box 7111 South Bend, IN 46634-7111 Phone: (574) 520-4881 Email: larryb@iusb.edu
Jennifer Barber Professor Sociology University of Michigan Elizabeth M. Armstrong CV |
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Room 3001, LSA Building 500 South State St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1382 Email: jebarber@umich.edu
Elizabeth M. Armstrong CV |
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Research Statement Elizabeth Marie Armstrong, MSW Ph.D. Candidate Joint Doctoral Program in Social Work & Sociology My research reflects an abiding commitment to bridging theory and practice. As a social worker and a sociologist, integrating these two domains is core to my scholarly identity. Social work relies heavily on social scientific theory and methods but has rarely engaged in producing new contributions to these areas. Sociology, even when focused on issues of social inequality, seldom addresses implications for policy or practice. My research demonstrates the benefits of a rich, reciprocal dialogue between theory and practice, an orientation that moves beyond critique and towards a reflective reconstruction of theories and interventions. Practice experiences with marginalized women and interdisciplinary training in social work, sociology, women’s studies, and substance abuse are at the foundation of my research. I focus on three core issues: (1) theorizing the conditions under which innovation and change become possible, (2) explicating the role of organizations and social service systems in social problem construction, and (3) addressing practical gaps in services for marginalized women, particularly those experiencing both intimate partner violence (IPV) and alcohol and other drug use (AOD). These commitments are manifest in my individual and collaborative work and plans for future projects. Dissertation Research The concerns motivating my dissertation, Bridging the IPV and AOD Intervention Fields, were sparked by my practice experience with women in the sex trade. The day I was accepted to the Joint Doctoral Program at the University of Michigan, I received a phone call from the director of the street outreach program where I worked. She told me that one of our participants had died. The death, she explained, was not violent—caused by a drug overdose not an assault by a partner, john or pimp as was often the case for street level sex workers. In the following weeks I thought of Ivy often and the characterization of her death as nonviolent. Regular contact with women on the street and the subset involved in a program meant to help them exit sex work made clear that less overt forms of violence—impoverished neighborhoods, crumbling infrastructure, persistent discrimination, inaccessible social programs, and the additional layers of stigma and trauma related to sex work and drug use—were at least as destructive if slower moving. The program where I worked, with two staff people and a tiny budget, provided women with a safe, nonjudgmental place to spend their days and links to other social services. Participants expressed gratitude for our efforts, which were minuscule relative the challenges they faced. Despite these small successes, eighteen months later the program was shuttered due to a lack of funding, a casualty of work with a highly stigmatized population in an era of fiscal restraint. This set of experiences crystalized my interest in understanding how cultural attitudes, organizational factors, and intervention technologies shape service availability and accessibility. My interest in social service organizations reflects a deliberate decision to engage in “studying up”—focusing analysis on individuals and institutions with relatively greater social privilege to better understand how power operates. Rather than exploring the individual experiences of marginalized women and potentially re-inscribing that marginalization through the research process, I focus on the institutions and organizations meant to assist them. IPV and AOD organizations are potential, if imperfect, supports for women in the sex trade. Like all
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institutions, their work is simultaneously limited and enabled their sociohistorical context: the availability and nature of funding and interventions models but also cultural attitudes towards their clientele. The particular ways IPV and AOD organizations respond to the stigmas surrounding their respective focal issues may preclude their ability to work on other, related social problems. Studying how organizations navigate these concerns has to the potential to clarify possibilities for social change. My dissertation draws on theoretical work in organizational studies and sociology and a rich, mixed-methods dataset to advance a framework for understanding why and how some organizations are able to address IPV and AOD together when most do not. I approach IPV and AOD as discrete intervention fields—social spaces defined by a shared issue or concern; common set of symbols, practices, underlying rationales, and criteria for distributing resources; and competition over approaches and resources—drawing on qualitative interviews with experts on IPV and AOD (n=49), archival research and quantitative data on the structure and characteristics of IPV and AOD organizations (n=383), which I coded from four organizational directories, two databases and organizational websites. I focus on metropolitan Chicago, a region with a historically high level of support for hybrid IPV-AOD interventions (e.g. interventions that address both issues together). This project is motivated by a body of research underscoring high rates of co-occurrence for IPV and AOD and benefits of addressing both issues together. My research identifies organizational characteristics and practices conducive to hybrid IPV-AOD interventions and specific strategies organizations use to engage both issues. This work contributes not only to theorizations of the human services, but also yields insights into the specific interventions for IPV or AOD most readily adapted to the other type of organization. Much attention has been paid to rates of IPV among populations in AOD treatment and vice versa, but little is known about organizations that undertake this work or how they differ from those focused on either IPV or AOD. Existing research suggests that differences in organizational characteristics (e.g., financial and human resources, structure) and intervention paradigms (e.g., philosophies underlying services) undermine efforts to address these issues together. Research also shows organizations engage in hybridity using different strategies. While some organizations address both issues through formal or informal collaborations, others develop strategies internally. Little is known about why organizations adopt the particular strategies they do. Existing literature on the human services field, which tends to focus on areas of commonality across practice domains, provides few insights into this particular case. In contrast, the field analytic approach I develop offers a framework for conceptualizing tensions between IPV and AOD organizations, understanding the origins of these conflicts, and identifying strategies for their negotiation. The importance of this research has been repeatedly recognized through receipt of competitive grants and fellowships. I have received support from a variety of sources within the University of Michigan, including Rackham Graduate School, the Institute for Research on Women and Gender, the University of Michigan Substance Abuse Research Center/NIH, the Center for the Education of Women, and the Nonprofit and Public Management Center. The first paper from my dissertation contends that IPV and AOD can be productively understood as intervention fields. Using materials from two archives, alongside interviews with experts in IPV and AOD (n=49), this paper details the historical emergence of the IPV and AOD fields. At midcentury, helping professionals primarily understood both issues through a psychoanalytic Â
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lens as symptoms of underlying psychological disturbances. I trace the path of their divergence, focusing on shifts in federal policy, expert knowledge, and modal organizational practices beginning in the 1960s. I argue that differences in how IPV and AOD were institutionalized as particular types of social problems—AOD as a medical issue and IPV as a criminal justice issue—the timing of that institutionalization, and their approaches to gender help explain the infrequency with which organizations address both. More broadly, I resituate the notion of institutional logics within a field analytic framework by offering a rich depiction of the contexts in which these fields emerged and subsequent developments within them. In the second paper, I turn to the activities of contemporary IPV and AOD organizations. Using data on the characteristics and practices of all known IPV and AOD organizations (n=383) in the Chicago metropolitan statistical area, this paper describes the fields in terms of modal organizational characteristics (founding date, ownership status, size), intervention paradigms (mission, services). My analysis shows how the divergent histories of IPV and AOD shape current activities and ultimately limit hybrid services. Drawing on themes from the qualitative interviews (n=49) and archival research, I use cluster analysis to identify key positions and organizational subpopulations within each field, revealing the multiple logics and associated practices in play in each area. In addition to providing empirical support for the field analytic framework developed in the preceding paper, this analysis advances scholarship on IPV and AOD organizations. While the former are seldom studied at the macro level, studies of the latter have tended to focus on a single type of AOD organizations (e.g., outpatient treatment centers) rather than the entire range of providers. The third paper from my dissertation identifies predictors of organizational hybridity. I consider the relationship between organizations’ status in their primary field (IPV or AOD), hybridity (whether or not they provide services for IPV and AOD), and hybridity strategy (how they address both issues). Existing literature suggests that hybridity will be most likely amongst organizations that are either low status or high status in their primary field. I find that lower status organizations are more likely to be hybrid in the IPV field and higher status organizations are more likely to be hybrid in the AOD field. Regardless of primary field, most hybrid organizations maintain a high degree of separation between IPV and AOD services. Even when organizations address both, they most often do so through formally discrete programs. In addition to contributing to scholarship on status and innovation within fields, this paper also offers a broadened definition of organizational hybridity, conceptualizing hybridity in terms of institutional logics rather than for- or nonprofit form. Collaborative Projects In addition to my dissertation, I am involved in a national-level research project on services for IPV and AOD. Our goal is to identify best practices for IPV and AOD integration by studying the activities of organizations engaged in this work. With colleagues at the University of Michigan and Indiana University, I developed a survey on services for IPV and AOD that was completed by a purposive sample of organizations (n=338) and comparative case studies of a subset (n=35) of these. We are developing a series of papers based on this data. The first of these, with Beth Glover Reed and Larry Bennett, uses survey data to develop and test two measures of integration and a series of hypotheses regarding relationships between organization type (IPV, AOD, or multiservice), focal population (IPV survivors, IPV perpetrators, men’s AOD treatment, women’s AOD treatment) and level of integration.
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I have also been involved in research using the College Social Life Project, Elizabeth A. Armstrong and Laura Hamilton’s longitudinal, qualitative dataset on experiences of female undergraduates at a large, Midwestern university. Our paper “Good Girls: Gender, Social Class, and Slut Discourse,” published in Social Psychology Quarterly, finds that young women use slut stigma to maintain boundaries between class linked status groups. Affluent women exert disproportionate influence on dominant definitions of “sluttiness,” thus avoiding social sanctions for their sexual experimentation. In contrast, low status women were often stigmatized regardless of sexual behavior, usually as the result of perceived encroachment on higher status groups. Our second paper, “Toward a Field Theory of Gender Relations: Explaining Reproduction and Change,” builds conceptually on the first paper to advance the idea of gender fields—an approach to status that considers the impact of relations within as well as between gender groups. Drawing on the literature on femininities, we argue that some women in some contexts perform femininity in ways that confer advantages relatives other women and, contrary to existing theories of the gender order, some men. This helps explain the reproduction of gender by accounting for individual women’s investments in the status quo in a way that does not reduce this investment to false consciousness. Future Research My research agenda is the natural continuation of my independent and collaborative research projects. In the coming years, I will to develop a series of publications from my dissertation addressed to audiences in substance abuse research, intimate partner violence, organizational theory and analysis, and policy and direct practice. I also anticipate continuing to collaborate with Beth Glover Reed and Larry Bennett. My dissertation research suggests that multiple strategies exist for addressing both IPV and AOD and that these vary depending on organizations’ primary field and status within it. It remains unclear, however, why organizations choose particular strategies and how these unfold over time. I plan to build on findings in my dissertation and a preliminary set of interviews with key informants in Chicago area IPV and AOD organizations (n=5) by developing a set of comparative case studies of organizations to investigate these issues. A second project will compare state strategies for supporting IPV-AOD hybridity. Building on my work in Illinois, I plan to develop a project on the IPV and AOD fields in Washington, with a focus on metropolitan Seattle. Seattle, like Chicago, is home to a number of organizations focused on IPV, AOD, or both. Unlike Chicago, efforts to address both issues in Seattle emerged from efforts of a single activist and were subsequently disbursed across providers. This project would examine the impact of these two historical formations (state-led and grassroots) on both the incidence and form of IPV-AOD hybridity. My past successes securing funding position me well for a research career. I intend to secure funding for future projects from the National Institute for Drug Abuse, the National Science Foundation, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other foundations, such as Fahs-Beck Foundation, committed to addressing issues of violence and addiction. Thus I will make scholarly contributions to both social work and sociology, towards the ultimate goal of rebuilding social service systems in ways that interrupt rather than replicate existing injustices. Through this research, I will continue to advance the integration of social work and sociology and, more broadly, theory and practice.
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Statement of Teaching Philosophy Elizabeth Marie Armstrong, MSW Ph.D. Candidate Joint Doctoral Program in Social Work & Sociology My approach to teaching is shaped by an ongoing commitment to working across academic disciplines and areas of social work practice. Critical attention to the ways social structures shape individual experience—and vice versa—is at the heart of social work and sociological practice. As an educator, alongside imparting a specific body of knowledge or skills, I seek to facilitate students’ ability to recognize and critically interrogate institutions and practices that perpetuate injustice and identify opportunities and strategies for interrupting this process. The methods I use to accomplish this draw on my educational experiences and subsequent work as a researcher, instructor, and social work practitioner. The most essential feature of my undergraduate education at Simon’s Rock, a small liberal arts college, was the relationships I formed with my professors and peers. In small seminars, instructors actively guided discussion and provided extensive and detailed feedback—both verbal and written—on my engagement with course materials. Across courses, they inculcated a particular orientation to the world marked by curiosity and critical attention to the meanings and mechanisms shaping social life. Even as a first year student, my ideas were treated with a level of respect that propelled me to develop them further. I endeavor to bring this degree of care to interactions with students. Trust and respect are particularly crucial to effective teaching in social work and sociology, where we are tasked with teaching reflexivity and inculcating a critical orientation towards the status quo. One of the ways I develop rapport with students is by engaging them around their specific learning goals. When I began formal teaching, I was working as a researcher on a project detailing how the structure of large universities often contributes to the failure of less affluent students. Writing and thinking about the kinds of supports these students need—and how higher education often fails them—made me much more sensitive to the diversity of undergraduate experiences. Rather than assuming students share my orientation towards the academy, I encourage them to identify and articulate their own goals. At the beginning of the semester, I map out a range of possibilities—using the course as a starting point for an undergraduate honors thesis, developing a polished paper for grad school admissions, simply fulfilling a requirement— and emphasize the worthiness of these different goals. I then work with students to craft projects honoring course intent and their specific interests and aspirations. I seek to incorporate as much of the ethos of a liberal arts model into my teaching as possible. Rather than lecturing, I use face-to-face time with students for conversation. In courses on substantive topics such as sexuality, I routinely solicit and incorporate student-submitted questions to structure discussion. For skill-based courses like research methods, where students design and conduct an independent research project over the course of the term, I use classroom time to talk through practical challenges students face. We might focus on how to phrase questions on surveys or in interviews such that students can directly apply new insights to their projects. Discussions of concrete issues also serve as opportunities for critical engagement around the construction of social scientific knowledge. For instance, I push students to think seriously about demographic questions when conducting individual-level research. This encourages them to reflect on whose experiences might be inadvertently excluded from their
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research and the biases that may result. These discussions provide students with a foundational set of skills for evaluating claims made on the basis of research—not just in their own projects but also in studies they are exposed to through other courses and media analyses of research and research-based policies. I strive to maintain an open dialogue with my students. Recognizing that students vary in learning style and comfort level participating in classroom discussions, I encourage them to engage with their peers and with me in a variety of ways, whether in the classroom, online discussion forums, during office hours, or over email. I approach grading as part of these ongoing conversations about ideas rather than the simple correction of factual errors. I also solicit and provide feedback at mid-term. By giving students individualized feedback on where they are in terms of attendance, completion of assignments, and grades, issues and concerns are addressed proactively, well in advance of the end of the term. Because a low course grade can have serious consequences for students receiving financial aid, providing clear and timely feedback can ultimately facilitate students’ ability to continue their educations. Social work practice is also a form of teaching. The diversity of settings and populations I have worked in also inform my pedagogy. As a legal advocate working with survivors of intimate partner violence, my role was to render the civil court system—and the process of obtaining a personal protection order—less opaque for the women with whom I worked. This involved both the transmission of factual information about the concrete steps involved and the ability to translate their own experiences into a legally actionable narrative. Later, as an MSW intern in the Safe Choices Project, I provided training for the outreach team on integrating evidence-based practices into the program, which focused on women in the sex trade, and developing and implementing evaluation protocols. Subsequently, as an evaluation consultant, I trained adolescent peer educators on protocols involved in a program for young women in Detroit intended to reduce risks associated with sexual activity and alcohol and other drug use. These experiences have provided me with hands-on experience engaging others in discussions of sensitive topics outside the classroom. Additionally, they have provided valuable experience teaching diverse populations and tailoring my approach to the needs of my audience. I have also had opportunities to supervise MSW students on my own and others’ research projects and mentor fellow graduate students in Sociology on identifying and applying for grants and fellowships. Within the School of Social Work, I have contributed to curricular development in the MSW program and oversight of the Joint Doctoral Program through committee work. As an assistant professor, I am eager to continue involvement in service work and formal and informal advising and mentorship opportunities with students. I am a skilled, confident and sensitive teacher. My educational background, political commitments and work experience made this possible. As I further refine my pedagogy, I plan to expand my teaching expertise from courses on research methods, sexuality, and gender to include social policy development and analysis, social welfare history, practice with organizations and communities, program evaluation and grant writing. Given my substantive interests, I am excited to develop courses on policy and interventions for intimate partner violence, alcohol and other drug use, and women in the sex trade and on mixed methods research. Through work in and outside the classroom, I look forward to opportunities to shape the next generation of social work practitioners and scholars.
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MATTHEW CHIN, M.S.W, M.A.
728 S. Main St., Apt 101/Ann Arbor, MI 48104 / USA/ 734-276-9272 / chinm@umich.edu
EDUCATION UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, ANN ARBOR PhD Social Work and Anthropology Masters of Social Work Masters of Arts (Anthropology)
EXPECTED DECEMBER 2015 2011 2011
HALIBURTON SCHOOL OF THE ARTS, HALIBURTON Expressive Arts Certification
2011
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO, SCARBOROUGH Honors BA with High Distinction - Specialist (Cooperative) Program in International Development Studies with a Major in Anthropology
2007
ACADEMIC HONORS, FELLOWSHIPS AND GRANTS Doctoral Scholarship for Underrepresented Students Rackham Graduate Student Research Award Rackham Travel Grant Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Doctoral Fellowship Rackham International Student Fellowship University of Toronto Graduation Prize in the Social Sciences University of Toronto Scholar Honour’s List Gallant Y. T. Ho Scholarship in International Development Studies Ali Tayyeb Scholarship
2015 2013 2011 2010 2010 2007 2007 2006 2005
RESEARCH AND TEACHING INTERESTS: community organizing, community arts, urban ethnography, social policy, anti-oppression, racism and racial justice, community-based research, political economy, temporality, gender and sexual minority populations, feelings/emotion/affect, mental health, disability justice
PUBLICATIONS -
Chin, M. (under review). On affect, humanity and violence: The politics of “gaymousness” & “calling out” among queer & trans of color organizers. Marvelous Grounds: Queer of Colour Space in Toronto
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Sakamoto, I., Wilson, R., Chin, M. (under review). Immigrants and the labor market. In M. Chung Yan & U. Anucha. (eds.) Working with immigrants and refugees: A handbook for social workers and other human services. Oxford: Oxford University Press
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Sakamoto, I., Chin, M., Wood, N., Ricciardi, J. (2015). Methodological learnings: Animating arts in participatory action research with homeless women. In D. Conrad & A. Sinner (eds.) Creating together: Participatory, community-based and collaborative arts practices and scholarship across Canada. Waterloo: Wilfred Laurier University Press
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Chin, M., Sakamoto, I., Bleuer, J. (2014). The dynamics of show and tell: Arts-based methods and language ideologies in community based research. Journal of Community Practice: Special Issue on Interdisciplinary Scholarship for Community Practice 22 (1): 256-273 Page 1 of 8
MATTHEW CHIN, M.S.W, M.A. 734-276-9272 / chinm@umich.edu
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Sakamoto, I., Chin, M., & Baskin, C. (2010). Collaborating for social change: Bringing together arts informed research projects on homelessness. In C. McLean & R. Kelly (eds.), Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice, Inquiries for Hope and Change. Detselig/Temeron Books.
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Sakamoto, I., Chin, M., & Young, M. (2010). ‘Canadian Experience,’ employment challenges, and skilled immigrants: A close look through ‘tacit knowledge’. Canadian Social Work Journal: Special Issue on the Settlement and Integration of Newcomers to Canada.
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Sakamoto, I., Ricciardi, J., Plyler, J., Wood, N., Chapra, A., Chin, M., Allan, B., Cameron, R., & Nunes, M. (2010). Coming Together: Homeless Women, Housing and Social Support -- With a special focus on the experiences of Aboriginal women and transwomen. Toronto: Wellesley Institute.
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Sakamoto, I., Chin, M., Chapra, A., & Ricciardi, J. (2009). Transphobia and emotional injury: Elucidating the experiences of transwomen with experiences of homelessness. Gay & Lesbian Issues and Psychology Review, 5(1), 2-19
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Sakamoto, I., Khandor, E., Chapra, A., Hendrickson, T., Maher, J., Roche, B. & Chin, M. (2008). Homelessness –Diverse experiences, common issues, shared solutions: The need for inclusion and accountability. Toronto: Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto
PRESENTATIONS -
Chin, M. (2015, August). The limits of anti-oppression: “Calling out” among queer and trans of color community organizers in Toronto and the turn to Transformative Justice. Paper presented at the American Psychological Association Conference, Toronto, Canada. August 6-9, 2015
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Chin, M. (2015, April). Who’s got the accessibility? The challenges of inclusion in queer and trans of color community organizing in Toronto, Canada. Paper presented at Critical Ethnic Studies Association Conference, Toronto, Canada. April 30-May 3, 2015
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Sakamoto, I., Chin, M. & Pitner, R. (2015 January) How to analyze arts-based data in social work research. Workshop at 18th Annual Conference of the Society for Social Work Research, New Orleans, LA, USA, January 14-18, 2014
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Chin, M (2014 December) Assembling queer of color community arts: The political economic ephemerality of tenderqueer. Paper presented at 113th American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting. Washington, DC, USA. Dec 6, 2014
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Chin, M (2014 May) Value and feelings-based work within community arts organizing among queer and trans people of color (QTPOC) in Toronto, Canada. Paper presented at Society for Cultural Anthropology Biennial Meeting. Detroit, MI, USA. May 9, 2014
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Chin, M (2014 January). Arts as social inclusion? Exploring grassroots community arts programs for and by queer and trans people of color. Paper presented at 17th Annual Conference of the Society for Social Work Research, Austin, T.X., USA, January 16,, 2014
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Sakamoto, I., Kim, J. & Chin, M. (2012, January). Examining the requirement of “Canadian experience” for immigrant job candidates: Legitimate peripheral participation and communities of practice. Presentation. 16th Annual Conference of the Society for Social Work Research, Washington, D.C., USA, January 12, 2012. Page 2 of 8
MATTHEW CHIN, M.S.W, M.A. 734-276-9272 / chinm@umich.edu
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Chin, M. (2011, March). From liminality to heterotopia: Embodied difference and drama therapy. Paper presented at Society for Psychological Anthropology Biennel Meeting. Santa Monica, California, USA, March 31, 2011
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Chin, M. as part of Ethnography as Activism Study & Action Group on Repatriation (2010, March). A case for shared ethics: Moving forward on Repatriation at the University of Michigan. Paper presented at Is Boas Dead?! Four-Field Anthropology in the 21st Century, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA, March 27, 2010.
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Sakamoto, I., Chin, M. & Kim, J. (2011, January). Tacit Knowledge and Immigrants’ Employment Challenges: A Case of “Canadian Experience.” Presentation. 15th Annual Conference of the Society for Social Work Research, Tampa, Florida, USA, January 13-16, 2011.
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Sakamoto, I. Chapra, A., Khandor, E. & Chin, M. (2009, August). What’s Next? From Individual Arts-Informed Research Projects to Collaborative Initiative. Presentation. American Psychological Association Annual Convention, Toronto, Canada, August 8, 2009.
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Sakamoto, I., Chin, M., Chapra, A., & Khandor, E. (2009, February). Homelessness - Solutions from lived experiences from arts-informed research. Presentation. Growing Home: Housing and Homelessness in Canada, Calgary, Canada, February 20, 2009.
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Sakamoto, I., Chin, M., Chapra, A., & Ricciardi, J. (2008, November). Elucidating the experiences transwomen who are homeless: Community-based research. Presentation. Annual Program Meeting, Council of Social Work Education, Philadelphia, USA, November 2, 2008.
INVITED PRESENTATIONS -
Sakamoto, I., Chin, M., Wood, N., Ricciardi, J. (2012, May). Methodological learnings: Animating arts in participatory action research with homeless women. Presentation. SSHRC-sponsored conference: Creating together: Participatory, community-based and collaborative arts practices and scholarship across Canada. Concordia University, Montreal.
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Chin, M. as part of The Canadian Experience Project Team (2011 October). Tacit knowledge, immigrants, and the issue of “Canadian experience”: Why are immigrant professionals not getting jobs? Invited presentation as part of the Knowledge Mobilization Seminar Series. Office of Associate Dean – Research, Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto.
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Sakamoto, I., Maher, J., & Meeks, J., & Chin, M. (2009, January). Coming Together and Beyond: From a single arts-based research project to an arts-informed community-based research collaborative on homelessness. Presentation. Environmental Health Justice Seminar Series. Centre for Urban Health Initiatives, Toronto, Canada, January 13, 2009.
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MATTHEW CHIN, M.S.W, M.A. 734-276-9272 / chinm@umich.edu
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE ENACTING POLITICS THROUGH ART: ENCOUNTERS BETWEEN QUEER AND 2012-PRESENT TRANS OF COLOR ORGANIZERS AND THE CITY OF TORONTO Principal Investigator (Dissertation Study) University of Michigan, School of Social Work & Department of Anthropology • Developed study design as well as data collection and data analysis protocols • Secured project funding through the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and the Rackham School of Graduate Studies at the University of Michigan • Established relationships with community organizations and engaged in two years of ethnographic fieldwork with queer and trans of color community arts initiatives • Recruited research participants and conducted 63 semi-structured interviews with queer and trans of color community organizers, program participants, arts administrators and employees at state arts funding bodies • Engaged in data analysis of interview transcripts, field-notes and policy documents according to principles of constructivist ground theory • Facilitated two community feedback sessions on research results with project participants 2011-2012 DO SKILLED IMMIGRANTS NEED "CANADIAN (WORK) EXPERIENCE"? PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT AND CONVERSATIONS THROUGH NEW MEDIA AND READER'S THEATRE (http://www.beyondcanadianexperience.com/) Research Assistant Supervisor: Izumi Sakamoto, PhD University of Toronto, Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work • Analysed interview and focus group transcripts and memos • Translated research findings into journal articles, policy briefs and a reader’s theatre piece to disseminate study results among academic, policy and social service settings • Using direct input from this study, the Ontario Human Rights Commission ruled the strict employment requirement of “Canadian experience” as a human rights violation 2010-2011 WHY GET INVOLVED? UNDERSTANDING STUDENT PARTICIPATION Graduate Student Research Assistant Supervisor: Lorraine Gutiérrez, PhD University of Michigan, School of Social Work • Designed and facilitated training for research team members on conducting semi-structured interviews and on the use of NVivo for qualitative data analysis • Recruited research participants, devised interview protocols and established system to coordinate participant interviews among research team members • Coordinated collective data analysis of semi-structured interview transcripts and memos among team members using NVivo and produced final report of research findings 2010-2011 LEARNING FROM MULTICULTURAL COMMUNITY ORGANIZERS Graduate Student Research Assistant Supervisor: Lorraine Gutiérrez, PhD University of Michigan, School of Social Work • Lead research team member responsible for data analysis of interview transcripts • Trained other members in data analysis using NVivo and organized collective data analysis Page 4 of 8
MATTHEW CHIN, M.S.W, M.A. 734-276-9272 / chinm@umich.edu
RE-EXAMINING THE “CANADIAN EXPERIENCE” AND ACCULTURATION: 2008-2010 THE MISSING CONTEXT OF CANADA’S HIGH-SKILLED IMMIGRANTS Research Assistant Supervisor: Izumi Sakamoto, PhD University of Toronto, Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work • Participated in study design, especially in the use of arts-based data collection methods • Conducted literature review on immigrant economic outcomes in Canada • Developed collaborative relationships with community partner agencies as well as with social service providers and job seeking skilled immigrants • Engaged in different modes of data collection including participant observation of social service workshops, conducting interviews and facilitation of arts-based focus groups HOMELESSNESS -SOLUTIONS FROM LIVED EXPERIENCE 2008 THROUGH ARTS-INFORMED RESEARCH (http://www.artsandhomeless.com/) Research Coordinator Supervisor: Izumi Sakamoto, PhD University of Toronto, Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work • Co-coordinated a collaborative of eight arts-informed, community-based research projects • Organized four working committees composed of academics, policy makers, funders, people with experiences of homelessness and their service providers • Developed research finding materials and engaged in dissemination efforts including co-authoring a policy recommendation report which was mailed to relevant public municipal officials, cocoordinating an exhibit of the projects at City Hall, producing a short video documenting the research process, and developing content for and launching a website. COMING TOGETHER – HOMELESS WOMEN, HOUSING AND SOCIAL SUPPORT 2006-2008 Research Assistant Supervisor: Izumi Sakamoto, PhD University of Toronto, Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work • Developed experience with community-based, arts-based research working with women and transwomen with experiences of homelessness and their service providers • Conducted semi-structured interviews and analyzed interview transcripts • Performed literature review of policy and organizational approaches to trans-inclusion within public housing systems across North America • Developed materials and coordinated events to disseminate research findings among academic, policy and social work settings
TEACHING EXPERIENCE: SW871/ANT836: SOCIAL WORK AND ANTHROPOLOGY SEMINAR Graduate Student Instructor University of Michigan, School of Social Work, Department of Anthropology
2014
ANT 344: MEDICAL ANTHROPOLOGY Graduate Student Instructor University of Michigan, Department of Anthropology
2012
ANT 314: CUBA AND ITS DIASPORA Graduate Student Instructor University of Michigan, Department of Anthropology
2011
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MATTHEW CHIN, M.S.W, M.A. 734-276-9272 / chinm@umich.edu
SOCIAL WORK PRACTICE EXPERIENCE: ACROSS BOUNDARIES, TORONTO 2011, 2012 Social Work Intern • Provided case management to clients of color by supporting them and advocating on their behalf to gain access to housing, health and employment resources from city, provincial and federal agencies • Worked collaboratively with clients and other workers and agencies to achieve client goals • Conducted recreational therapeutic arts workshops in a variety of modalities (music, dance, visual arts, theatre) as part of the Social Rehabilitation Day Program • Facilitated men’s peer support workshops using experiential interactive activities to explore issues such as masculinity, body image, as well as personal and community strengths • Developed knowledge of electronic client information management systems 2010-2011 MENTAL HEALTH INTENSIVE CASE MANAGEMENT – VETERAN AFFAIRS, MICHIGAN Social Work Intern • Provided services to veterans with severe and persistent mental health illness • Worked collaboratively with clients to identify needs, research community resources and negotiate equitable access to appropriate services • Developed knowledge of working within an Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) model of care; engaged with clients in community contexts and provided support to facilitate individual-level community functioning • Wrote clinical notes, patient-centered assessments and treatment plans • Engaged in collaborative medication management with clients 2008 LESBIAN GAY BI TRANS YOUTHLINE, TORONTO Outreach Coordinator • Leadership in outreach activities to raise service awareness and recruit volunteers • Revised peer support volunteer training curriculum and manual; planned and executed training program including facilitating skills building workshops • Developed collaborative partnerships with community service organizations in various sectors • Active participation in outreach strategic planning process • Responsible for website maintenance and promotional material mailings • Established systems of tracking and measuring outreach material dissemination and outcomes YMCA CANADA 2007-2008 Administrator, International Services • Executed annual YMCA World Peace Week national program through production of promotional materials and resource distribution to over 50 Canadian YMCAs • Centralized logistical planning for YMCA Europe International Youth Festival among four Canadian YMCAs as Canadian National Coordinator • Planned and collaboratively implemented Canadian delegate meetings at 2007 YMCA International Conference, Mexico City • Produced narrative and financial reports in various formats to a diversity of stakeholders
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MATTHEW CHIN, M.S.W, M.A. 734-276-9272 / chinm@umich.edu
ADDITIONAL TRAINING ILL NANA DIVERSECITY DANCE COMPANY, TORONTO 2012-2014 Program Intern • Actively participated in the organization of ongoing programming held by this queer positive, multiracial dance company that seeks to allow for greater movement expression by people marginalized in the mainstream dance world • Experience in the collective writing of successful grant proposals to various arts funding bodies including the Ontario Arts Council • Assisted in the planning, implementation and coordination of “Making a Stage for Our Stories” Canada’s first queer and trans specific Dance Conference and Showcase • Provided organizational, production and technical support to various community dance showcases 2012-2014 BLOCKORAMA/BLACKNESSYES! TORONTO Collective Member – Volunteer & Site Coordination • Member of community-based collective committed to celebrating the histories, resistance and creativity of African-diasporic, Black and Caribbean queer and trans people. • Responsible for recruiting, training and supervising volunteers who performed various roles during the day-long series of performances hosted at the Blockorama stage at Pride Toronto • Co-coordinated the Blockorama event site physical set up: placement of barriers to control audience engagement, establishment of accessibility viewing area, and creation and mounting of decorations • Actively involved in collective decision making concerning the work of other sub-committees including: media and entertainment, art and design, stage management, and web and social media • Established effective working relationship with Pride Toronto in hosting Blockorama 2012-2014 UNAPOLOGETIC BURLESQUE SHOWCASE, TORONTO Outreach and Accessibility Coordinator • Responsible for ongoing efforts to ensure that this queer, consensual, anti-racist community performance series was as accessible to a wide range of audience members as possible • Recruited and coordinated the work of American Sign Language interpreters, active listeners, accessibility ushers and childcare providers • Coordinated outreach efforts through face-to-face engagement and social media in the attempt to reach as many potential audience members as possible • Responsible for publicizing and managing accessibility concerns at the showcase: making performers and audience members aware of the need for a scent-free space, ensuring performers submit trigger warnings with their performance pieces, prioritizing front row seating for people with wheelchairs etc. 2005-2014 ASIAN ARTS FREEDOM SCHOOL, TORONTO Peer Facilitator/Member • Designed and implemented workshops exploring themes of identity (race, gender, sexuality etc.) and community in an arts-based radical Asian history and activism program for Asian/Pacific Islander youth • Actively participated in the organization, planning and execution of performance events in different venues
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MATTHEW CHIN, M.S.W, M.A. 734-276-9272 / chinm@umich.edu
ETHNOGRAPHY AS ACTIVISM GROUP ON REPATRIATION, MICHIGAN 2009-2011 Collective Member • Fostered collaborative relationships among student groups, faculty and staff interested in addressing the repatriation of Native American remains at the University of Michigan • Raised awareness and created dialogue about issues of repatriation through: writing content for and building a website, coordinating and hosting numerous workshops with invited guest speakers, and presenting a collaboratively written paper inviting community dialogue at a local conference
ACADEMIC SERVICE: DOCTORAL STUDENT ORGANIZATION 2011 Supervisory Committee Representative University of Michigan, School of Social Work, • Responsible for attending and representing doctoral students interests at monthly School of Social Work supervisory committee meetings where issues concerning the doctoral program are addressed • Attended monthly Doctoral Students Organization (DSO) meetings to report about the supervisory committee meetings and to learn about students concerns about the doctoral program 2010 MICHIGAN ANTHROPOLOGY GRADUATE ASSOCIATION Faculty Representative University of Michigan, Department of Anthropology • Responsible for attending and representing graduate student interests at monthly faculty meetings where issues concerning the Anthropology Department were addressed • Attended monthly Michigan Anthropology Graduate Association (MAGA) meetings to report on faculty meetings and to learn about students concerns about the Anthropology Department
PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS: American Anthropological Association Council on Social Work Education Society for the Anthropology of Work Society for Psychological Anthropology Society for Social Work Research
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Matthew Chin, MSW, MA Research Statement
My doctoral project undertakes an ethnographic analysis of the arts to examine the relationship between minority community organizations and urban government institutions. The centrality of art and ethno-racial diversity to its identity as a city makes Toronto, Canada a particularly compelling place to undertake this research. With the latest census data showing that Toronto’s residents were born in more than 230 different countries, the city is singularly emblematic of Canada’s international reputation for multiculturalism. Toronto is also known as a “Creative City” and renowned urban studies scholar Richard Florida has identified this metropolis as a shining example of how the arts foster urban economic development. Integrating theoretical and methodological insights from the fields of social work, anthropology, queer studies and critical ethnic studies, my research demonstrates how a study of the arts in Toronto, Canada speaks to broader questions of how urban governments deal with minority communities and how these communities struggle to improve their living conditions in a multicultural welfare state. My dissertation, Enacting politics through art: Encounters between queer and trans of color organizers and the City of Toronto, argues that public arts funding policies work to produce the neoliberal welfare state through the incorporation of minority populations. This process of inclusion is intimately related to how queer and transgender people of color (QTPOC) engage in feelings-based modes of community development. By accessing state resources intended to foster urban economic growth and to counter mechanisms of social exclusion, QTPOC build their communities through the arts in ways that are nevertheless constrained by how these resources are administered by state institutions. With funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the University of Michigan, the findings of this project are drawn from two years of ethnographic fieldwork and 63 semi-structured interviews among state art institutions, funding bodies and community initiatives. The first two chapters of this study examine the consequences for QTPOC community organizations when urban government institutions mobilize the arts as a form of neoliberal welfarism. The first chapter proposes the concept of “sacrificial entrepreneurship” to describe what happens when municipal government agencies disburse public arts funding as a means of fostering entrepreneurship in the face of racialized labor market exclusion. While QTPOC organizers engage in entrepreneurship to build their communities through the arts, they refute the neoliberal incentive to individual profit-making by funneling state resources into collective endeavors and sacrificing their personal financial wellbeing. Drawing on anthropological analyses of neoliberalism, this chapter shows the limits of social work interventions focused on social entrepreneurship. Chapter two describes how the short term, project based nature of public arts funding programs interact with local affective dynamics to produce QTPOC community initiatives as particular temporal phenomenon. Drawing on linguistic anthropological analyses of space-time, I reflect on the relationship between love, time and money in QTPOC organizers’ attempts to secure longevity and inter-generational connection in their initiatives. This chapter proposes a new approach to the problem of sustainability in the field of community development by suggesting that QTPOC may change the temporal nature of their initiatives by altering the affective, political economic contexts in which they occur. The final three chapters investigate the role of the arts in QTPOC community building efforts. The third chapter draws on feminist and affect theories to analyze how QTPOC create art programming to be “safe spaces” or places of refuge for those who experience racism, gender oppression and homophobia in their everyday lives. The permissive affective nature of these environments prevent QTPOC from entering into professional art settings that operate according to different logics of art production. This chapter expands social work’s analyses of “safe space” which have typically focused on classroom environments to evaluate the utility of safe space as a community organizing 1
Matthew Chin, MSW, MA Research Statement
practice. The fourth chapter shows how the pressure to be political transgressive among QTPOC organizers hierarchizes community relations by elevating some to the status of “celebrity activists” while demoting others for failing to enact a properly political practice. While social movement scholars have critiqued the mainstreaming of the “gay movement” and called for a more radical political agenda, this chapter illustrates the challenges that such a demand entails. The final chapter draws on critical disability studies and theories of community development to make sense of QTPOC’s struggles with “accessibility”. I argue that QTPOC’s attempts to make their arts initiatives accessible constitute a kind of counter-public making in which they anticipate the populations they seek to include. Social Work scholarship focused on the arts has been primarily concerned with arts-based research methods or evaluating the impacts of specific art interventions on the wellbeing of marginalized populations. In contrast, this project understands art as a means through which to analyze foundational social work research questions around social policy, community organizing and the marginalization of human difference. Through an analysis of the arts, I show how social difference on the basis of race, gender and sexuality operate not only as the grounds for community organizing efforts but also as the means through which urban government institutions enact modes of neoliberal citizenship. The fourth chapter of this study is under review for the edited volume Marvelous Grounds: Queer of Colour Spaces in Toronto. I am currently revising chapter one to be submitted as an article to Cultural Anthropology. Modified versions of chapters three, two and five will be submitted to Affilia, Journal of Community Practice and Disability & Society respectively. Enacting politics through art, is an extension of my broader research agenda that examines how different dimensions of inequality are produced and how the mobilization of the arts and community relations operate to disrupt mechanisms of disadvantage. In collaboration with Dr. Izumi Sakamoto and Dr. Lorraine Gutiérrez, I have worked on several community-based, arts-based research studies that have examined the effectiveness of multicultural community organizing strategies, the challenges of women and transwomen with experience homelessness in accessing social services, and the employment barriers faced by skilled immigrants to Canada. I have co-authored articles documenting the findings of these projects in the Journal of Community Practice, Canadian Social Work Journal and Gay & Lesbian Issues and Psychology Review. In so doing, I worked with research team members to analyze study data as well as to conceptually develop and write these publications. My future research project will examine how community organizing history is produced by comparing the documentation efforts of mainstream archival institutions and QTPOC archival initiatives. My current study noted the rise of QTPOC archival efforts in response to the lack of knowledge of younger QTPOC about the histories of organizing in their communities. These initiatives also premised their work on the fact that mainstream historical organizations frequently misrepresented or failed to account for the collective work and lived experiences of people from various marginalized populations. While there is no shortage of social work scholarship that has documented how the profession carried out its work in the past, fewer studies have examined how this past is actively constructed in the present by differently positioned social actors. In its attempt to address questions of history, power and social difference, this project is competitive for funding opportunities at the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Sociological Association and the American Historical Association. By conducting a qualitative comparative case study looking at the work of QTPOC archiving initiatives and mainstream historical organizations, this project will critically investigate how the field of “community practice” is constructed through the differential production of its history. 2
Matthew Chin, MSW, MA Teaching Statement
Some of my most gratifying experiences have come from seeing the transformation of students over the period of a course where they develop a deeper understanding of social issues and a greater sense of how their own experiences and worldviews are connected to broader historical, social and political-economic contexts. My teaching experience has focused on exploring different forms of social life and the importance of understanding how dynamics of power inform how these forms are created and maintained. I was the graduate student instructor for Social Work and Anthropology, a graduate level seminar which looked at the intersection between these two fields. I have also taught an upper-level undergraduate writing intensive course, Cuba and its diaspora, which examined Cuban history, literature and culture since the Revolution, and Medical Anthropology, a lower level undergraduate course that introduced students to the core concepts and key debates in how anthropologists approach health and wellbeing. In addition to teaching in university classrooms, I have also had the privilege of working in research settings, providing training in data collection and analysis as well as in community settings, facilitating arts-based, anti-oppression oriented workshops. The way that I teach is informed by all of these experiences and I use a variety of learning modalities as a way of sharing knowledge and encouraging students to learn from each other. Central to my teaching philosophy is the recognition that people have different learning needs; that they acquire knowledge and engage with subject material in different ways. I attempt to ensure that I am sharing knowledge with students through different modalities (lectures, films, reading, experiential activities) as well as providing them with different options for engaging with the instructor, with each other and with the course material (reflection papers, small group discussion, course website, arts-based work, etc.) By creating learning environments that allow for different modes of sharing and learning, I seek to foster the skills necessary for future social workers to: 1) Think critically about existing social conditions; 2) Reflect on how they understand themselves and their relationship to others through engagement with the subject matter; and 3) Develop confidence in their own intellectual abilities. Thinking critically about existing social conditions I am deeply invested in fostering students’ abilities to question the way they perceive the world and to critically examine social conditions that seem to be "natural". I ask students to look at processes of social change and how issues that appear to be fixed and enduring have been subject to transformation. I also ask them to scrutinize issues of power and question them as to who gains and who is disadvantaged by what they may see as "just the way things are". Finally, I encourage them to imagine alternate social arrangements and to think through the kinds of work required to bring them into existence as well as the new dilemmas that they may produce. For instance, in Medical Anthropology, students learned about the consumption advisory issued by the Alaska Division of Public Health in response to high levels of methylmercury toxicity among local fish populations as a result of environmental pollution. Using newspaper articles covering similar issues, short films and small group activities, I asked students to identify the different stakeholders in the situation and to think about the broader repercussions of the advisory. Students were able to identify important issues such as environmental racism given that a large proportion of the Alaskan population is Native. They also came to the conclusion that the consumption advisory does not address the larger underlying issue of environmental degradation and that instead of dealing with pollution, the state was actually downloading this responsibility onto Alaskans. This case study was also useful in encouraging students to question the "objectivity" of scientific and medical officials and to understand that all actors have political interests.
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Matthew Chin, MSW, MA Teaching Statement
Encouraging students to reflect on how they understand themselves and their relationship to others through engagement with the subject material Students have shared with me that their most significant learning experiences have come from thinking about their own personal relationship to the course content. However, I have also found that while students are not hard pressed to share their insights on complex social issues "out there", they are more reluctant to discuss their personal relationship to these issues and how this relationship impacts the way that they relate to others. In an attempt to create an environment where students feel comfortable in sharing their thoughts, I work with them at the beginning of the course to establish a set of ground rules to guide classroom interaction. The guidelines invariably include for instance, the importance of avoiding shame-inducing comments or behavior toward other classmates. As the semester progresses and students become more comfortable with each other, I begin to bring up more difficult topics of conversation such as issues of race and racism. I encourage students to continue expressing their thoughts and let them know that feelings of discomfort are also learning experiences. Through small group work, personal reflection papers and class discussions, I ask students to reflect on their own relationships to the course content and on the broader implications of these relationships to existing social conditions. In her final paper assignment, one student chose to discuss Havana's urban agricultural movement in relation to her own involvement in an urban farming initiative in Detroit. She linked the rise of these geographically disparate efforts to similar processes of economic disenfranchisement. It is experiences such as these where students engage with course material in ways that facilitate deeper understandings of themselves and their relationship to others that I strive to cultivate. Developing confidence in their own intellectual abilities While I attempt to create a learning environment where students feel comfortable expressing their opinions, I have found that some students, especially those from minority backgrounds, often do not feel as though their thoughts are valid or worthy of being shared. For instance, in meeting with a student in Social Work and Anthropology, I felt compelled to assure her that her idea for her assignment to reflect on her experiences in a social support program at the University of Michigan’s International Student Centre was not too “small� when she worried that her chosen topic was too particular to be of any importance. I operate from the belief that we are all teachers and learners at the same time (including the instructor), which is important in an environment where students are coming from an array of backgrounds and thus all have unique insights to offer. In addition to cocreating classroom guidelines with students at the beginning of the course, I also require students to meet with me individually at least once per semester and create mechanisms for students to submit questions, comments, issues or concerns periodically throughout the term that I then integrate and address in subsequent classes. In these ways, I encourage students to be invested in their own learning. Recognizing that students both learn and demonstrate that learning in different ways, I not only teach in different modalities, but I provide students with different assignment options to be able to show their intellectual growth in ways that work best for them. Giving feedback on student assignments, I provide supportive commentary that acknowledges their efforts while also encouraging them to further develop their critical thinking skills. In these ways, I try to create an environment where students can learn to trust and gain confidence in their abilities and to realize that their voices matter. I consider these objectives to be central to my role as a teacher. It is crucial for students to gain the skills necessary to reflect on how they understand themselves and to develop confidence in their own abilities as they become social workers. By learning to analyze how their relationships to others are patterned and to interrogate current social conditions, students become critical thinkers and gain the ability to question and transform existing realities. I am excited about the possibilities of participating in this endeavor. 2
Gale, Adrian
1 Adrian O’Brien Gale adrianga@umich.edu (347)-221-4409 Department of Psychology University of Michigan 530 Church Street Ann Arbor, MI 48109
School of social work University of Michigan 1080 S. University Ann Arbor, MI 48109
EDUCATION PhD, Joint Doctoral Degree in Social Work and Psychology The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI Master of Science in Psychology The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI Master of Social Work Social Policy and Evaluation with Children and Youth (Concentration) The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI Bachelor of Arts, Psychology Magna cum Laude Morehouse College, Atlanta, GA
Expected 2016 2014
2012 2009
HONORS & AWARDS
Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor in Psychology (Nominated) Phi Beta Kappa Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) Millennium Scholar
2012 2009 2009
Fellowships & Grants
Vivian A. and James L. Curtis Endowed Scholarship ($20,000) Rackham Travel Grant ($800) Rackham International Student Fellow ($10,000) Rackham Travel Grant ($700)
2014-2015 2014 2012-2013 2013
RESEARCH INTERESTS Experiences of Black boys in urban and suburban schools| Parent racial socialization of Black children| Parent educational attainment expectations| Social work in schools| Youth Participatory Action Research PUBLICATIONS Rowley, S. J., Ross, L., Lozada, F., Williams, A., Gale, A., & Kurtz-Costes, B. (2014). Framing black boys: Parent, teacher, and student narratives of the academic lives of black boys. In L. S.
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Liben & R. S. Bigler (Vol. Eds.) The role of gender in educational contexts and out- comes. In J. B. Benson (Series Ed.), Advances in child development and behavior: Vol. 47 (pp. 301– 332). London: Elsevier. Patton, D., Miller, R., Kornfeld, E., Gale, A. & Garbarino, J. (Accepted) Hardiness Scripts: High Achieving African American Males in a Chicago Charter School Navigating Community Violence and School. Journal of Community Psychology. Smith, C., Gale, A., Lozada, F. & Jagers, R. (Under Review) Black Boys’ Sociopolitical Development in a Post-Michael Brown America. (Submitted to the Journal of Men’s Studies). Gale, A. (in progress). Parent Perceptions of Children’s School Climate and Parent Expectations for their Children’s Future Academic Attainment. PRESENTATIONS Oral presentations
Gale, A., Smith, C. & Jagers, R. (2015). In Their Own Words: Engaging Black Boys and Their Lived Experiences Around Schooling. Society for Research in Child Development, Philadelphia, PA.
Gale. A. (2015) Helping Children Succeed: The Association of Parents’ School-related Beliefs and Parent Involvement in their Children’s Schools. Society for Social Work Research, New Orleans, LA.
Gale. A. (2014). The Impact of Parent Perceptions of School Climate on Children’s Academic Achievement. American Psychological Association, Division 45, Eugene, OR.
Gale, A. (2012). Understanding the Achievement Gap: Do Parent Expectations and School Climate Matter? Survey Research Council Summer Internship Program Annual Summer Internship Symposium, Ann Arbor, MI.
Poster presentations
Gale, A. & Smith, C. (2015). “I Just Don’t Want to be Average”: Young Black Men’s Reflections on Their Experiences in School. International Conference on Masculinities, New York, NY.
Gale, A. (2014) You Are Welcome: The Impact of Black Parent Beliefs about Their Children’s school on parent involvement. American Psychological Association, Division 45, Eugene, OR.
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Gale, A. & Anyiwo, N. (2014). Schooling Black Boys: Do Perceptions of School Climate Impact Psychological and Academic Outcomes? Black Graduate Student Conference in Psychology, Washington, DC.
Gale, A. (2013). Understanding the Achievement Gap: Do Parent Expectations and School Climate Matter? Society for Research in Child Development, Seattle, WA.
Invited Presentation Boston College Summer Colloquium The impact of Black youths’ perceptions of racial discrimination on academic outcomes: The moderating role of school climate Boston College School of Social Work, Boston, MA Summer 2015 RESEARCH EXPERIENCE Research Assistant 2013-Present Voice Project Center for the Study of Black Youth in Context, Ann Arbor, MI Work on qualitative research project utilizing youth participatory action research intervention aimed at raising critical media literacy intervention for Black high school boys. Supervisors: Robert Jagers, Ph.D. & Stephanie Rowley, Ph.D. Graduate Student Researcher Rowley Lab The University of Michigan Department of Psychology, Ann Arbor, MI Participate in regular lab meetings, collaborate on and conducted research on school achievement and parent socialization of African American children. Supervisor: Stephanie Rowley, Ph.D.
2010-Present
Research Intern Institute of Survey Research, Summer Research Internship Institutes for Social Research, Ann Arbor, Michigan Conducted research on academic achievement in youth using a large longitudinal dataset. This project was aimed at understanding factors that influence the Black-White academic achievement gap. Supervisors: Toni Antonucci, Ph.D. & Oksana Malanchuk, Ph.D.
Summer 2012
Research Assistant First Time Parents Longitudinal Study The University of Michigan School of Social Work, Ann Arbor, MI Investigated prenatal parenting behaviors, focusing on father behaviors, to determine the impact of parenthood on father motivation and the quality of relationships between parents. This research was aimed at preventing domestic violence and child maltreatment by promoting positive partner and
2011-2012
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father behaviors in men. Supervisor: Rich Tolman, Ph.D. Research Assistant 2010-2011 Juvenile Justice Project Institutes for Social Research, Ann Arbor, MI Investigated links between the Juvenile Justice and Child Welfare systems in Wayne County, MI. This research was aimed at understanding the factors that caused children to be involved in multiple system. Supervisor: Rosemary Sarri, Ph.D., M.S.W Research Assistant ParentCorps New York University Child Study Center, New York, NY Worked on federally-funded randomized controlled trial of ParentCorps, a school- and family-based preventive intervention for preschoolers and their families living in urban disadvantaged neighborhoods. Contributed to all aspects of the study, including recruitment, data collection, data management and implementation of the preventive interventions. Supervisors: Demy Kamboukos, Ph.D., Spring Dawson-McClure, Ph.D. & Dana Rhule, Ph.D.
2009-2010
TEACHING EXPERIENCE Graduate Student Instructor Department of Psychology, The University of Michigan Project Outreach (211-Undergraduate) Supervisor: Jerry Miller, Ph.D.
Fall 2014
Graduate Student Instructor Department of Psychology, The University of Michigan Project Outreach (211-Undergraduate) Supervisor: Jerry Miller, Ph.D.
Winter 2014
Graduate Student Instructor Department of Psychology, The University of Michigan Introduction to Developmental Psychology (250-Undergraduate) Supervisor: Kathleen Jodl, Ph.D.
Fall 2013
Graduate Student Instructor Department of Psychology, The University of Michigan Introduction to Developmental Psychology (250-Undergraduate) Supervisor: L. Monique Ward, Ph.D.
Winter 2013
Graduate Student Instructor
Fall 2012
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Department of Psychology, The University of Michigan Introduction to Developmental Psychology (250-Undergraduate) Supervisor: Rona Carter, Ph.D. INSTITUTIONAL SERVICE
Black Student Psychological Association (Program Chair) Social Work Doctoral Student Organization (Co-Chair) Psychology Graduate Council Making Race Heard (Committee Member) Michigan Association of Psychological Scholars (Mentor)
2012-2013 2012-Present 2011-2012 2011-2012 2010-2012
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS Society for Social Work Research American Psychological Association Division 45, Society for the Psychological Study of Culture, Ethnicity and Race Present Society for Research in Child Development (Student Member) Psi Chi Psychology Honor Society
REFERENCES Stephanie Rowley, PhD Interim Chair, Department of Psychology Professor, Department of Psychology Professor, School of Education The University of Michigan srowley@umich.edu Robert Ortega, PhD, LMSW Associate Professor, School of social work The University of Michigan rmortega@umich.edu Desmond U. Patton, PhD, MSW Assistant Professor Columbia School of Social Work dp2787@columbia.edu Last Updated: September, 18th, 2015
2014-Present 20142013-Present 2008-Present
Adrian Gale
Research Statement
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Research Statement My research focuses on promoting resilience and reducing risk for in the lives of Black youth. Specifically, my research aims to uncover factors that promote positive life outcomes for Black boys. Black boys trail behind their peers in test scores, GPA, high school graduation rates and college attendance (Davis, 2003; Schott Report, 2010; Lewis et al, 2010). These issues are related to school disengagement, association with delinquent peers and disproportionate delinquency detainment rates for Black male youth and to high unemployment rates, low income, family instability as adults (Duncan & Murnane, 2011). Because these outcomes are highly predictive of later social, economic, and health outcomes, I am especially interested in factors that promote positive academic outcomes (i.e. grades and test scores) and school attainment (i.e. college attendance and school completion). My research utilizes ecological systems theory and positive youth development approaches as well as qualitative and quantitative methods to examine the ways in which several factors including: parents’ beliefs (Gale, Williams & Rowley, in prep), community violence (Patton, Miller, Kornfeld, Gale & Garbarino, accepted for publication), psychological functioning (Gale & Anyiwo, in prep) and a school intervention (Smith, Gale, Lozada & Jagers, under review) impact Black boys’ outcomes. Taken together, my research advances a strength-based approach to viewing Black boys development; a perspective among largely absent from the literature on Black boys. Parent Beliefs on Black Boys’ Academic Achievement My master’s thesis examined the association between parents’ school related beliefs on their children’s grade point average (GPA) (Gale, Williams & Rowley, in prep). Research has shown that schools can be especially unpleasant and unwelcoming places for Black boys as they often face in-school racial discrimination, lowered teacher expectations, and disproportionate representation in lower-tiered classes (Noguera, 2003; Gregory et al, 2010). However, parents may play an important role in improving studentschool interactions. I utilized hierarchical linear regression to examine the influence of parents’ school related beliefs on their children’s grade point average in a sample of Black and White families (N=1492). I also examined whether the school-related beliefs of parents of Black boys were more negative than other parents. Since Black boys appear to be especially at risk for poor school outcomes, I hypothesized that their parents’ beliefs may be especially impactful for their Black sons’ academic outcomes. Results indicated that parents’ who held more positive beliefs about the school had sons with higher GPAs. This finding is important to our understanding of children’s academic achievement, as not much research has examined the importance of parents’ beliefs about their children’s, especially Black boys’, school on their academic achievement. Mental Health, School and Black Boys My research also contributes to our understanding of the ways in which difficult school settings constitute a risk to Black boys’ positive psychological outcomes. Research on children’s school related beliefs have shown that Black boys tend to consider their schools as especially inhospitable. Further, more negative feelings about ones’ school are
Adrian Gale
Research Statement
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related to lower academic performance (Allen, 2012; Chavous et al, 2008; Neblett et al, 2009). Finally, research has shown that school performance is related to psychological functioning (Cox et al., 2007; Maguin & Loeber, 1996). Taken together, it seems that Black boys’ negative feelings about their schools might be operating on their academic achievement through psychological functioning. However, little research has examined this relationship for Black boys. I hypothesized that Black boys’ beliefs about their school would impact their academic outcomes is through their influence on psychological functioning (Gale & Anyiwo, in prep). Specifically, I hypothesized that boys who perceive a more negative school climate will report more depressive symptoms and will have lower GPAs. Initial results indicate that Black boys (N = 457) who thought less positively of their school reported more depressive symptoms. These findings highlight the importance of mental health considerations when interventions for Black boys are conceptualized. Dissertation Research My dissertation extends my work on unearthing factors that influence Black boys’ positive outcomes. Researchers contend that when trying deal with especially unpleasant and unwelcoming school experiences (Black boys tend to face in-school racial discrimination, lowered teacher expectations, and overrepresentation in lower-tiered classes), Black boys may engage in academically counterproductive behaviors (e.g. skipping class), which undermine their school performance (Ogbu, 2003; Noguera, 2003). While there is some evidence for Black boys’ complicity in their school struggles, less is known about how Black boys interpret these unpleasant school experiences and how their interpretations these experiences influence their school outcomes. To address this gap in the literature on Black boys, my dissertation utilizes phenomenological variant of ecological systems theory (which focuses on the subjective experiences of Black boys) and positive youth development approaches (which focus on the promotion of positive outcomes for youth) to examine factors influencing Black boys’ schooling experiences (Spencer, 1997; Damon, 2004). My dissertation examines qualitative interview data and quantitative survey data from Black middle school boys to learn about their school experiences, school related beliefs and school performance. The qualitative section of my dissertation examines a Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) intervention for Black boys. This intervention builds on positive youth development, which challenges the deficit view of youth as pathologically at risk for negative outcomes (Damon, 2004), by engaging youth in discussions and critical reflection on their positive and negative in-school experiences. Using in depth qualitative interviews, I will examine the in school experiences of Black boys (N=9) attending a large high school in an affluent suburban community. This sample of boys differed from other studies, which focused on low boys from low socioeconomic status (SES) families at-risk for failure, conflating the influence of race and SES on outcomes. This intervention will allow me to ascertain the school, cultural and familial factors that Black boys feel contribute to their academic success and failures. This program will help me to learn more about important factors influencing youths’ academic achievement while empowering them to take action for change. The quantitative section continues my interest in the school experiences of Black youth by
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Research Statement
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examining the role of Black adolescents’ perceptions of school climate as a buffer against the negative effects of in-school racial discrimination. Much of the research on racial discrimination has focused on reports of general discrimination (i.e. discrimination from non-specific sources); however, discrimination may come from several sources. This study adds to this literature by examining source-specific racial discrimination (i.e. teachers or peers). In closing, research has much to contribute to our understanding of factors influencing Black boys’ positive life outcomes. It also adds to the dearth of literature focusing on Black boys’ strengths. Ultimately, I hope to continue examining factors related to risk and resilience in Black boys. I plan to continue using my research on resilient Black boys to design evidence-based interventions focused on vulnerable and underrepresented students most at risk for school failure.
Teaching Statement
Adrian Gale
1
Teaching Statement I view my role as an educator as to not only help students learn class material but to inspire students to think critically and, where possible, apply class material to their lives. My three core teaching goals are to encourage my students: 1) to learn and engage with novel and challenging class material, 2) to think critically about class material and 3) to consider how issues of privilege, oppression, and social justice may be related to class material. Finally, I consider mentoring an essential part of teaching, as it provides the opportunity to address student learning on an individual basis and support individual career goals. Teaching Experiences As a student at the University of Michigan, I was an instructor for five consecutive semesters. For three semesters I served as a graduate student instructor (GSI) for Introduction to Developmental Psychology. This semester-long course explored physical, cognitive, and social development over the lifespan. My responsibilities included teaching three weekly 50-minute long classes. I used class time to reinforce key concepts while helping students hone their critical thinking skills by reading research articles and completing assignments based on these readings. I was also responsible for Introducing students to social science research writing as well as grading research papers. Because this class was the first time many students had written a research paper, I encouraged the submission of rough drafts of papers so I could provide feedback. Several students reported that my reviewing and providing of feedback on their drafts was especially helpful. For two semesters I served as a GSI for Project Outreach, a service-learning course that combined volunteering with classroom instruction. This course provided an opportunity for undergraduate students interested in careers with children or in education to volunteer in schools and non-profits. In addition to my responsibilities as a GSI for Introduction for Developmental Psychology, I was responsible for developing the course syllabus, hiring and training undergraduate teaching assistants. The increase in responsibility was a valuable experience and allowed me to add more skills to my teaching repertoire. Critical Thinking I use many strategies to challenge students think critically about course material. For instance, I used in class debates, small group discussions and handouts to keep students engaged with course content. I have found classroom debates on controversial topics to be an especially effective strategy for pushing students to think critically. For example, one of the topics covered in Introduction to Developmental Psychology is corporal punishment. In addition to assigning one for and one against corporal punishment, I assigned half of the class to defend either position. Students then debated the relative benefits and limitations of their position. Students reported that they enjoyed this because it allowed them to learn both sides of the debate. I have also found that engaging students one-on-one to be an effective way of cultivating critical thinking skills; thus, I encourage students to attend office hours to be able to continue class discussion outside of class. Students reported that they were challenged to think about class information in new ways. One student noted, “Adrian made discussion section interesting and challenging.�
Teaching Statement
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Social Justice and Privilege I endeavor to create an inclusive classroom climate in which all students feel that their voices are valued. Much social science research utilizes the perspectives of privileged majority groups (e.g. white, male, and heterosexual). Therefore, I make it a priority to allow space for other voices and perspectives to be acknowledged. I encourage discussion of contextual influences (e.g. culture) and social identities (e.g. race) influence life outcomes. As such, my training as an interdisciplinary scholar helps me to raise ideas of social justice and privilege in my classes. Mentoring Students In addition to classroom instruction, an important part of my teaching involves mentoring students. I advised students on course selection, offered guidance and support in becoming involved in research, discussed applying to graduate school and career options. One of my mentees was accepted to graduate school in the school of social work at the University of Michigan and the other works with a non-profit. Finally, as a GSI, I have advised students in my class and many have asked me to write them letters of recommendation. I enjoy mentoring undergraduates because it allows me to give back and pay homage to the many important mentors in my life. Teacher Training I continue to find opportunities to improve my approach to teaching. One way that I have sought to do this is through soliciting feedback from my students. Each semester I ask students to complete a midterm evaluation. These evaluations provide an opportunity for me to see what my students think is going well and areas I may need to improve. Student feedback has been mostly positive and I was nominated by one of my students as GSI of the year. * In addition, I have utilized the on campus teacher training at the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching (CRLT) at the University of Michigan. Teaching Interests I am excited and well suited to teach social work foundation courses such as Human Behavior in the Social Environment, Child and Adolescent Development as well as content-specific courses such as social work in school settings. Also, given my training and experience with a variety of quantitative methods such as Regression, Hierarchical Linear Modeling, and Structural Equation Modeling as well as qualitative methods (Thematic Analysis), I am also excited and well suited to teach Research Methods and Statistics.
*
This award recognizes the teaching efforts of GSIs who have been nominated by students for being exemplary.
NA YOUN LEE 2366 HOPKINS DR. WEST LAFAYETTE, IN 47906 PHONE: (646)457-2871 EMAIL: NAYOUN@UMICH.EDU EDUCATION PhD
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, ANN ARBOR, MI Expected Jan 2016 Joint Doctoral Program in Social Work and Political Science Dissertation: Asian American intergroup relations, racial policy attitudes, and child wellbeing: The influence of racial frameworks Dissertation Committee: Kathleen C. Faller (Co-chair, Social Work); Jenna Bednar (Cochair, Political Science); Janelle Wong (PS); Andrew Grogan-Kaylor (SW); Nicholas Valentino (PS)
MSW
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, NEW YORK, NY May 2007 School of Social Work Social Welfare Policy (Macro-Practice Track); Family and Children’s Services
MIA
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, NEW YORK, NY School of International and Public Affairs International Affairs (Human Rights Concentration)
May 2007
BA
YONSEI UNIVERSITY, SEOUL, KOREA College of Social Science, Political Science & International Studies
Feb 2004
BA
YONSEI UNIVERSITY, SEOUL, KOREA College of Social Science, Social Welfare
Feb 2004
Certificate
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON, SEATTLE, WA Extension Program (Classes in Psychology & English)
Fall 2002
Winter & Spring 2002 WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY, BELLINGHAM, WA Yonsei Exchange Student Program (Classes in American Politics, Economics, & English) AWARDS, GRANTS, & FELLOWSHIPS National Center for Institutional Diversity Exemplary Diversity Scholar, University of Michigan
2015
Rackham Graduate School One Term Dissertation Fellowship, University of Michigan
2015
Doctoral Scholarship for Underrepresented Students, Social Work, UM
2015
American Political Science Association Annual Meeting Travel Grant
2015
Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference Graduate Student Travel Grant
2015
Graduate Student Conference Travel Grant, Department of Political Science, UM
2015
Asian and Pacific Islanders Social Work Educators Association Doctoral Fellowship
2014 Lee, Na Youn 1
Thesis Grant, Department of Political Science, University of Michigan
2014
Inter-university Consortium for Political & Social Research Training Grant, Social Work, UM
2014
W.K. Kellogg Foundation Fellowship in Children and Families, Social Work, UM
2012
SeAH-Haiam Arts and Sciences Scholarship, Nam Center for Korean Studies, UM
2012
Nam Center for Korean Studies Graduate Fellow, University of Michigan
2011
Institute for Social Research-Rackham Summer Training Award, University of Michigan
2011
International Institute Individual Fellowship, University of Michigan
2010
Nam Center for Korean Studies Research Fellowship, University of Michigan
2010
Conversations Across Social Disciplines, Rackham Student Group Support Grant, UM
2010
Social Work Dean’s Fund Travel Grant, University of Michigan Rackham Travel Grant, University of Michigan
2012 (2), 2013, 2014 (2), 2015 (2) 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015
Social Work-Social Science Summer Funding Award, UM
2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014
Joint Doctoral Fellowship, School of Social Work, UM
2007-2008, 2013
School of International and Public Affairs Program Assistant Fellowship, Columbia Univ.
2006-2007
Panasonic Scholarship, Extension Program, University of Washington Yonsei Social Science Scholarship for Dean’s Honors List, Yonsei University
2002 2000, 2001, 2002
PUBLICATIONS PEER-REVIEWED JOURNALS Hong, J.S., Merrin, G. J., Peguero, A. A., Gonzalez-Prendes, A.A., & Lee, N.Y. (2015). Exploring the social-ecological determinants of physical fighting in U.S. schools: What about youth in immigrant families? Child and Youth Care Forum. doi: 10.1007/s10566-015-9330-1 Hong, J. S., Peguero, A. A., Choi, S., Lanesskog, D., Espelage, D. L., & Lee, N.Y. (2014). Social ecology of bullying and peer victimization of Latino and Asian youth in the United States: A review of the literature. Journal of School Violence, 13 (3), 315-338. Hong, J. S., Lee, C.H., Lee, N.Y.*, Lee, J., & Garbarino, J. (2013). A review of bullying prevention and intervention in South Korean schools: An application of the social-ecological framework. Child Psychiatry & Human Development, 45 (4), 433-442. (*Co-third authorship with Jungup Lee) Hong, J.S., Lee, N.Y., Park, H.J., & Faller, K.C. (2011). Child maltreatment in South Korea: An ecological systems analysis. Children and Youth Services Review, 33, 1058-1066. Hong, J.S., Lee, N.Y., Grogan-Kaylor, A., & Huang, H. (2011). Alcohol and tobacco use among South Korean adolescents: An ecological review of the literature. Children and Youth Services Review, 33, 1120-1126. Lee, N.Y. (2010). A comparative analysis of child poverty: Child welfare in advanced western countries. Michigan Journal of Social Work and Social Welfare, Inaugural Issue, 15-29. Lee, Na Youn 2
BOOK CHAPTERS Hong, J.S., Kim, Y.S., Lee, N.Y., & Ha, J.W. (2013). Understanding social welfare in South Korea. In S. Furuto (Ed.). Social Welfare in East Asia and the Pacific. New York, NY: Columbia University Press. MANUSCRIPTS IN PREPARATION Shin, J.H., Lee, N.Y., and Hong, J.S. Inter-parental conflict and parenting behavior of ethnically diverse mothers in South Korea: The moderating influence of social support. Lee, N.Y. Parenting practices and perceptions of child maltreatment in Korean American families (2012 Summer Pilot in Seattle, WA). Lee, N.Y., Hong, J.S., and Grinnell-Davis, C. The impact of child, mother, and neighborhood factors on the use of corporal punishment: A longitudinal repeated measures analysis. Hong, J.S. and Lee, N.Y. Bi-ethnic children’s experience of bullying and peer victimization in South Korean schools. Lee, N.Y. Perspectives from South Korean child welfare experts on child maltreatment: Preliminary findings from a pilot study (2010 Summer Pilot in Seoul, South Korea). Lee, N.Y. and Grinnell-Davis, C. Could class action lawsuits improve child well-being? Saunders, D. and Lee, N.Y. Human rights framework in domestic violence cases: A cross-national study. PRESENTATIONS PEER-REVIEWED CONFERENCES Krings, A., Nicoll, K., Lee, N.Y., & Fusaro, V. The intersection of political science theory and social work policy curriculum. Accepted for panel presentation at the 61st Annual Program Meeting of the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), Denver, CO, October 2015. Shim, J., Lee, N.Y., & Sosa, L.V. Assessing international social work programs in the U.S. Accepted for oral presentation at the 61st Annual Program Meeting of the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), Denver, CO, October 2015. Lee, N.Y. Psychological distance of Asians toward other minorities vis-à-vis whites. Oral presentation at the 111th Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association (APSA), San Francisco, CA, September 2015. Shim, J. & Lee, N.Y. Family policy and maternal health: Evidence from OECD countries. Oral presentation at the 31st International Congress on Occupational Health (ICOH), Seoul, South Korea, May/June 2015. Lee, N.Y. Where do Asian Americans stand in U.S. race relations?: Psychological borders within and across race and implications for the politics of “belonging.” Oral presentation at the Annual Meeting of the Association for Asian American Studies (AAAS), Evanston, IL, April 2015. Lee, Na Youn 3
Lee, N.Y. The effects of racial frameworks on the pan-ethnic identity, race relations, and family wellbeing of Asians in the U.S. Oral presentation at the 2015 Annual Conference of the Association for Asian Studies (AAS), Chicago, IL, March 2015. Lee, N.Y. Model minority internalization, racial identity, and perceived race relations of Asian Americans. Oral presentation at the 19th Annual Conference of the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR), New Orleans, LA, January 2015. Lee, N.Y. Making visible the invisible minority: How racial frameworks affect Asian American racial identity, political participation, and family well-being. One of two dissertations accepted and presented at the annual meeting for the Asian and Pacific Islanders Social Work Education Association at the 60th Annual Program Meeting of the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), Tampa, FL, October 2014. Lee, N.Y. The model minority stereotype, pan-ethnic racial identity, and political participation of Asian Americans: The potential influence of the digital revolution. Oral presentation at the 110th Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association (APSA), Washington, DC, August 2014. Lee, N.Y. Exploring the relationships among racial frameworks, pan-ethnic racial identity, and political participation of Asian Americans: “Modeling” the model minority and perpetual foreigner stereotypes. Oral presentation at the 72nd Annual Conference of the Midwest Political Science Association (MPSA), Chicago, IL, April 2014. Lee, N.Y. Children of “tiger moms and dads”: Parenting and adolescent well-being in Asian-American immigrant families. Poster presentation at the 17th Annual Conference of the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR), San Diego, CA, January 2013. Lee, N.Y. & Grinnell-Davis, C. Could class action lawsuits improve both policy and child well-being outcomes? Poster presentation at the 58th Annual Program Meeting of the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), Washington, DC, November 2012. Grinnell-Davis, C. & Lee, N.Y. Could class action lawsuits improve child well-being? Poster presentation at the Rackham Graduate School Centennial Research Symposium, Ann Arbor, MI, February 2012. Lee, N.Y., Hong, J.S., & Grinnell-Davis, C. The impact of child, mother, and neighborhood factors on the use of corporal punishment: A longitudinal repeated measures analysis. Poster presentation at the 16th Annual Conference of the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR), Washington, DC, January 2012. Grinnell-Davis, C. & Lee, N.Y. The impact of religion and spirituality on mental health outcomes in a child protective services sample of preteens and adolescents. Poster presentation at the University of Michigan Health Systems and the School of Social Work Research Symposium, Ann Arbor, MI, October 2011. Lee, N.Y., Hong, J.S., & Grinnell-Davis, C. The impact of child, mother, and neighborhood factors on the use of corporal punishment: A longitudinal repeated measures analysis. Poster presentation at the University of Michigan Health Systems and the School of Social Work Research Symposium, Ann Arbor, MI, October 2011. Lee, Na Youn 4
Lee, N.Y. Pre-dissertation pilot research: Perspectives from South Korean child welfare experts on child maltreatment. Oral presentation at the 9th Annual Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities, Honolulu, HI, January 2011. Lee, N.Y. Perspectives from South Korean child welfare experts on child maltreatment: Preliminary findings from a pilot study. Oral presentation at the 59th Annual Meeting of the Midwest Conference on Asian Affairs, Columbus, OH, October 2010. OTHER PRESENTATIONS Lee, N.Y. and Grinnell-Davis, C. A study of ASFA and its role in child welfare frameworks. Paper presented at the Shifting Boundaries of Childhood Seminar: Implications for Social Work Policy and Practice, Ann Arbor, MI, March 2010. RESEARCH INTERESTS & EXPERIENCE RESEARCH INTERESTS Racial stratification, stereotypes, attitudes, identity, and race relations; child wellbeing, family and peer dynamics in immigrant households; Asian Americans; quantitative methods PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR Pilot Research: Parenting Practices and Perceptions of Child Maltreatment in Korean American Families (Advisor: Dr. Kathleen Faller) ▪ Funding: SeAH-Haiam Arts and Sciences Scholarship ($2,500); Nam Center for Korean Studies Graduate Fellowship ($400) ▪ Field research on Korean-American parenting practices and beliefs using the Conflict Tactics Scale, Parent & Child (Straus, 1979) and the Dimensions of Discipline Inventory (Straus & Fauchier, 2007) ▪ Developed and collected over 50 surveys from the Seattle area ▪ Analysis in progress
7/2012-8/2012 Seattle, WA
Pilot Research: Perspectives from South Korean Child Welfare Experts on the Definition of Child Abuse and the Sociocultural Challenges to Ending Corporal Punishment (Advisor: Dr. Kathleen Faller) ▪ Funding: International Institute Individual Fellowship ($5,000); Nam Center for Korean Studies Research Fellowship ($1,500) ▪ Through the lens of South Korean child welfare experts, explored the question of how Western child welfare institutions, with a special focus on child abuse policies, transfer to and interact with the sociocultural settings in South Korea ▪ Child welfare professionals were asked to give their own definitions of what constitutes child abuse; identify practical challenges to policy implementation, especially in light of the concept of the “whip of love”; and identify any sociocultural changes in perceptions and practice of parental discipline in South Korea ▪ Qualitative face-to-face interviews with child welfare professionals from diverse backgrounds, from frontline child protection workers to law/policymakers, at 8 sites
5/2010-7/2010 Seoul, Korea
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RESEARCH ASSISTANT Domestic Violence and Human Rights, Dr. Daniel Saunders UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, School of Social Work ▪ Assist research on domestic violence laws & cases in Western advanced countries that use the human rights framework (e.g., U.S., Canada, Australia, UK, and NZ) ▪ Clean Safe Havens Project dataset & manage a Ctools site on international DV laws ▪ Write summary reports on int’l DV laws that use the human rights framework
9/2008-5/2010 Ann Arbor, MI
State Child Welfare Law Project, Dr. Jane Waldfogel
7/2006-5/2007 New York, NY
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, School of Social Work
▪ Assist research on state child welfare laws and policies in the U.S. (50 states) ▪ Collect data as well as develop and manage a database ▪ Attend and write summary reports on seminars, conferences, and meetings Short-Term Research Assistant, Officer Kae Ishikawa UNITED NATIONS POPULATION FUND (UNFPA), Resource Mobilization Branch ▪ Research major policies on Health and Welfare in South Korea with a focus on women and children ▪ Attend UN meetings and conferences and write summary reports ▪ Complete & present a 30-page project report on Korea’s major policies and issues on welfare, health, women and children, both international and domestic agendas
10/2006-11/2006 New York, NY
TEACHING & MENTORING 9/2012-12/2012
LEAD INSTRUCTOR Social Work 530: Intro to Social Welfare Policies and Services UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, School of Social Work ▪ Introductory course that focuses on the historical development of social work and the welfare state in the U.S.; mostly first-year MSW students (N=25) ▪ Weekly 3-hour class w/ lecture & discussion GRADUATE STUDENT INSTRUCTOR
9/2009-12/2009, 1/2010-5/2010
POLSCI 140: Intro to Comparative Politics, Professor Ronald Inglehart UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, Department of Political Science
▪ Undergraduate introductory course on modernization theory; historical trajectories of democratization & economic liberalization; & modern political institutions in the UK, Germany, France, Russia, China, India, Mexico, & Japan; mostly for freshmen & sophomores ▪ Responsible for leading and grading two discussion sections per semester with 25 students per section (N=100) MENTORSHIP
9/2010-5/2011, 9/2011-5/2012
Political Science Undergraduate Advisor UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, Department of Political Science ▪ General advising for undergraduate students; assist with exploration/declaration Lee, Na Youn 6
of the Political Science major/minor; supervise students on course planning, research opportunities, internship credits, Michigan in Washington Program (DC government internship program), honors program; approve transfer/ study abroad credits; file concentration releases for graduating seniors; attend mentorship training sessions and meetings PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY Intern, Office of Congresswoman H.S. Jang, Committee on Health and Welfare ▪ Assist with public hearings on bill amendments to expand pension benefits to the disabled & national health care coverage to low-income individuals ▪ Develop, research, and coordinate projects focusing on the effectiveness of governmental policies on regulating child abuse and neglect in preparation for the parliamentary inspection of the administration starting September 2005 ▪ Attend and write summary reports on the Health and Welfare Committee meetings
6/2005-8/2005 Seoul, Korea
INSTITUTE FOR COMMUNITY LIVING IN BROOKLYN Intern, Brooklyn Parent Resource Center & Highland Park Center ▪ Provide indiv & family therapy to people with mental illness & economic hardships ▪ Intakes, case referrals, and case management service ▪ Develop & organize after-school programs (e.g., the Girls Group for girls ages 8-15)
9/2004-5/2005 Brooklyn, NY
YONSEI UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER Intern, Child Cancer Unit, Social Service Team ▪ Assist with case counseling, fundraising, & managing student volunteers ▪ Provide counseling & connect sponsors to children with cancer or other fatal diseases
2/2004-5/2004 Seoul, Korea
ASAN MEDICAL CENTER Intern, Organ Transplant Center, Social Service Team ▪ Assist with case counseling for organ donors and recipients ▪ Supervise high school volunteers
1/2004-2/2004 Seoul, Korea
EWHA UNIV. SONGSAN COMMUNITY WELFARE HALL Intern, Community Welfare Team ▪ Work with low-income families & children in the Songsan district ▪ After-school program planner; community welfare center assistant to single-parent families, abused children and their parents, & poor families
7/2003-8/2003 Seoul, Korea
ADDITIONAL RESEARCH TRAINING INTER-UNIVERSITY CONSORTIUM FOR POLITICAL AND SOCIAL RESEARCH, University of Michigan Structural Equation Models with Latent Variables, 2014 Measurement, Scaling, and Dimensional Analysis, 2014 Multi-Racial & Ethnic Political Surveys Workshop (Competitive), 2014 Lee, Na Youn 7
Categorical Data Analysis, 2011 Hierarchical Linear Modeling, 2011 PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS American Political Science Association (APSA) Asian and Pacific Islanders Social Work Education Association (APISWEA) Association for Asian Studies (AAS) Association for Asian American Studies (AAAS) Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) Midwest Political Science Association (MPSA) Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) ACADEMIC & VOLUNTEER SERVICE PURDUE KOREAN ASSOCIATION 1/2012-Present Volunteer, Purdue University ▪ Assist with social events & job search workshops for a student body of approximately 900 South Korean international students (60 percent undergraduate & 40 percent graduate) CHILD WELFARE LEARNING COMMUNITY Student Member, School of Social Work, University of Michigan ▪ Attend monthly meetings that consist of Social Work faculty, graduate students, and community professionals who collaborate to advance knowledge, teaching, and training in child welfare ▪ Help organize and attend interdisciplinary workshops, forums, and lectures
1/2010-12/2012
CULTURE AND INSTITUTIONS Student Member, Department of Political Science, University of Michigan ▪ Interdisciplinary doctoral workshop organized by PS faculty & students ▪ Attend bi-weekly workshops to present/hear ongoing work, receive/give feedback, and discuss theoretical frameworks and empirical studies on culture and institutions
4/2011-12/2012
CONVERSATIONS ACROSS SOCIAL DISCIPLINES Student Member, School of Social Work, University of Michigan ▪ Attend regular board meetings ▪ Organize interdisciplinary forums, workshops, and brown bags to promote intellectual exchange among different schools and programs at UM
9/2010-5/2011
KOREAN GRADUATE STUDENTS ASSOCIATION 6/2005-5/2006 President, Columbia University ▪ Arrange social events & activities for a student body of approximately 450 students (e.g., welcome reception, happy hours, movie nights, picnics, ski trip) ▪ Organize Korea Forums to promote intellectual exchange among different schools and programs at Columbia on Korea-related issues ▪ Coordinate recruiting information sessions and job fairs for Korean graduate students ▪ Collaborate with other student organizations on- & off-campus to organize school-wide events Lee, Na Youn 8
REFERENCES Kathleen C. Faller, Marion Elizabeth Blue Endowed Professor of Children and Families University of Michigan School of Social Work 1080 S. University Ann Arbor, MI 48109 (734) 763-3786 kcfaller@umich.edu
Jenna Bednar, Professor of Political Science University of Michigan Department of Political Science 505 S. State Street Ann Arbor, MI 48109 (734) 615-5165 jbednar@umich.edu
Janelle Wong, Associate Professor & Director of Asian American Studies University of Maryland Department of American Studies 1145 Cole Student Activities Building College Park, MD 20742 (301) 405-0996 janellew@umd.edu
Jun Sung Hong, Assistant Professor of Social Work Wayne State University School of Social Work 4756 Cass Avenue Detroit, MI 48202 313-577-9367 fl4684@wayne.edu
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Na Youn Lee-Research Statement
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Research Statement My research focuses on understanding the creation and persistence of stereotypes and prejudice against immigrants and racial minorities; the association between common stereotypes and child health and well-being; and how social policies, once implemented, can change existing cultural and ethnoracial beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors. Drawn from my professional practice experience, my research interests lie in the intersection of social stratification and child well-being. As a therapist and case manager in a community-based organization serving low-income families in New York City, I noticed the subtle distrust of parents and children toward service providers, particularly social workers; many of them had already been involved with the child welfare system and knew seeking service could become a double-edged sword if they revealed too much information. From my interactions with them, I became interested in the studies on stereotype threat—that is, whether clients feel pressured and threatened to debunk the negative stereotypes concerning their socioracial group; and if so, how existing institutional practices and social perceptions reinforce these pressures and promote client distrust. Based on the insights from my practice experience, as a joint doctoral student, I initiated research on the marginalizing effects of racial stereotypes. My dissertation, Asian American Intergroup Relations, Racial Policy Attitudes, and Child Well-Being: The Influence of Racial Frameworks, examines how social perceptions and stereotyping, arising from racial stratification, affect the social identities, intergroup relations, racial policy attitudes, and mental health of Asian Americans in the U.S. in comparison to other racial groups. It aims to bridge gaps in knowledge and contribute to scholarship by 1) generating findings on Asian Americans from large-scale national datasets, moving beyond college-student or regional samples of past research and the conventional black-white paradigm of race; 2) empirically testing the racial triangulation theory of Asian Americans and applying it to understand whether racial frameworks (i.e., the model minority and perpetual foreigner stereotypes) are associated with intergroup affinity, support for race-conscious policies, such as affirmative action, and the potential for interracial coalition-building; 3) examining whether the psychosocial well-being of Asian children can be traced to ethnoracial pressures from parents, teachers, and peers; and 4) drawing on a rich pool of interdisciplinary knowledge from political and social psychology, ethnic studies, and social work. The dissertation has been supported by the Rackham Graduate School Dissertation Fellowship, Political Science Thesis Grant, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Fellowship in Children and Families, and the Asian and Pacific Islanders Social Work Education Association Doctoral Fellowship. Another line of research as a joint doctoral student has been to understand the changing cultural definitions of parenting and child well-being as a result of social policy, originally developed from my policy report to the South Korean National Assembly Committee on Health and Welfare. My two pilot studies were designed to lay the groundwork for future studies on policy effectiveness and the contexts in which the adoption of Western frameworks become successful in changing longstanding sociocultural beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors on parenting and corporal punishment. In 2010, funded by the International Institute and the Nam Center for Korean Studies at the U-M, I interviewed child welfare workers on the 10th anniversary of South Korea’s first child maltreatment legislation to obtain their perspectives on how the adoption of the Western child welfare framework had changed South Korean parenting values and norms. In 2012, I surveyed 50 South Korean immigrants in the Greater Seattle area about their parenting beliefs and styles using the Conflict
Na Youn Lee-Research Statement 2
Tactics Scale and the Dimensions of Discipline Inventory to assess the degree of cultural diffusion. Aiming to incorporate the voices of Asian immigrant families on their parenting values, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors, I found that very few South Korean immigrant parents endorsed harsh parenting, including any form of corporal punishment. A complementary study using the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study (CILS) found that there were no significant differences in child wellbeing by parental expectations and practices across race, countering arguments that Asian parents unduly pressure and harm their children. Hence, my research interests encompass interdisciplinary approaches to understanding the creation, maintenance, transference (via policies), and revision of cultural and ethnoracial frameworks and how these frameworks influence individual beliefs, attitudes, behaviors, and ultimately, well-being. To obtain a more comprehensive and interdisciplinary perspective on child well-being, I have collaborated with multidisciplinary teams of social scientists to identify the protective and risk factors for child maltreatment, youth substance use, and bullying/peer victimization in South Korea and the U.S.; and have coauthored several articles that were published in peer-reviewed journals, such as the Children and Youth Services Review, Child Psychiatry & Human Development, Journal of School Violence, and Child and Youth Care Forum. My recent collaborative research efforts include projects that examine spousal conflict and parenting behaviors of ethnic minority mothers in South Korea; and school violence experienced by South Korean bi-ethnic children, as the rapid influx of migrants to South Korea since the turn of the century has changed the former homogenous nation into a multicultural state.
Future Research My long-term research goals are to identify the structural and sociocultural correlates of immigrant and/or racial minority well-being; and to develop innovative and effective intervention programs, in collaboration with community practitioners, for the empowerment of marginalized immigrant and racial minority communities in the U.S. and South Korea. Specifically, my future research will build on the findings from my dissertation, pilot projects, and collaborative research papers, specializing in 1) social stratification and prejudice toward immigrants and/or racial minorities; 2) race relations and political socialization in an era of global migration and transnational identities; 3) the determinants of ethnic minority child well-being; and 4) the development of culturally-sensitive, community-based practices and policies for vulnerable immigrant families and children. I plan to actively reach out and collaborate with various interdisciplinary scholars within and outside of the home institution to conduct research that will bring us closer to understanding the everyday reality and experiences of marginalized children and families and to improve their health and well-being through effective policies and programs. In addition to publishing articles from my dissertation and the manuscripts under preparation with current research teams, I will seek grants with colleagues to improve upon existing psychometric instruments that measure explicit and implicit immigrant/racial prejudice and evaluate existing social programs and policies that influence marginalized immigrant communities in the U.S. and South Korea. I believe that my research can have far-reaching implications for advanced European countries as well as for the newly industrialized Asian countries that face similar challenges of global migration and increased diversity.
John Mathias School of Social Work Building, Room 3704 1080 South University Avenue, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109 Phone (cell): (734) 546-9650 Email: jmathias@umich.edu EDUCATION 05/2016 (expected)
Ph.D., Joint Doctoral Program in Social Work and Anthropology University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI Dissertation Title: The Ethics and Politics of Social Change: Two Approaches to Community Organizing in Kerala, India Co-Chairs: David Tucker (Social Work), Webb Keane (Anthropology)
2011
Certificate in Advanced Malayalam Language American Institute of Indian Studies Thiruvananthapuram, India
2010
Masters in Social Work Practice Method: Community Organizing Practice Area: Community and Social Systems University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI
2002
Bachelor of Arts Double Major in Creative Writing (with highest honors) and Social Science University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI
RESEARCH INTERESTS Community Organizing and Social Change Civic Engagement and Civil Society Social Movements Empirical Analysis of Ethics in Social Work Teaching and Practice Cross-cultural Analysis of Social Work Practice Environmental Social Work South Asia TEACHING INTERESTS Community Organizing and Macro Practice Human Behavior and the Social Environment Human Rights, Social and Environmental Justice, Diversity, and Race Critical Thinking and Applied Ethics International Social Work, Cultural Difference, and Development Research Methods, including Community-Based and Participatory Methods
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John Mathias Curriculum Vitae PUBLICATIONS Peer-reviewed Publications Mathias, J. (2015). Thinking Like a Social Worker: Examining the Meaning of Critical Thinking in Social Work. Journal of Social Work Education, 51(3), 457-474. Mathias, J. (2010). Of Contract and Camaraderie: Thoughts on What Relationships in the Field Could Be. Collaborative Anthropologies, 3, 110120. Book Reviews Mathias, J. (2010). Review of the book Shorelines: Space and rights in South India. Comparative Studies in Society and History. Vol. 52: 480-481. Other Publications Mathias, J. and Albanese, J. (2012). Pidichadakkalakal Aavashyapedunnathenthu? [What are the Occupy protestors’ demands?] Keraleeyam, 10(11), 64-65. Manuscripts in Progress Mathias, J. (intended submission December 2015). Common Goal or Common Cause? An Ethical Challenge for Collaborations in Community Organizing. Journal of Community Practice. Austin, M. J., Anthony, E., Tolleson Knee, R., Mathias, J. (intended submission January 2016). Revisiting the Relationship Between Micro and Macro Social Work Practice: A Springboard for Discussion in Our Academic and Practice Communities. Families in Society. Mathias, J. (intended submission February 2016). The Stickiness of Moral Evaluation: Publicity, Justification, and the Moralization of Everyday Life. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. Mathias, J. and Albanese, J. (intended submission July 2016). Wait, More Evidence! Slowing Down Evidence-Based Practice. Research on Social Work Practice.
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John Mathias Curriculum Vitae PRESENTATIONS Peer-reviewed Presentations Mathias, J. (2015). From VapoRub to Tea: Bad Habits and Radical Social Change. Michicagoan Linguistic Anthropology Conference. Ann Arbor, Michigan. Mathias, J. (2014). Printing People’s Struggle: Magazines and Movements in Kerala, India. American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting. Washington, DC. Mathias, J. (2014). Printing People’s Struggle: Alternative Media and Civil Society Activism in India. Biannual conference of International Society for Third-Sector Research. Münster, Germany. Mathias, J. (2009). Second-Best Supporting Actor: Ideology and Happenstance in the Scripting of Ford as Neo-Imperial Agent. Organized panel entitled “Model D: The Ford Foundation and Democracy in India.” The 38th Annual Conference on South Asia. Madison, Wisconsin. Other Presentations Mathias, J. (2014). Keralathile Janakiya Samarangalilulla Mulyaparamaaya Preranakal [Moral Persuasion in Kerala’s People’s Struggles]. Presentation in Malayalam to students and faculty at Kerala Varma College, Thrissur, India. Mathias, J. (2014). Alternative Media and Civil Society Activism in Kerala, India. Seminar given at the Center for Development Studies. Thiruvananthapuram, India. Mathias, J. (2011). Does Reasoning Matter in Democratic Politics? Lessons and Questions from Preliminary Research in Kerala. Brownbag presentation at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Mathias, J. (2010). Detroit, Michigan: Social and Economic Challenges and Community Organizing Efforts. Presentation to students and faculty in social work and social sciences at the University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram, India. FUNDING - EXTERNAL 2012-2014
Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowship, U.S. Department of Education, for twelve months of research in India. $34,399
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John Mathias Curriculum Vitae 2014
International Society for Third-Sector Research, subsidy to attend 2014 PhD seminar and conference in Münster, Germany.
2012
Fulbright IIE Fellowship, U.S. Department of State, for dissertation research (declined due to acceptance of Fulbright Hays funding).
2012
Junior Researcher Fellowship, American Institute of Indian Studies, for dissertation research (declined due to acceptance of Fulbright-Hays funding).
2010-2011
Language Training Fellowship, American Institute of Indian Studies, for expenses of attending the Academic Year Program in Malayalam. $13,000
2010
Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship, U.S. Department of Education, for Malayalam study in India. (declined due to acceptance of funding from the American Institute of Indian Studies).
2008
Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship, U.S. Department of Education, for Malayalam study in India. $6500
FUNDING – INTERNAL 2012
Rackham Research Grant, University of Michigan, for dissertation research. $3000
2011
Rosemary Sarri Scholarship, University of Michigan School of Social Work, for research advancing training in the field of community organizing. $3000
2006-2009
Rackham Regents’ Fellowship, University of Michigan, for graduate education. $49,700 plus tuition
2009
Irene and William Gambrill Fellowship, University of Michigan School of Social Work, for integration of practice, research, and ethical issues in social work. $1,500
2009
Department of Anthropology Research Grant, University of Michigan, for preliminary research in India. $4000
2007
International Institute Individual Fellowship, University of Michigan, for social work field placement in India. $2000
2007
Center for International and Comparative Studies Summer Research Fellowship, University of Michigan, for social work field placement in India. $1000
2002
James Robertson Award for Excellence in Creative Writing, University of Michigan Residential College, for bachelor’s thesis. $500 4
John Mathias Curriculum Vitae TEACHING EXPERIENCE 2015
Guest Lecturer Wayne State University School of Social Work, Detroit, Michigan Class on “Communities and Social Capital” for a foundation macro practice course.
2014
Guest Lecturer Sameeksha Research Center, Kerala, India Two-day workshop with community organizers in Kerala on the initial results of my dissertation research and the uses of social science in organizing.
2014
Guest Lecturer Tata Institute of Social Sciences M.S.W. Program, Kerala, India One-day workshop on research design, with an emphasis on qualitative methods.
2011, 2013
Guest Lecturer Center for Research Education and Social Transformation, Kerala, India One-day workshop on anthropological theory and ethnographic fieldwork.
2013
Facilitator and Guide University of Michigan Global Social Work Study Study tour of women’s empowerment initiatives in India for doctoral students in the University of Michigan School of Social Work. Supervisor: Prof. Lawrence Root.
2012, Winter Graduate Student Instructor & 2010, Winter Introduction to Anthropology (101) University of Michigan Emphasis on the study and theorization of cultural difference and on race as a social and political construct. 2011, Fall
Graduate Student Instructor Anthropology of Religion (246) University of Michigan Emphasis on diversity in ethical values, including conceptions of social justice.
2009, Fall
Graduate Student Instructor Culture, Thought, and Meaning (330) University of Michigan Introduction to social theory for upper-level undergraduates. Received training in teaching writing in conjunction with this writing-intensive course.
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John Mathias Curriculum Vitae RESEARCH EXPERIENCE Ethnography 2012-2014
Two Approaches to Community Organizing in “People’s Struggles” in Kerala, India (Dissertation research, 15 months) Participant observation (4200 hours) and interviews (n=195) among community organizers, their families and friends, members of the communities in which they organized, and those they sought to win as allies for their cause. Conducted media analysis, conversation analysis, and archival research.
2010-2011
NGOs and Environmental Justice Organizing in Kerala, India (Research internship, 12 months) Participant observation (750 hours) in NGOs and civil society organizations, interviews with environmental justice organizers (n=23), discourse analysis of environmental magazines. Supervisor: Prof. Webb Keane, Department of Anthropology, University of Michigan.
2007
Fishworker Livelihood and Coastal Policy in Kerala, India (Preliminary dissertation research, 4 months) Participant observation (500 hours) and policy analysis at Malabar Coastal Institute for Training Research and Action.
Community-Based and Participatory Research 2010
U.S. Social Forum in Detroit, Michigan Research coordinator for collaborative ethnographic evaluation. Recruited researchers and facilitated collaboration with local organizers in Detroit. Principal Investigator: Prof. Jackie Smith, University of Notre Dame.
2008-2009
Detroit Environmental Justice Initiative Research assistant in charge of coordinating community-based participatory evaluation and process documentation of community air quality monitoring project. Supervisor: Prof. Michael Spencer, School of Social Work, University of Michigan.
2007
Washtenaw County Worker’s Center Project manager for community-based participatory research project on impacts of immigrant labor on native-born, low-wage workers. Coordinated recruitment of volunteers and collection of survey data. Supervisor: Prof. Ian Robinson, Department of Sociology, University of Michigan.
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John Mathias Curriculum Vitae PRACTICE EXPERIENCE 2012-2014
Participant Observer – Chalakudy Action Council and Statewide Solidarity Committee Participated in all legally-allowed aspects of organizing an environmental justice campaign in rural India. Supervised by licensed macro social worker Prof. Lawrence Root via regular online teleconferencing.
2010-2012
Community Facilitator – Field Street House Intentional Community Co-founded an intentional community in Detroit focused on social justice and interfaith dialogue.
2010-2011
Evaluation Consultant - Keraleeyam Magazine Conducted a systematic evaluation of this social justice magazine’s readership and impact, culminating in a forty-page report to its editors and board members. This magazine is a hub of organizing activity in Kerala, India, and eventually it became a central site of my dissertation fieldwork.
2007
Social Work Intern - Malabar Coastal Institute for Training, Research, and Action Contributed to research and editing of English-language news articles, policy statements, and research reports. Assisted in coordination of conferences, trainings, and meetings.
2004-2006
Education Coordinator - The Ann Arbor Teen Center Organized and led after-school education programs for high school-aged teens in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Designed and implemented new programs in tutoring, mentoring, and standardized test preparation that were used by hundreds of local students. Recruited and coordinated volunteer mentors and tutors. Led a week-long service-learning trip to Cleveland, Ohio. Conducted outreach targeting low-income and underserved populations.
2000-2006
Volunteer, Videographer - Association for India’s Development (AID) (AID is a volunteer organization made up mostly of U.S. graduate students of Indian origin, which seeks to support grassroots development projects in India) Researched and assisted in coordinating grants for projects in education, microfinance, and public health. Researched, produced (at 12 sites around India), and edited a 30-minute educational video on AID’s work. Organized awareness-raising and direct action events concerning crossnational social justice issues.
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John Mathias Curriculum Vitae 2003-2005
Local Coordinator (Volunteer) – International Coalition for Justice in Bhopal, India Organized awareness-raising and direct action events as part of a campaign to attain reparations for victims of an industrial disaster in a US-owned chemical factory in India.
2002-2003
Intern - Video/Action (Video/Action is a nonprofit in Washington, D.C. that produces documentaries and training videos in collaboration with other nonprofits and advocacy groups) Assisted in production and post-production of videos on cosmetology for cancer survivors.
2001-2002
Documentary Filmmaker/Community Activist - LISTEN: a documentary on homelessness in Ann Arbor Produced independent documentary film featuring diverse stories from Ann Arbor, Michigan’s homeless population and local social workers. Conducted public dialogues between homeless and non-homeless residents. Film was later used by local nonprofits and university courses.
PROFESSIONAL SERVICE 2015
Workgroup on Bridging Micro and Macro Social Work Association for Community Organization and Social Administration
2014
Evidence of Ethics in Action Interdisciplinary Workgroup, University of Michigan, Coordinator Bi-weekly workgroup for developing research methods for the study of ethics as a part of everyday life.
2011
Doctoral Research Brownbag Presentations, University Of Michigan School of Social Work, Coordinator
2007-2010
Ethnography as Activism Interdisciplinary Workgroup, University of Michigan, Coordinator Bi-weekly workgroup for exploring ethical and political issues in action and participatory research methods.
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS Association for Community Organization and Social Administration National Association of Social Workers Council on Social Work Education
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John Mathias Curriculum Vitae International Society for Third-Sector Research American Anthropological Association Association for Political and Legal Anthropology LANGUAGES Malayalam –fluency in conversation, advanced proficiency in reading and writing French – basic reading proficiency
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Mathias 9/23/2015
Research Statement Social work practitioners seek to understand things as they are, but they also envision how the world could be better and commit themselves to pursuing those visions. In other words, for social workers, ethics is more than just a code; it is a fundamental dimension of practice. My research explores the roles of ethical values in social work practice, analyzing how social workers adopt, cultivate, enact, and promote certain values in everyday settings and social interactions. Through qualitative analysis of ethics in social work practice, I aim to contribute both to critical discussion of social work intervention and to our understanding of basic questions about the place of ethics in social life. I am currently engaged in three research projects, each of which explores these core questions from a different angle. My dissertation research, “The Ethics and Politics of Social Change: Two Approaches to Community Organizing in Kerala, India,” examines the relation between the ethical work of promoting a particular vision for social change and the political work of mobilizing power to realize that vision. My second project, “The Language of Social Work Education,” builds on my earlier work on critical thinking in social work, examining how classroom interactions shape MSW students’ use of facts and values in practical reasoning. Finally, a cross-disciplinary collaborative project, “Moral Policy and Public Health: An Assessment of the Motives and Impacts of Alcohol Prohibition in Kerala, India,” asks how ethical values regarding alcohol use influence and/or are influenced by interventions at clinical, community, and policy levels. The study of ethics is, at bottom, the study of what people take to be most important (Kleinman, 2006; Williams, 1985). As such, ethics encompasses not only explicitly stated values, but also the implicit ways in which people take things to have special importance (Brodwin, 2013; Lambek, 2010). Social work’s focus on intervention often brings implicit values into relief as social workers question and seek to change their social worlds. This makes social work a promising area for exploring the nature of ethics as a part of social life. This also makes research on ethics particularly relevant to social work practitioners because it provides an evidence-based resource for reflecting on this key dimension of their work.
The Ethics and Politics of Social Change: Two Approaches to Community Organizing in Kerala, India My dissertation research, “The Ethics and Politics of Social Change: Two Approaches to Community Organizing in Kerala, India,” explores how ethics and politics articulate in the work of organizers pursuing social and environmental change. My analysis centers on a comparison of two groups of organizers as they collaborate on a campaign to stop pollution from a gelatin factory owned by a multinational corporation. The first group is a local “action council” formed by nearby residents to demand an end to the bad smell and water pollution from the factory. The second group is a network of environmentalists who sought to lend support to such campaigns throughout the state as part of a broader effort at social and environmental transformation. I find that the political work of effecting change requires that organizers undertake ethical work such as identifying injustices and “evil” actors, envisioning justice, sustaining commitment to this vision, and persuading others to recognize this vision. Each chapter of my dissertation focuses on a different role of ethical values in organizing and relates this to the political processes of trying to bring about change. This research is based on two years of ethnographic fieldwork—including participant observation (4200 hours), interviews 1
Mathias 9/23/2015 (n=195), and media analysis—conducted in the local language of Malayalam. This dissertation aims to contribute both to social work practice and to basic social science. This research will contribute to practice by describing and analyzing different approaches to ethical dilemmas that are widespread in community organizing and civic engagement in democratic societies. In addition, the dissertation is a detailed analysis of the everyday work of community organizing in Kerala, India, a place with a robust organizing tradition that can offer fruitful comparison with American traditions. The emerging field of international social work has primarily sought to understand either 1) how best practices from the developed world can be transferred to the developing world or 2) how to build on indigenous traditions to establish best practices in developing countries (Healy & Thomas, 2007). This study pursues a third option, exploring how insights from a developing country can contribute to more general theories of social change and best practices in community organizing. Finally, I also address broader social science questions about ethics, such as how ethical evaluation can be distinguished (analytically or in practice) from other forms of evaluation. As such, this dissertation aims to demonstrate that social work research can not only produce practical applications, but also ideas of broad import. I plan to submit versions of seven of the nine chapters of my dissertation for publication as articles. Findings include: • • •
Shared values, and not only shared goals based on overlapping interests, may be crucial to the success of collaboration in organizing. Findings from two ethnographic studies of community organizing suggest that the kinds of evidence relevant to macro practice are broader than either evidence-based practice or social constructionist epistemologies allow. Organizing for social change often entails a practical dilemma between acting consistently with one’s values and compromising values in order to sustain social relationships.
Building on the dissertation, I plan to collaborate with scholars studying environmental organizing in other places in order to identify themes and lessons that hold cross-nationally. I am currently planning one such collaborative article with Professor Amy Krings at Loyola University, Chicago. This project was funded by a Fulbright-Hays fellowship from the US Department of Education. It was also awarded fellowships by the US Department of State (Fulbright IIE), and the American Institute of Indian Studies.
The Language of Social Work Education This project aims to understand whether and how language use in social work education shapes students’ reasoning practices, ethical values, and professional identities. This study builds on my earlier research on critical thinking in social work, in which I found that major approaches to critical thinking in social work differ in how they employ facts and values (Mathias, 2015). This finding suggested to me that directly observing how teachers teach students to use facts and values in their speech and writing might open a window onto key processes in the formation of professional identity. To date, I have conducted exploratory research as part of a collaborative article on bridging micro and macro social work, led by Professor Michael Austin at UC Berkeley. I found evidence that perceived differences in styles
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Mathias 9/23/2015 of communication are taken as boundary markers between micro and macro social work identities, suggesting the need for further research on communication styles and professional identity. Following up on this, the current study will combine direct observation in social work classrooms with interviews of faculty and students. I will seek funding from the Spencer Foundation for education research, the US Department of Education, and the Council on Social Work Education. Manuscripts will be submitted to the Journal of Social Work Education, the Journal of Teaching in Social Work, and Social Work.
Moral Policy and Public Health: An Assessment of the Motives, Implementation, and Impacts of Alcohol Prohibition in India. This project tracks the implementation of alcohol abuse prevention policy as it crosses macro and micro levels of intervention, examining how social workers at various levels situate their work within broader efforts for social change. This study builds on my earlier research on the politics and ethics of social change, exploring the ethical, political, and public health dimensions of change-oriented interventions in the context of recent policy initiatives for prohibition in Kerala and other Indian states. During my dissertation research, I found that alcohol use was continually a topic of moral concern in Kerala; alcohol use was very common (the highest of any state in India), and on the rise, but even heavy users would denounce the practice as a social evil and a sign of bad character. Thus, when prohibition was introduced in 2014, it was simultaneously controversial in its social implications and entirely uncontroversial in its moral justification. This study will examine alcohol use in India as both a wellentrenched, meaningful cultural practice and a problem from the perspective of local values and understandings of public health. This will be a mixed-methods study, working iteratively between the use of quantitative analysis and comparative ethnographic study of the experiences of alcohol users and their communities as well as public health and social work practitioners. I am initiating this study in collaboration with Deena Thomas, PhD, a public health researcher at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research. We are also working with University of Michigan Professor Jorge Delva, who is an expert on substance abuse. We will seek funding from the NIH grants for International Research Collaboration on Alcohol and Alcoholism, PAR-11-182. Findings from this study will contribute to our understanding of alcohol policy and intervention in the developing world. Understanding India’s responses to rising alcohol consumption, and the outcomes of that response, can help to inform policy decisions and intervention strategies in other developing economies where, with increases in socioeconomic status, alcohol consumption is rising (World Health Organization, 2014). We plan to submit a manuscript based on a pilot study for publication in the spring of 2016. Following further data collection, we will submit manuscripts both independently and collaboratively to journals in social work, public health, and anthropology.
Future work As these three projects illustrate, the study of the roles of ethical values in social work practice is a frame that I bring to bear on diverse areas and methods of intervention. Moreover, this frame is particularly relevant to international social work research, in which cultural difference with respect to values poses a major challenge (Gray, 2005; Healy, 2007). By better understanding how practitioners cultivate and enact ethical values in their work, we will be better
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Mathias 9/23/2015 prepared to appreciate value differences and find ways of bridging them, whether they be between American and Indian community organizers or between micro and macro social workers. In such ways, I believe evidence-based scholarship is crucial to addressing the ethical challenges that arise in social work practice. Beyond the three projects described here, I look forward to continuing to produce research that improves our understanding of ethics in social work and inspires innovative approaches to ethical challenges in practice. References Brodwin, P. (2013). Everyday ethics: voices from the front line of community psychiatry. Berkeley: University of California Press. Gray, M. (2005). Dilemmas of international social work: paradoxical processes in indigenisation, universalism and imperialism. International Journal of Social Welfare, 14(3), 231-238. Healy, L. M. (2007). Universalism and cultural relativism in social work ethics. International Social Work, 50(1), 11-26. Healy, L. M., & Thomas, R. L. (2007). International Social Work: A retrospective in the 50th year. International Social Work, 50(5), 581-596. Kleinman, A. (2006). What really matters: Living a moral life amidst uncertainty and danger. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Lambek, M. (2010). Introduction. In M. Lambek (Ed.), Ordinary ethics: anthropology, language, and action (pp. 1-38). New York: Fordham University Press. Mathias, J. (2015). Thinking Like a Social Worker: Examining the Meaning of Critical Thinking in Social Work. Journal of Social Work Education, 51(3), 457-474. Williams, B. (1985). Ethics and the limits of philosophy. Cambridge, MA.: Harvard University Press. World Health Organization. (2014). Global Status Report on Alcohol and Health. Geneva, Switzerland.
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Mathias 9/22/2015 Teaching Philosophy In all of my teaching, I emphasize three things: critical thinking, creativity, and empathy. I begin most of my lessons by eliciting students’ own ideas, opinions, and stories. From this starting point, we work outward toward the new ideas presented in course material, and then come back again to reconsider our own ideas and incorporate new perspectives. In my experience, this cyclical process helps students to critically examine their prior beliefs as well as new ideas and evidence, create their own unique responses to the material, and empathize with the different viewpoints represented in the readings or voiced by their classmates. For example, in recently teaching a class on the topic of “community” for a foundation macro course, I began by asking students to take a few minutes and make lists of communities to which they belong. As a group, we then used examples from these lists (if they wished to share them) to make another list on the chalkboard of kinds of community to which they belong. We used the chalkboard list, and the examples from their own lists, to discuss questions such as, “Are all of their kinds of community on the board covered by the readings? Which of the readings most adequately describes why all of these are examples of community?” Finally, repeating this process, I asked students to make lists of what they or others do to sustain their communities, and we used these lists to reflect on concepts of community organizing and social capital. The students’ lists gave them something concrete and known to begin from, enabling them to tie the readings to their own experiences. This made them more willing to risk critically questioning the readings or voicing their own creative ways of describing “community.” The lists also provided an opportunity for students to reflect on their own experiences and imagine the experiences of others in the room. My love of teaching and my passion for social justice go hand in hand. I am committed to using my role as educator to extend opportunities, encouragement, and support to students from disadvantaged backgrounds. In my work as Education Coordinator at the Ann Arbor Teen Center, I developed and facilitated programs to support students who were disadvantaged in terms of race, socioeconomic status, or ability, and were not fully benefiting from the public schools. This made me keenly aware of differences in students’ needs later, when teaching at the University of Michigan. I used classroom interaction and written assignments as opportunities to identify each student’s unique strengths and challenges, and adjusted my teaching techniques and tools accordingly. Likewise, by mentoring and leading workshops for low-caste students in India, I have learned about how to tailor my approach to diverse learning styles and build on the strengths of students who are often marginalized in the classroom. Critical thinking, creativity, and empathy all require students to take risks and reach beyond their comfort zones. I try to make the classroom a safe space to take those risks. This was always particularly important in leading discussion sections for courses like the Anthropology of Religion, in which some students may deeply identify with the ideas or cultural practices we discuss. For me, this is part of what makes the classroom experience rich, and I strive to communicate my appreciation for students’ beliefs and commitments both in my lecturing and facilitation. In teaching human evolution in Anthropology 101, for example, I was careful to hew close to the evidence we have, drawing skeptical students into the spirit of scientific inquiry rather than closing the door on the beliefs they bring into the classroom. In facilitating discussions about race, I encouraged students to share their opinions while also guiding the arc of discussion so as to ensure that the discussion also deepens students’ understandings of our shared history and present-day reality of racial oppression.
Mathias 9/22/2015 Leading a study trip of social work students to India to learn about women’s empowerment programs gave me an opportunity to apply these skills in an international, crosscultural setting. For this study tour, I was responsible for assigning readings, arranging and facilitating meetings with local practitioners and scholars in India, translation, and explaining cultural and historical context. It was a joy to see the interest and curiosity with which the trip participants responded to this experience and to observe how quickly they found ways of relating to those they met, even across great cultural and linguistic differences. In the future, I would like to continue to explore cross-cultural exchange as a stimulus to critical thinking, imagining alternatives, and empathizing across differences. My combined training in anthropology and social work has prepared me to teach foundation courses such as human behavior and the social environment, or courses on diversity and social justice. To such courses, I bring extensive experience helping students relate difficult concepts to aspects of their everyday lives. My own training and post-MSW practice experience is in macro social work, with an emphasis on community organizing and advocacy, and I would look forward to teaching both foundation and advanced macro courses. I can also draw on years of practice experience in teaching courses related to social work and the environment, crosscultural practice, or global practice. In teaching research methods, I draw on experience with multiple forms of qualitative research, including participant observation, media analysis, conversation analysis, interviewing, surveys, and community-based participatory research. Finally, my research focus on the role of ethical values in social work practice gives me a unique perspective on this topic, and I would look forward to developing curricula in social work ethics.
1 CURRICULUM VITAE Amanda Rowe Tillotson / 1308 McIntyre Street/ Ann Arbor, Michigan 48105 Mobile: 734-355-8219/ Email: amantill@umich.edu (Last updated August, 2015) EDUCATION 2007-present: Joint Doctoral Program in Social Work and Political Science, University of Michigan Doctoral Prospectus Defended, July, 2012 Dissertation Title: Race, Risk and Real Estate: Essays on the Home Ownership
State. Dissertation Co-Chairs: Nancy Burns and John Tropman ; Committee Members: Rob Mickey, Mary Corcoran, Karen Staller. Defense Expected: November, 2015 MSW. University of Michigan School of Social Work M.A.
Political Science, University of California at Los Angeles, with Distinction
B.A.
Political Science/English, State University of New York at Fredonia (Summa
cum Laude) A.A.
Humanities, Jamestown Community College, Jamestown New York (Summa
cum Laude) ADDITIONAL METHODOLOGICAL TRAINING •
University of Michigan Center for Statistical Consulting and Research: Completed courses on NVivo, Statistics, and Stata Intensive Training.
•
Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan Summer Program: Certificates in Qualitative Methods, Statistics, Mixed Methods Research Design
Certifications •
HUD certification in Grant-Writing
•
Certified Financial Social Worker
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Research Interests
Teaching interests
Organizational theory and non-
Nonprofit management;
profit management; nonprofit adaptation
organizational theory;
to changing policy and economic environments;
qualitative and mixed
history of US social policy; urban politics and policy;
methods; urban
housing and home ownership policy; race and social policy;
policy; social policy;
comparative social policies; policy history;
housing and policy;
economics and social policy;
history of social
poverty policy; law and social policy.
work; race and policy;
race and social policy.
policy and nonprofits. ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT
Teaching Instructor of Record May, 2013-June 2013: Instructor of Record, Term III: Black Americans and the Politics of Race, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor
Graduate Student Instructor •
January 2014-April, 2014: Politics of the Constitution, Professor Mariah Zeisberg
•
September, 2013- December 2013: Politics of the Metropolis, Professor Gregory Markus
•
September 2012-December 2012; September 2011-December 2011; September 2010-December 2010: Contemporary Issues, Professor Gregory Markus.
•
September, 2009-December 2009, September 2012- December 2012: Graduate Student Administrative Assistant/GSI:
Contemporary Issues,
Professor Gregory Markus, University of Michigan.
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Research •
2010-Present: Research Assistant, Laura Lein, Dean, University of Michigan School of Social Work 1. Analyzed data and provided additional research for manuscript of
Community Lost: The State, Civil Society and Displaced Survivors of Hurricane Katrina by Ronald Angell, Holly Bell, Julie Beausoleil, and Laura Lein. Volume was published by Cambridge University Press. 2. Analyzed data and contributed to working papers on mixed methods data set that examines the role of public policy in the lives of panhandlers in Austin, Texas. Prepared draft book proposal based on data. 3. Conducted research and co-authored articles for Oxford Handbook of
the Social Science of Poverty and Emerging Trends in Social and Behavioral Science (John Wiley). 2013 : •
Research Assistant, Professors Eve Garrow and Sandra Danziger, University of Michigan School of Social Work. Conducted and transcribed interviews, conducted background research, and contributed writing for paper on the way in which changes in the policy and funding environments affected a child advocacy nonprofit. Author on resulting Children and Youth
Services Review paper. 2010-2013: •
Research Assistant, Professor Hesekel Hasenfeld (UCLA) and Professor Garrow (University of Michigan). Using Atlas Ti, coded Congressional hearings on welfare and homeless policy to identify themes regarding women and children.
4 2008-2009: •
Research Assistant, Professor Steven Croley, University of Michigan School of Law. Surveyed and analyzed literature on regulatory theory, principal-agent theory, and regulatory capture.
•
Grader, Professor Hanes Walton, Jr., University of Michigan Department of Political Science, Politics of the Chief Executive.
•
Research Assistant, Caroline Moyer, University of Michigan Department of Political Science. Conducted research on compliance regulation in the European Economic Community.
SOCIAL WORK EXPERIENCE May, 2012-July 2012 Consultant, New St. Paul Head Start, Detroit, Michigan.
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One of two lead coordinators responsible for developing community needs assessments, conducting focus groups, analyzing data, and assisting staff in drafting grant. Supervised MSW students engaged in data gathering. September, 2010-September, 2011 •
Evaluation and Program Intern, Pediatric Advocacy Clinic, University of Michigan Law School. Designed qualitative evaluation program for legal clinic that provides advocacy for families who experience economic and legal problems that impact children’s’ health.
July, 2002-August, 2007: •
McKinney-Vento Housing Advocate, Crawford County Mental Health Awareness Project, Meadville, Pennsylvania. Provided advocacy services for homeless and near-homeless individuals and families. Assisted in applying for and securing benefits, services, and housing. Also assisted individuals who had criminal or civil legal issues in accessing and working with attorneys. Planned and carried out related community activities including: 1. 2005-2006: Wrote curriculum and taught class on “Cultural Competence with Rural, Low-Income Families” for college volunteers in
5 on-site weatherization program for which I wrote grant and conducted evaluation. 2. 2005-2007: Wrote grant, organized volunteers, secured funding and conducted evaluation for Project Free Tax, a free tax preparation program for low-income families and individuals that included consumer education. 3. 2006: Wrote curriculum and taught class for service providers on “Interpersonal Skills Training” for presentation to local service providers by community-based Dialectical Behavioral Therapy Team. 4. 2005-2006: Wrote curriculum and taught poetry workshop for adults with mental illness at community-based mental health center. 5. 2005-2007: Planned and conducted community trainings in assisting individuals in applying for Social Security Disability and Supplemental Security Income. •
September 2000-August, 2002: Paralegal Advocate, Women’s Service, Inc., Meadville, Pennsylvania. Assisted victims of domestic violence in filing for orders of protection, in understanding legal processes such as custody and support hearings, and in obtaining housing, public benefits, and services.
Community Experience •
2005-2007: President, Crawford-Venango Office of Economic Opportunities Board: Convened meetings participated in planning conferences. Assisted Board in evaluating and prioritizing Community Development Block Grant Proposals for two-county area.
•
2002-2007: Secretary, Crawford County Emergency Shelter Committee
6 PUBLICATIONS
Refereed Publications 2015: •
Amanda Tillotson : “Race, Risk and Real Estate: The Federal Housing Administration and Black Home Ownership in the post- World War II Home Ownership State. “ DePaul Journal of Social Justice Law, 8:1.
•
Eve Garrow, Sandra Danziger and Amanda Tillotson: “Shifting Sands that Threaten Policy Advocacy for Vulnerable Children and Youth: a Case Study.”
Children and Youth Services Review 53. •
Laura Lein, Sandra Danziger, Luke Shafer and Amanda Tillotson. “Comparative National Policies, Transfers and Programs.” Oxford Handbook of the Social
Science of Poverty (forthcoming.) •
Entries, Sage Encyclopedia of World Poverty (forthcoming) 1.
Amanda Tillotson. “The Truman Administration”.
2.
Amanda Tillotson. “The Coolidge Administration.”
3.
Amanda Tillotson. “The Harding Administration.”
4.
Amanda Tillotson. “Housing Segregation.”
5.
Amanda Tillotson. “Housing Assistance.”
2014: •
Amanda Tillotson and John Tropman. “Early Responders, Late Responders and Nonresponders: The Principal Agent Problem in Board Oversight of Non Profit CEO’s.” Human Services Organizations: Management, Administration and
Governance, 38:4. Winner, Mary Follette Parker Prize for Best Theory-Informed Article •
Laura Lein and Amanda Tillotson. “Household Economy: Budgets, Budgeting and Poverty”. Emerging Trends in the Social and Behavioral Sciences. John Wiley.
2010: •
Amanda Tillotson. “Pathologizing Place and Race: The Rhetoric of Urban Renewal, 1935-1965.” AGORA: The Urban Planning Journal
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2009: •
Amanda Tillotson. “A Tale of Two Crises: Symbolization, Causal Narration and Categorization in the Farm Foreclosure Crisis of the 1980’s and the Early Phases of the Subprime Crisis. AGORA: The Urban Planning Journal.
•
Amanda Tillotson. “Rural Needs and Urban Paradigms: How Policy Paradigms Shape Practice.” Proceedings of the 34th Annual National Institute on Social
Work and Human Services in Rural Areas,” pp. 170-200.
Invited to Revise and Resubmit 2015: •
Amanda Tillotson. “Welfare Crimes: Welfare Fraud Prosecution, the Criminalization of Low-Income Coping Strategies and the Reproduction of Poverty.” Journal of Poverty
Under Review •
Invited review: Amanda Tillotson. Review of Collective Courage: A History of African American
Cooperative Economic Thought and Practice by Jessica Gordon Nembhard. Social Service Review. •
Amanda Tillotson and Laura Lein . “’I want to work. I really do’: Panhandlers’ connections to formal and informal labor markets.” This project is based on a mixed methods data set that combines survey data and intensive interviews with panhandlers in Austin, Texas. The paper examines these individuals’ connections to the formal labor market and the role of policies in shaping these connections. Journal of Poverty
Other Publications •
2012:
Amanda Rowe Tillotson. “Clash of Agendas: Immigration Enforcement
and Child Welfare”. Ongoing: Magazine of the University of
Michigan School of Social Work, Winter, 2012.
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Technical Reports •
2014: Amanda Tillotson. “Lack of Identification among Panhandlers in Austin,Texas: Causes and Consequences.” Prepared for the United States Department of Justice.
•
2007: Amanda Tillotson. “Resource Guide for Homeless and Near-homeless Individuals in Crawford County.” Crawford County Mental Health Awareness Program.
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2006: Amanda Tillotson.“ Trailer Park Law: a Guide for Housing Advocates” Crawford County Mental Health Awareness Program.
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2005, 2006, 2008, 2009: Amanda Tillotson . “Guide to Low Income Heating Assistance: Program Regulations and Up-Dates.” Crawford County Mental Health Awareness Program.
Manuscripts in Preparation
Journal Articles •
Laura Lein and Amanda Tillotson. “The Policy Nexus: The Interaction of Health Issues and Social Capital in the Lives of Panhandlers.” This project analyzes a mixed methods data set to examine the role of policies that provide access to health care for extremely poor individuals in creating and maintaining their separation from the formal labor market. Target Journal: Sociology and Social Policy.
•
Amanda Tillotson. “Legitimizing Illegitimacy: The Children’s Bureau and the Struggle to Create an Inclusive Welfare State.” The early development of the American welfare state was shaped by the exclusion of children born outside of wedlock from most Mothers’ pension programs. This reduced overall participation and had disproportionate effects on African American and Native American women and children. This paper, based on primary source research, examines the Children’s Bureau’s efforts to bring US policy in line with that of other contemporary nations, which did not connect eligibility to birth mothers’ marital status. Target Journal:
Social Service Review. •
Amanda Tillotson. “Racial Pathology and Urban Renewal.” Using primary source materials, this paper examines the use of cancer metaphors to characterize Black urban neighborhoods and to justify urban renewal projects as surgical interventions to root out this pathology.
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Book Proposal •
Laura Lein and Amanda Tillotson. Panhandlers (Working title). Despite their visibility on urban streets, this population has received relatively little academic attention. Our project, based on a mixed methods data set that consists of survey responses (n=108) and intensive interviews (n=18) with panhandlers in Austin, Texas, examines the interaction of structural and individual factors in creating and maintaining the circumstances that lead individuals to panhandle. We find that a large majority of individuals who panhandle had extensive work histories that were interrupted when a cascade of difficulties, often beginning with a health crisis, interrupted their employment. We find that most work at other formal and informal occupations and view panhandling in terms of self-employment. We argue that policies that limit access to health care and temporary cash assistance for childless, working age adults are important factors.
Research Projects •
Amanda Tillotson: House Poor? This project asks whether home ownership is an effective asset- building strategy for low-income families and individuals, and whether home ownership provides a more affordable alternative in an environment in which urban rental rates have increased rapidly. The pilot project creates a qualitative data set based on interviews with 50 low-income home owners and supplements this with an analysis of data on property appreciation rates, property tax rates, financing arrangements as well as with information on comparable rental rates . It asks how low-income owners fund initial home purchases, and how they fund fixed and variable expenses such as property taxes, maintenance, and property assessments. It also examines whether ownership discourages individuals from leaving deteriorating neighborhoods to secure better employment and/or educational opportunities.
•
Amanda Tillotson: When the State Steps In: How State Policy Interventions Affect
Nonprofit Child Advocacy Organizations. This project develops and analyzes case studies of CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) agencies in 16 Pennsylvania counties. CASA is a nonprofit organization that uses volunteers to provide family courts with independent assessments of families involved with the child welfare system. In 2014, Pennsylvania’s child welfare law changed, requiring publically-funded legal services for both parents and children involved in the system. This created a new policy environment as legislatures in many counties reduced or ended funding to CASA on the ground that they were now forced to fund the new legal requirements. It also posed challenges for the agencies’ mission.
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SELECTED AWARDS AND FELLOWSHIPS 2015: Mary Parker Follett award for outstanding theory-informed research article,
Human Service Organizations: Management, Leadership and Governance. Received for Amanda Tillotson and John Tropman, “Early Responders, Late Responders and Nonresponders: Principal Agent Theory and Board Oversight of Nonprofit CEO’s”. 2014-15: •
Gerald R. Ford Fellowship, Department of Political Science, University of Michigan.
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Race, Law and History Fellowship, University of Michigan Law School.
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School of Social Work Faculty Collaboration Grant (with Dean Laura Lein).
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Moody Research Grant, Lyndon Johnson Library
2013: •
Dissertation Grant, Department of Political Science, University of Michigan.
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Department of Political Science Travel Grant for Travel to the 2014 Meetings of the Midwestern Political Science Association.
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School of Social Work Scholarship for Under-represented Students
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Rackham Travel Grant for travel to Forum on Health, Homelessness and Policy at George Mason University.
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Gerald R. Ford Research Grant, Department of Political Science
2012: •
Rackham/ Institute for Social Research Summer Research Award
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Gerald R. Ford Research Grant, Department of Political Science, University of Michigan
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Rackham Debt Management Award, Rackham Graduate School: Awarded on the basis of potential contribution to public service
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Rackham Travel Grant for Travel to Midwestern Political Science Association Meetings
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Nominated for Rackham Outstanding GSI Award, Department of Political Science
2010:
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Rackham Research Grant, Rackham Graduate School, University of Michigan: Grant used to conduct pilot research for dissertation
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James A and Vivian Curtis Endowed Scholarship, University of Michigan. Awarded for projects impacting low-income African American populations.
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Rackham Travel Grant, University of Michigan for travel to the meetings of the American Political Science Association
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Rackham/Institute for Social Research Summer Research Award.
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Research Fellowship, Institute for the Study of Women and Gender, University of Michigan.
2009: •
Nonprofit and Public Management Center, Research Grant, University of Michigan: Project examined strategies that rural nonprofits use to implement policies that incorporate urban paradigms.
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Research Grant, Center for Education of Women. Grant used to hire coders for project on the incorporation of racialized and gendered themes in coverage of the subprime mortgage crisis.
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Rackham Travel Grant to attend meetings of the Midwestern Political Science Association
2008 •
University of Michigan School of Social Work: Larry and Clara Davis Scholarship for Poverty and Social Justice
2007: •
Social Work Professional of the Year, Crawford County Community Council
REFEREED AND INVITED PRESENTATIONS 2015 •
Amanda Tillotson. “Race, Risk, Radicals and Real Estate: The First Iteration of the Home Ownership State.” Presented at 2015 meetings of the Midwestern Political Science Association.
2014:
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Amanda Tillotson: “Housing Race, Housing Class: Race, Class and the FHA in the Post- World War II Home Ownership State.” American Political Science Association, Washington, DC.
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Amanda Tillotson. “Constructing Racialized Housing Markets, Constructing Racialized Citizenship: Home Ownership on the National Policy Agenda, 19201932.”
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Amanda Tillotson. “Property as Theft: The Legal Construction of Residential Segregation”. Presented at 2014 meetings of the Midwestern Political Science Association
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Vincent Fusaro and Amanda Tillotson. “Symbolic Stringency in American Welfare Policy: Patterns of Rapid Diffusion Following the Passage of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act.” Presented at Society for Social Work Research Meetings, San Antonio, Texas.
2013: •
Laura Lein and Amanda Tillotson. “Health Issues as a Fundamental Cause of Homelessness: The Role of Health Issues in Creating and Maintaining Homelessness. “ Presented at the Forum on Medical Care, Homelessness and Poverty, Institute for Policy Studies, George Mason University.
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Amanda Tillotson. “Race, Recession and Riots: Counterintuitive Coalitions and Black Homeownership on the National Policy Agenda, 1917-1978.” Paper presented at the 2013 Meetings of the American Political Science Association.
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Vincent Fusaro and Amanda Tillotson. “Symbolic Stringency: the Proliferation of Policies to Restrict EBT Withdrawals.” Paper presented at the 2013 Meetings of the Midwestern Political Science Association.
2012: •
Jonathan Fuentes and Amanda Tillotson. “Minority Legislators and the Regulation of Payday Lending in the Texas State Legislature.” Paper accepted for presentation at the 2012 Meetings of the American Political Science Association (Meetings cancelled)
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Amanda Tillotson and Andrew Chimka. “Painting It Black: Racialized Framing and Attributions for Subprime Foreclosures.” Paper presented at 2012 Meetings of the Midwestern Political Science Association, Chicago.
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Jonathan Fuentes and Amanda. Tillotson “Political Payday: Economic Representation and the Regulation of Payday Loans in the Texas State Legislature.” Paper presented at 2012 Meetings of the Midwestern Political Science Association, Chicago
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Invited Speaker, University of Michigan, Social Work Faculty Learning Community on Poverty and Inequality, presentation on “Housing and the Great Recession.”
2011: •
Invited Speaker, Social Work and Political Science Seminar, University of Michigan, Professors Mary Corcoran and Laura Lein.
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Amanda Tillotson. “A Paler Shade of White: Constructing the Tea Party as a White Power Movement.” Presented at 2011 Meetings of the Midwestern Political Science Association, Chicago.
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Amanda Tillotson, Kerri Nicoll and Jessica Wiederspan. “Picturing the Subprime Crisis: Media Coverage and Subprime Foreclosure.” Presented at 2010 meetings of the American Political Science Association.
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Discussant, “Policy and Inequality”, 2010 Meetings of the Midwestern Political Science Association, Chicago.
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Amanda Tillotson, Kerri Nicoll and Jessica Wiederspan. “Dominant Discourse: Race, Class and Gender in Media Coverage of the Subprime Crisis. Presented at the 2010 Meetings of the Midwestern Political Science Association, Chicago.
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“Constructing the Subprime Crisis: Media Narratives of Race and Gender.” With Kerri Nicoll and Jessica Weiderspahn. Paper presented at the 2d Annual Interdisciplinary Conference on Poverty and Inequality, University of Michigan School of Social Work.
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Discussant for panel presentation on “How Strong is the New Social Safety Net” presented by Conversations across Social Disciplines at the University of Michigan. Panel members included Professor Kathryn Edin, Harvard University; Jennifer Sykes-McLaughlin, Harvard University; and Sarah Halpern-Meekin, Bowling Green University.
2009:
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“Rural Needs, Urban Paradigms”. Presented at 34th Annual National Institute on Social Work and Human Services in Rural Areas, University of Minnesota at Duluth. .
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Poster presentation, “Dominant Discourse: Race, Class and Foreclosure” (with Kerri Nicoll and Jessica Weiderspahn), 2009 University of Michigan School of Social Work Research Retreat.
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“Dominant Discourse: Race, Class and Foreclosure” (with Jessica Weiderspahn and Kerri Nicoll). Paper presented at “Emerging Issues in Poverty and Inequality” Conference at the University of Michigan.
2008: •
“Is Immigration Restriction the Poor Man’s Tariff? Applying the StolperSamuelson Coalition Model to Immigration Restriction in the US, 1897-1927.” Presented at the 2009 Meetings of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago.
2007 •
“Bringing the Outside In: The International Framework of United States’ Social Policy in the 1920’s.”Presented at Meetings of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago.
Pedagogical Training 2010: •
Teaching Writing in the Disciplines. Writing 993. Sweetland Center for Writing, University of Michigan, January 24-March 13.
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Facilitating Discussions in the Social Sciences. Center for Research on Learning and Teaching, Teaching, University of Michigan.
2011: •
Seminar on Preparing Future Faculty, Center for Research on Teaching and Learning, University of Michigan. PROFESSONAL ACTIVITIES/DEPARTMENT SERVICE
15 2012: Reviewer, National Conference on Undergraduate Research 2010, 2011, 2012: Invited Judge, UROP Poster Symposium, University of Michigan 2009-2013: Co-Founder and Co-Lead Co-coordinator of Interdisciplinary Group on Poverty and Inequality, University of Michigan. Wrote operating grants, completed evaluations, organized four annual peer-reviewed conferences, arranged keynotes by nationally-known speakers including William Julius Wilson.
2008-2011: Co-Coordinator, Conversations across Social Disciplines, University of Michigan REVIEWER/REFEREE •
Social Service Review
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American Political Thought SOFTWARE PACKAGES
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Stata
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Atlasti
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NVivo
REFERENCES John Tropman, Henry J. Meyer Professor of Social Work, University of Michigan School of Social Work Email: tropman@umich.edu Work Phone: 734-763-6275 Laura Lein, Dean, University of Michigan School of Social Work Katherine E. Reebel Collegiate Professor of Social Work and Professor of Anthroplogy Email: leinl@umich.edu Work Phone: 734-764-5347 Berit Ingersoll-Dayton, Director of Joint Doctoral Program and Professor of Social Work Email: BID@umich.edu
16 Work Phone: 734 763-6577 Mary Corcoran, Professor of Political Science, Professor of Social Work, Professor of Public Policy, Research Associate Professor, ISR Email: marycor@umich.edu Work Phone: 734-764-9517
Research Statement Tillotson 1 Research Statement Amanda Tillotson Before enrolling in the Joint Doctoral Program, I worked as a community advocate for vulnerable populations, including victims of domestic violence and homeless and near-homeless families and individuals. I chose to attend graduate school both because I saw the effects of social and economic policy on the daily lives of these individuals and because I saw that nonprofit organizations were vital to the development and implementation of community solutions to these problems. One of the factors that had an important impact on my decision was the way in which policy definitions of homelessness impacted my practice. At the time, the McKinney-Vento Act, which funded our agency’s housing advocacy program, prioritized work with the “chronically homeless.� The policy defined this population as one of unaccompanied adults who had resided in a shelter or on the street. As an advocate, I was confronted with a disjuncture between this definition and the situation of the many insecurely housed families who needed assistance: each day, I had to find ways to assist families who had not had stable housing, in some cases, for years, but who did not meet the policy definition of chronic homelessness. This also posed challenges for our nonprofit agency as it struggled to find ways to continue this unfunded work. As a doctoral student in political science and social work, my experience has led me to focus my academic research on two areas. First, I do work that examines the way in which public policies and the legal environment affect the development of racial and economic inequalities. Second, I study the organization and management of nonprofit agencies, often focusing on the way in which nonprofit organizations adapt to changing policy and funding environments. Many of these projects interrogate conventional understandings in order to break new ground. Using my training in social work and in political science, I draw both on qualitative and quantitative methods and on a variety of literatures. In terms of methodology, my projects have used case studies, interviews, primary source research, legal research, and statistical analysis. My work in the area of policy and inequality draws from literature on policy history, the social construction of target populations, legal theory, critical race theory, economic theory, and institutional theory to examine the ways in which ideas about poverty and race take shape and influence public policies that determine patterns of resource distribution. My work in the area of nonprofit organization and management draws from literature on organizational theory, resource dependence theory, regulatory theory and advocacy theory as well as from work on the relationship of organizations to complex social, economic, and political environments. My research is informed by my experience as a community advocate, which required me to apply policies and theoretical frameworks to real difficulties experienced by real individuals and community organizations.
Research Statement Tillotson 2
The Role of Public Policies in Creating and Exacerbating Racial and Economic Disparities I.
Dissertation Research
My dissertation, Race, Risk and Real Estate: Essays on the Home Ownership State, examines the way in which ideas about race shaped national policies that aimed to expand access to home ownership. The papers in the project argue that African Americans were associated with elevated levels of financial risk by mortgage lenders, by federal programs that aimed to expand home ownership, and by the appraisal industry. The three papers examine the way in which attributions about racial risk were incorporated into the first efforts to develop national policies to expand home ownership, the way in which these attributions were legitimated by court decisions, and the way in which assumptions about racial risk undergirded FHA appraisal practices that advantaged White purchasers. The conclusion of the dissertation argues that the idea of racial risk has continued to create racial disparities in opportunities for home ownership. Persistent racial disparities in housing and home ownership opportunities are central to the concerns of social work: the geographic concentration of poverty and residential racial segregation have been linked to “neighborhood” effects on the well-being of children and vulnerable populations; patterns of access to housing affect access to transportation, employment opportunities and quality education; and the quality of housing has been linked both directly and indirectly to physical and mental health. For most Americans, home ownership is the principal source of wealth. For African Americans, the home is much more likely to constitute the sole asset. The persistent racial disparity in ownership- since the beginning of the 20th century, African American ownership rates have consistently lagged those of Whites by around 25% - has been identified as the major contributor to the continued racial wealth gap: in 2013, White median net worth was 17 times that of African Americans. Further, homes in racially segregated neighborhoods have appreciated at lower rates than those in predominantly White neighborhoods. Racial ownership disparities therefore have important implications for asset-based interventions and for understanding larger patterns of economic inequality. Prior to the Depression, most Americans were not home owners, since banks and other institutional lenders required very high down payments and limited mortgage terms to five years in order to reduce the risk of nonperformance. Majority home ownership was created in large part by the FHA (founded in 1934) which shifted lenders’ risk exposure by underwriting mortgages that met requirements such as reduced down payments and extended time horizons. FHA programs, however, produced raciallydisparate results: Ira Katznelson, for example, has famously noted that they constituted “affirmative action” in wealth-building for Whites, since they provided early access to home ownership during a period of rapidly-appreciating home values. The specific institutional mechanisms that produced these results have received a good deal of attention, but existing accounts focus primarily on the political factors that produced them without examining the role played by assumptions about the economic risks posed by Black purchasers.
Research Statement Tillotson 3 The issue of racial risk, I argue, is critical because it constitutes a thread that runs through national policies and institutions created to expand home ownership from their beginning in the period around World War I. These attributions shaped the development of the subprime mortgage industry and continue to produce racial disparities in ownership. In fact, the disparity in Black and White ownership rates has held virtually constant since the early 20th century, despite the demise of de jure segregation and despite repeated changes in the formal structure of federal programs to promote ownership. Although there is a continuing racial income gap, there is an ownership disparity at all income levels. The first paper in the dissertation, “Race, risk and real estate: The first iteration of the home ownership state: 1917-1932,” lays out the concept of racial risk and examines the way in which it was incorporated into the first attempts to develop national programs to expand home ownership. The paper, based on primary source materials, argues that national programs to expand ownership were a response to challenges that included the growth of anti-capitalist ideologies, the mass migration of African Americans to northern cities, and the breakdown of urban order. Attempts to expand ownership aimed to give working and lower middle class individuals a bricks and mortar interest in the institution of private property and the political arrangements that supported it, reducing risks to the political, social and economic status quo. African Americans, who faced both economic and racial barriers to ownership, were one of the target populations for early efforts. However, implementation of these efforts depended on the co-operation of lenders who employed racialized constructions of financial risk that were supported by appraisal practices, by the real estate industries, by the legal order. African Americans were assessed to be riskier borrowers both because of their behavior as consumers and because African American residence was associated with negative externalities such as crime, delinquency, and property deterioration. I have presented versions of this paper at two refereed conferences. The second paper, “Property as theft: The unexamined legacy of Shelley v. Kraemer,” analyzes case law and primary source documents to analyze the role of the legal system in codifying and legitimating the notion that African American ownership reduced property values and created other negative externalities. It examines court decisions around restrictive covenants, arguing that decisions both to uphold and to overturn specific covenants held that African American ownership reduced the actual and potential value of properties, effectively stealing value from Whites. This logic both reflected and legitimated understandings that pervaded the appraisal, real estate, and financial sectors. I argue that, while the Supreme Court’s decision in Shelley, which held court enforcement of restrictive covenants unconstitutional, is typically viewed as a turning point in the history of residential segregation, it did not repudiate the underlying logic of racial risk, so that this concept continued to produce racial disparities both in privately issued mortgages and in the federal programs that underwrote them. I have presented versions of this paper at several refereed conferences, and a proposal based on this paper received the 2015-16 Race, Law and History fellowship at the University of Michigan Law School. The third paper, “Appraising the FHA”, interrogates conventional understandings about the role of the FHA in creating racial disparities in home ownership. Existing accounts point to specific mechanisms in the lending process as the source of these disparities, arguing that these discriminatory lending practices resulted primarily from political bargains with local authorities and a Congress dominated by
Research Statement Tillotson 4 the South. However, based on primary source research, I argue that the discriminatory lending practices used by this Agency were shaped by the notion that African American borrowers presented elevated levels of risk. By holding down lending to African American purchasers, the Agency aimed to reduce its own risks and to secure participation by lenders who connected race to risk. The paper is significant because it unpacks the idea of “institutional racism,” arguing that FHA practice was shaped by the Agency’s environment, and that discriminatory usages both reflected and reproduced assumptions about race and risk. An early version of this paper, “Race, Risk and Real Estate: The Federal Housing Administration and Black Homeownership in the Post World War II Homeownership State” was published in 2015 in the DePaul Journal for Social Justice 8:1. Future Research Agenda: I plan to develop a book-length manuscript that examines the way in which racialized attributions of risk shaped the development of national policies toward African American home ownership. Based on my existing publication and on presentations of my work, I have thus far been contacted by five publishers to express their interest in the project. I also plan to do further work on the way in which home ownership and other economic factors connect to ideas of citizenship. II. •
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Other Policy Related Work Two of my current projects involve work with Dean Laura Lein on a mixed methods data set that examines the lives of individuals who panhandle in Austin, Texas. These papers reflect our finding that virtually all individuals had lengthy labor histories before beginning to panhandle and that most would prefer to return to the formal labor market. One working paper, “The Policy Nexus: The Interaction of Health Issues and Social Capital in the Lives of Panhandlers,” examines the role of health issues in creating breaks from the formal labor market and focuses on the role of public policies that limit access to health care in preventing labor market re-entry. A second paper, “’I want to work, I really do’: Panhandlers’ relationships to the formal informal labor market” is currently under review. It examines the way in which panhandlers construct their relationship to the formal labor market. We find that most of these individuals remain connected to labor markets, both in terms of incorporating the norms and vocabulary of the formal workforce, and in terms of maintaining connections to work other than panhandling, but that their housing status and public policies create barriers to market participation. Both projects are significant because they move beyond a focus on panhandling as a problem of individual deviance and focus on the role of structural factors. Amanda Tillotson. “Welfare Crimes: Welfare Fraud Prosecution, the Criminalization of LowIncome Coping Strategies, and the Reproduction of Poverty” (Revise and Resubmit, Journal of Poverty). This study is based on a unique 120- case data set which provides information on all cases of welfare fraud prosecution in a New York County during a two year period. I constructed this data set from court reports that include specific infractions and programs involved amounts of alleged fraud, and disposition of charges. I supplement this data set with interviews with local prosecutors and welfare fraud inspectors. I find that, while the criminal justice system treats welfare fraud as pre-meditated theft that involves deliberate deception and produces high-dollar proceeds, most charges arise from the failure to report
Research Statement Tillotson 5
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short-term changes in household composition or employment in the SNAP and Medicaid programs, where benefits are paid in goods and services but must be repaid in cash. Amanda Tillotson. “Legitimizing Illegitimacy: The Children’s Bureau and the Struggle to Create an Inclusive Welfare State.” The early development of the American welfare state was shaped by the exclusion of children born outside of wedlock from most Mothers’ pension programs. This reduced overall participation and had disproportionate effects on African American and Native American women and children. This paper, based on primary source research, examines the Children’s Bureau’s efforts to bring US policy in line with that of other contemporary nations, which did not connect eligibility to birth mothers’ marital status. Target Journal: Social Service Review. Amanda Tillotson. “Racial Pathology and Urban Renewal.” Using primary source materials, this paper examines the use of cancer metaphors to characterize Black urban neighborhoods and to justify urban renewal projects as surgical interventions to root out this pathology. Current Research Project: Amanda Tillotson (P.I.)“House Poor?” This project asks whether home ownership is an effective asset- building strategy for low-income families and individuals. The pilot project creates a qualitative data set based on interviews with 50 lowincome home owners and supplements this with an analysis of data on property appreciation rates, property tax rates, and financing arrangements. It asks how low-income owners fund home maintenance, property taxes and property assessments, and examines whether ownership discourages individuals from leaving deteriorating neighborhoods or moving to secure better employment.
Nonprofit Organization and Management My work on nonprofit organization and management focuses on the unique challenges that confront organizations in this sector. I am interested in the ways in which nonprofits are challenged by the social, political and economic environments within which they operate. •
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One area of my research has examined the ways in which the nonprofit environment presents difficulties that impact evaluation of the performance of chief executives and of agencies. This line of inquiry draws from a theoretical background that includes the “wicked problems” literature, principal-agent theory, and studies of board-executive interaction. This line of inquiry produced an award-winning article on which I was first author: Amanda Tillotson and John Tropman (2014). “Early Responders, Late Responders and Non-Responders: The Principal Agent Problem and Board Monitoring of Nonprofit CEO’s” (Human Services Organizations: Management, Administration and Governance, 38:4) was awarded the Mary Parker Follette Prize for best theory-informed article. This paper develops and analyzes 12 cases of non-profit CEO malfeasance, examining the way in which the structure of the non-profit environment complicates board efforts to monitor CEO performance. I also research the way in which changes in the policy and economic environments challenge nonprofit organizations. I am particularly interested in the way in which these changes affect agencies that engage political and legal advocacy for vulnerable groups. This work draws on
Research Statement Tillotson 6
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the “hollow state” literature, on the resource dependence literature, literature on the role of changes in legislative rules and structures on legislative outputs and on political science and sociological literature that examines the role of nonprofits as advocates for under-represented groups. One result of this research agenda has been an article to which I contributed research and writing: Eve Garrow, Sandra Danziger, and Amanda Tillotson (2015), “Shifting Sands that Threaten Policy Advocacy for Vulnerable Children and Youth”, Children and Youth Services Review53. This article examines the way in which simultaneous changes in the structure of the state legislature, such as the institution of term limits, and in the evaluation criteria of foundations, such as the emphasis on quantitative and measureable outcomes, challenged a Michigan agency that provided legislative advocacy around children’s issues. A current research project on which I am the principal investigator also reflects this agenda. “When the State Steps In: How State Policy Interventions Affect Nonprofit Child Advocacy Organizations” develops and analyzes case studies of CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) agencies in 16 Pennsylvania counties. CASA is a nonprofit organization that uses volunteers to provide family courts with independent assessments of families involved with the child welfare system. In 2014, Pennsylvania’s child welfare law changed, requiring publically-funded legal services for both parents and children involved in the system. This created a new policy environment as legislatures in many counties reduced or ended funding to CASA on the ground that they were now required to fund the new legal requirements. The project draws on the literature on the hollow state, on legislative decision making, and on advocacy around child welfare issues. This research breaks new ground in that it examines an unexpected complication that can occur for agencies that have provided public or quasi-public services: when state laws or policies change to provide, rather than to reduce services, these agencies may be forced to adapt to changes in funding and to rethink the agency mission.
Future Research Agenda: I plan to complete the CASA project within the next year and draft a manuscript for publication. I plan also to examine other environmental challenges to nonprofits, including changes in the geographic distribution of poverty and racial inequality. Within the next two years, I plan to design and implement a project that examines the ways in which communitybased nonprofits in wealthy communities interact with clients and agencies in adjacent poor communities. My current plan is to examine this in the context of Oak Park and Austin, Illinois.
Conclusion My research and publication history indicates that I am well-positioned to design and to implement projects that contribute to understandings of the way in which policies create and exacerbate economic and racial inequality, and to develop and implement projects that examine the effect of economic, social and political challenges to non-profit organizations. I have been able to secure both internal and external funding for projects, and this capacity will, I believe, increase
Research Statement Tillotson 7 as my publication record builds. The work that I do has the potential for significant impact because it often develops new perspectives on existing issues or develops new areas of inquiry.
Teaching Statement Tillotson 1 Teaching Philosophy Statement “Education is all a matter of building bridges.” Ralph Ellison Amanda Tillotson Introduction During my time at the University of Michigan, I have been fortunate to teach classes and to mentor students in areas that address the issues of social and economic inequality and social justice in which I am particularly interested. For four years, I served as a Graduate Student Instructor for Contemporary Issues, a Political Science course that addressed issues of poverty, racial inequality and economic distribution. I also served as a Graduate Student Instructor for a course on urban politics in which we examined the role of economic and racial disparities in shaping patterns of urban development, and for a course on the politics of constitutional issues that considered the changing legal context of race and gender. During the summer of 2013, I had the opportunity to be the instructor of record for Black Americans and the Politics of Race, a Political Science course that examined the way in which understandings about race shaped public policies and national politics. Each of these teaching experiences challenged me to build bridges. In bridging the two disciplines of political science and social work, a critical challenge has been that of connecting abstract concepts and theories to real world outcomes. The classroom has also been a site for constructing bridges to connect students from very different backgrounds while allowing individuals to decide how much- or how littlethey wish to reveal about the reality of their lives. I have also been privileged to mentor students in work on research projects outside of class. For three years, I participated in the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program. I worked with student researchers on designing and conducting both qualitative and quantitative studies that examined the role of race in the subprime mortgage crisis. Two of these papers were accepted for presentation at the Midwestern Political Science Association, providing the student co-authors with a chance to experience this aspect of academic life. One student entered an abstract of our project in a national undergraduate research competition, and was chosen as a finalist, earning him a trip to a national conference that gave him his first opportunity to travel outside the Midwest. I have continued to work with former students as they have developed and completed honors thesis projects on topics such as urban transportation and media portrayals of poor mothers. I have made it a point to offer extended office hours and other out-of-class opportunities to become better acquainted with my students. These relationships become particularly important when I am asked to recommend them for post-graduate opportunities. I recently received a letter from the Dean of Admissions at a top-ranked law school, noting that my reference for a student whom they had admitted was a “model” for writing an effective recommendation and that it had been a major factor in her admission to this very competitive program.
Teaching Statement Tillotson 2
Teaching Goals What can dividing a supply of granola bars teach students about the way in which economic and social policies distribute and redistribute resources? For several years, I was a Graduate Student Instructor for Contemporary Issues in American Politics, a class that focused on the politics of economic and social policy. On the first day of class each semester, I brought one granola bar for each student. I began this class by asking how the bars could fairly be divided. Students at first said that there should be one per person. Then I introduced complications. What if some students don’t like granola bars? What if some students recently had food, while others were hungry? Should we save bars for those who might join the section later? Should we impose criteria to determine who deserves a granola bar? We then connected the discussion to the distributive and redistributive issues posed by social and economic policy. When I asked students to evaluate this activity, comments indicated that this exercise was one that they would always remember. The granola bar exercise incorporates one of my five teaching goals: I aim to teach information and analytic techniques in memorable and creative ways. My second goal is to develop collective knowledge. I structure my classes to include group activities that encourage collective learning. These activities have included debates, class presentations, and the development of “collective learning documents” in particular subject areas. In developing these documents, each student is asked to provide a summary and analysis of one assigned article. I then assemble these summaries into a document that is sent to all students. Although the summaries included in the document are anonymous, the initial disparity between excellent and acceptable summaries prompted more effort from all students: by the end of the semester, virtually all students produce excellent summaries. Similarly, we typically “workshop” paper ideas and partial paper drafts in small groups, encouraging collective learning and incentivizing improvement. Students have also cited this as a valuable aspect of their class experience. Third, I structure my classes to provide students with an opportunity to develop their ability to express ideas clearly. I provide a great deal of assistance with writing, and I typically read drafts of student papers. I also hold optional workshops outside class which give students the opportunity to discuss upcoming papers. I also hold in-class “writing days” during which students divide into small groups that allow them to ask for peer comments on early drafts and to discuss the challenges of addressing particular topics. Fourth, I aim to teach students that politics, institutions, and the policies that they produce have real consequences for real individuals. I strongly believe in bringing real world examples into the class room. In doing this, I want to avoid inculcating students with a pre-ordained ideology and to help them develop their own point of view and to use evidence to support the positions that they construct. Student comments cited the “reality dimension” as a memorable aspect of the course. One teaching exercise that I developed in this context involves what I call “the index of economic difference.” I began this project in an effort to help students understand and define the real world meaning of inequality. This can be a challenge at the University of Michigan, which has a very low
Teaching Statement Tillotson 3 proportion of students who are from lower-income backgrounds. This exercise allows students to maintain anonymity while helping them to develop an understanding of the factors that place some individuals closer to the economic margins than others. I developed a set of questions (appended to this statement) derived from research studies that measure economic challenges. Students then responded anonymously to the questionnaire, and we constructed histograms from the resulting responses. Student responses to this exercise have been extremely positive. Those from more affluent backgrounds noted that they had never before considered the advantages that their circumstances provided or the challenges faced by those from less affluent backgrounds. Students who experienced more economic challenges indicated that the exercise enabled them to share their reality without violating their anonymity. Fifth, I aim to make my classroom an inclusive learning community in which political and ideological differences are respected and acceptance of diversity in areas such as sexual and gender preference, race, ethnicity, religion and social class is an organizing principle. I have found that classes that address race are particularly challenging in this regard. On the first day of class, I address the challenge of maintaining civility in the context of open discussion. We regularly revisit issues of civility and inclusion, discussing ways in which our national discourse incorporates negative attributions about particular groups and succeeds or fails in modeling respectful disagreement. I take full advantage of “teachable moments� to address issues of inclusion. Early in one semester, for example, an assigned article pointed out that most White Americans believe that African Americans face little discrimination and are as well off as Whites. One student argued that the fact that most Whites believed this suggested that it might be true, leading to a discussion of ways in which widespread but incorrect beliefs about particular groups have structured politics, public policies and public understandings. To assess the effects of this discussion, I revisited the issue later in the semester, and found that virtually all students had begun to evaluate policies and political discourse from a more critical perspective. Conclusion As an Assistant Professor, I would be interested in teaching classes in social work policy and practice; in the history of social work; on issues of racial and economic justice; on the intersection of policy and practice and in qualitative and mixed methods research. I look forward to the opportunity to work both with undergraduate and with graduate students and to involve them in my ongoing research projects. I would be very interested in developing a seminar that examines the ways in which legal and political institutions create economic and racial disparities. I would also be interested in developing a seminar that examines the development of social welfare policy in the United States. I hope to continue to build bridges among disciplines and among diverse groups of students.
Teaching Statement Tillotson 4 APPENDIX: Index of Economic Difference Give yourself one point for each statement that accurately describes you. Add up your numbers to create a total score, and write it on a folded piece of paper with no name. I will pass around an envelope at the beginning of class, and ask you to place your paper in the envelope. We’ll create a histogram on the board based on the results and discuss its implications. 1. You have a parent or someone else on whom you could depend for help if you had a problem that cost more than $500.00 to fix. Examples- your car breaks down, you have an unexpected medical expense, or you need extra help with rent. 2.
You have health insurance other than that available through the University.
3. Either you or your parents have enough assets to see you through a 6 month spell of unemployment after you graduate. 4.
You have dental insurance.
5.
You have a paid-off vehicle or have no vehicle by choice, not because you can’t afford one.
6.
You have no student loans.
7. You do not have to work during the school year in order to continue attending college – if you work, it’s your decision, and not the only way you can attend school. 8.
You grew up in a home that your parents owned.
9. You attended a high school where more than 70% of students graduated and more than 65% went on to college (best guess). 10.
You grew up in a two-parent home.
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One or both parents graduated from college.
12.
At least one parent has been continuously employed – that is, no layoffs, no job loss.
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Both parents were over the age of 22 when you were born.
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You have credit cards.
15.
You don’t carry a balance on your credit cards.
16. You don’t have to work during the summer to continue attending college- if you work, it’s your decision, not because you would have to drop out if you didn’t. 17.
As a child, you never received public benefits (food stamps, Medicaid, cash assistance).
18.
You grew up in a home where the annual income was 70,000 a year or higher.
19.
Financial considerations did not affect your decision about what college to attend.
Teaching Statement Tillotson 5 20. You do not have to help support, either financially or in terms of providing care for, children, parents, other relatives, or a spouse/partner.
MARIA V. WATHEN 111 Fieldcrest Street 303, Ann Arbor MI 48103 mwathen@umich.edu, 1-630-432-1770 EDUCATION PhD
University of Michigan - Ann Arbor Joint Program in Social Work and Sociology, expected June 2016 Dissertation Title: Civic Culture Frameworks, Volunteerism, and Implications for Family and Child Welfare: A Case Study of Nizhny Novgorod, Russia Received Fulbright IIE Grant for this research. Dissertation Co-chairs: Mary C. Ruffolo (Social Work) and Barbara A. Anderson (Sociology). Other members: Sandra K. Danziger (Social Work & Public Policy), Scott W. Allard (Public Affairs, University of Washington), Karin Martin (Sociology).
MA
University of Michigan - Ann Arbor Sociology, Specializations: Inequality, Demography, 2012
MSW University of Michigan - Ann Arbor Practice Method/Area: Interpersonal Practice/Mental Health, 2010 MA
Northern Illinois University English with focus on adult education pedagogy, 1996
BA
Wheaton College Sociology, Summa cum Laude, 1987
LICENSURE Aug. 2013
Masters Social Worker License #6801092175, State of Michigan
REFEREED ARTICLES Wathen, Maria V., Allard, S.W. (2014). “Local Nonprofit Welfare Provision: The United States and Russia.” Public Administration Issues, n. Special, pp. 7-28. http://vgmu.hse.ru/en/2014--5/152186643.html Wathen, Maria V. (2014). “Understanding Changes in Board and Director Roles in a Nonprofit Organization: the Need for Paradigm Synthesis and Elaboration.” Journal of Community Practice, 22:4, 472-490, DOI: 10.1080/1075422.2014.959148. Allard, S., Wathen, Maria V., & Danziger, S.K. “Bundling Public and Charitable Supports to Cope with the Effects of the Great Recession.” Forthcoming, Social Science Quarterly. TEACHING INTERESTS International social work, poverty and inequality, statistics, research methods, qualitative research, nonprofit development, family and child welfare policy and practice, mental health.
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RESEARCH INTERESTS Social service NGOs/nonprofits in emerging democracies, poverty, civil society and volunteerism, cultural issues in globalized social work education, global comparative social policy and service provision, social demography, family and child welfare, mental health practice. OTHER PUBLICATIONS Allard, S.W., Wathen, M.V., Danziger, S.K., & Shaefer, H.L. Spring/Summer 2015. “Finding Food Assistance and Food Retailers in Detroit.” Focus 32:1, Institute for Research on Poverty, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Allard, S., Danziger, S.K., & Wathen, M. April 2014. “Food Assistance During and After the Great Recession in Metropolitan Detroit.” IRP Discussion Paper No. 1420-14. Institute for Research on Poverty, University of Wisconsin-Madison: http://www.irp.wisc.edu/publications/dps/pdfs/dp142014.pdf. Danziger, S.K., Allard, S., Wathen, M., Burgard, S., Seefeldt, K., Rodems, R., & Cohen, A. 2014. “Food Insecurity in the Detroit Metropolitan Area Following the Great Recession,” National Poverty Center Policy Brief, University of Michigan, Policy Brief #39. Allard, S., Danziger, S.K., & Wathen, M. 2012. “The Receipt of Public Benefits and Private Charity among Low Income Households Following the Great Recession.” National Poverty Center, University of Michigan, Policy Brief #34. Burgard, S., Danziger, S., Seefeldt, K., Allard, S., Danziger, S.K., Engler, T., Gould-Werth, A., Kalousova, L., Pelak, S., Wathen, M. 2012. “Persisting Hardships in Southeast Michigan after the Great Recession.” National Poverty Center, University of Michigan, Policy Brief #33. Allard, S., Danziger, S.K., and Wathen, M. 2012. “Receipt of Public Benefits and Private Support among Low-income Households with Children after the Great Recession.” National Poverty Center, University of Michigan, Policy Brief #31. MANUSCRIPTS UNDER REVIEW/IN PREP Allard, S., Wathen, Maria V., & Danziger, S.K. “Place, Poverty, and Program Participation: The Relationship between Food Resource Access and Receipt of SNAP Assistance.” Submitted for Review, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management. Wathen, Maria V. “Theory Matters: How Choice of Globalization Theory Influences Our International Research, Practice, and Collaboration.” Manuscript in Preparation Wathen, Maria V., Sanhueza, G., Lopez, K., Ruffolo, M. “Globalization Theories and interpreting changes in social work in Chile & Russia. Manuscript in Preparation
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Wathen, Maria V., Allard, S.W., & Danziger, S.K. “Public Benefits, Private Charity, and Informal Monetary Support in the Wake of the Great Recession.” Manuscript in Preparation. Allard, S., Wathen, Maria V., & Paisner, S. “Grocery Shopping and Access to Food Retailers in Metropolitan Detroit.” Manuscript in Preparation. PRESENTATIONS (PEER REVIEWED) Wathen, Maria V. “Historical context and social service NGOs in Russia: implications for cross-cultural work.” Paper to be presented at the Council on Social Work Education annual program meeting, October 15-18, 2015. Wathen, Maria V., Allard, S., & Danziger, S.K. “Public Benefits, Private Charity, and Informal Monetary Support in the Wake of the Great Recession.” ePoster presented at the Society for Social Work and Research conference, January 17, 2015. Wathen, Maria V. “Civic Culture Frameworks, Volunteerism, and the Soviet Legacy: A Case Study of Nizhny Novgorod, Russia.” Poster presented at the International Society for Third Sector Research biannual conference, July 24, 2014. Allard, S., Danziger, S.K., & Wathen, Maria V. “Food Assistance During and After the Great Recession in Metropolitan Detroit.” Paper presented at the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management conference, November 9, 2013. Wathen, Maria V. “Theoretical perspectives, the development of social work education in Russia, and practice implications.” Paper presented at the Council on Social Work Education annual meeting, November 12, 2012. Wathen, Maria V. “Understanding Changes in Board and Director Roles in a Nonprofit Organization: how a cognitive-interpretive framework complements contingency and life-cycle approaches.” Paper presented at the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action, November 17, 2012. Allard, S., Danziger, S.K., & Wathen, Maria V. “Public Benefits and Private Supports in Detroit in the Wake of the Great Recession.” Paper presented by S. Danziger and M. Wathen at the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management conference, November 10, 2012. OTHER PRESENTATIONS Wathen, Maria V. “Qualitative Research in Russia: Cultural Conundrums and Emerging Patterns.” Presentation at the Fulbright Grantees mid-year seminar, January 28, 2014. Allard, S., Danziger, S.K., & Wathen, Maria V. “Food Assistance During and After the Great Recession in Metropolitan Detroit.” Paper presented by Maria Wathen at the RIDGE Small Grant Workshop, University of Wisconsin-Madison, April 19, 2013.
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Wathen, Maria V. “Child Welfare Policy & Ethical Dilemmas in Practice in Russia.” Invited presentation, course on International Social Work, University of Michigan, School of Social Work. November 2011. Wathen, Maria V. “Child welfare policy & practice in Russia in historical perspective.” Invited presentation, course on International Social Work, University of Michigan, School of Social Work. October 2010. AWARDS & FELLOWSHIPS Social Work & Social Science Faculty Research Partnership Grant, School of Social Work, University of Michigan. 2015. Irene & William Gambrill Fellowship, School of Social Work, University of Michigan. 2015. Rackham International Travel Grant, University of Michigan. 2014. Center for Russia, East Europe, and Eurasian Studies Conference Travel Grant, University of Michigan. 2014. Fulbright IIE Grant, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs, for 9 months of research in Russia. 2013-2014. Sociology Dissertation Research Grant, Sociology, University of Michigan. 2014. Rackham Graduate Student Research Grant, University of Michigan. 2013. Individual Advanced Research Opportunities Award, International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX), sponsored by the Title VIII program through the Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR), U.S. Department of State. (declined-cannot hold simultaneously with Fulbright). 2013-2014. Rackham International Research Award, University of Michigan. A highly competitive award for graduate students in any Rackham Graduate program. 2013-2014. Social Work & Social Science Faculty Research Partnership Grant, School of Social Work, University of Michigan. 2013 W.K. Kellogg Family Fellow in Children and Families, University of Michigan. 2012-2013. Rackham Conference Travel Grant, University of Michigan. 2012. Margaret Dow Towsley Scholar, Center for the Education of Women, University of Michigan. A highly competitive award for women at the University of Michigan. 2011-2012.
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International Institute Individual Fellowship, International Institute. A highly competitive fellowship for graduate students at University of Michigan. 2011. Rackham Graduate Student Research Grant, Rackham Graduate School, University of Michigan. 2011. Sociology Research Grant, Sociology Department, University of Michigan. 2011. Foreign Language Area Studies Fellowship (FLAS, US/ED Title VI), Center for Russia, East European, & Eurasian Studies, University of Michigan. 2010-2011. Social Work-Social Science Faculty Research Partnership Grant, School of Social Work, University of Michigan. 2010. Foreign Language Area Studies Fellowship (FLAS, US/ED Title VI), Center for Russia, East European, & Eurasian Studies, University of Michigan. 2009-2010. RESEARCH EXPERIENCE 2013 Present
Principal Investigator, “Civic Culture Frameworks, Volunteerism, and Implications for Family and Child Welfare: A case study of Nizhny Novgorod, Russia.” Dissertation research funded by a Fulbright IIE Grant, Rackham International Research Award, and Rackham Graduate Student Research Grant. Designed study, developed interview protocol, established connections with volunteer organizations and NGOs. From September 2013 to June 2014 in Russia, conducted on-site participant observation research in numerous NGOs. Recruited for and conducted 83 in-depth semi-structured interviews. Planned networking opportunities for NGO leaders and leaders of various faith communities (Jewish, Roman Catholic, Protestant, Russian Orthodox, and Muslim). Preliminary findings show the creation of alternative social advocacy spaces by those working in a climate antagonistic to voluntary social welfare organizations. In addition, involvement in volunteer activity is highly influenced by the Soviet legacy of state domination of services.
2011 Present
Researcher, The Michigan Recession and Recovery Study (MRRS), National Poverty Center, University of Michigan. Work with Sandra Danziger and Scott Allard (University of Washington) on projects with data from the Michigan Recession and Recovery Study. Examine participation in public income support programs by households with children, looking at differences in use by race, education, age of children, employment, health status, and the influence of income instability on family structure and health. Clean and prepare data for analysis, analyze panel data using Stata, review literature, write papers, policy briefs, memos, and sections of papers, and participate in MRRS team brainstorming, theorizing, and workshopping of papers.
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2012 2014
Researcher, “Food Assistance During and After the Great Recession in Metropolitan Detroit.” Co-PIs: Scott Allard (then University of Chicago) and Sandra Danziger (University of Michigan). Funded by a grant from the Institute for Research on Poverty, University of Wisconsin-Madison, RIDGE Center for National Food and Nutrition Assistance Research. Participated in conceptualizing our work and writing grant application, cleaned, prepared, and analyzed data, reviewed literature, represented our team by presenting our work at the RIDGE center grantee conference.
2011 2012
Principal Investigator, “Progress in family and child welfare in Russia through social work educators', practitioners', and volunteers’ eyes.” Developed an interview protocol. Established connections with social work educators, practitioners, and volunteers working in family and child welfare in three Russian cities. Conducted twenty-five 1 ½ to 2 hour semi-structured interviews in Russian.
2010, Summer
Research Assistant, The Michigan Recession and Recovery Study, National Poverty Center, University of Michigan. Reviewed literature for Sarah Burgard’s work on unemployment and health outcomes.
1994 1995
Graduate Assistant, University Resources for Latinos, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL. Conducted and wrote an initial literature review for George Gutierrez, Ed.D., URL director, for his work “A study of the relationship between selected independent variables and the success of adult Latina/o students at a four-year institution of higher learning in the Midwest.”
TEACHING EXPERIENCE 2015, Fall
Lead Instructor, University of Michigan, School of Social Work Practice in International Social Work (Master’s level course). Set learning objectives, designed syllabus, created assignments, facilitated interactive learning, graded work, coordinated guest social workers from numerous countries for in-person and distance lectures and Q & A.
2012, Fall
Graduate Student Instructor, University of Michigan, Department of Sociology. Sociology 510: Statistics (First semester of statistics for graduate students). Created practice problems relevant to new concepts, integrating a review of lecture content as we practiced statistical problem-solving. Taught Stata programming. Consulted with students outside of class as needed via email, office hours, or meetings in computer labs.
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19992007
Visiting Instructor, Moscow State University, Faculty of Foreign Languages, Moscow, Russia. Designed and taught a writing course called "Professional Writing", with a focus towards introducing Russian students to writing in international business. Taught American Literature, a course designed to familiarize students with the major authors of American literature from the 1700’s to the mid 20th century.
20022004
Instructor, University of Colorado at Denver, International College, Moscow, Russia (was affiliated with the Faculty of Foreign Languages at Moscow State University for a short time). Designed syllabi and taught business writing, core composition, and academic writing. Created engaging course assignments requiring original work, provided extensive feedback on structure, style, and grammar.
19971999
Visiting Instructor, Moscow State Linguistic University, Moscow, Russia, Pedagogical Department, September 1997-January, 1999. Designed and taught English language and American Literature courses.
1998 Jan-May
English Language and Business Writing Instructor, Arthur Andersen & Co., Moscow Office, Russia. Consulted with partners and managers in the firm on writing for business and law. Tailored lessons to individual needs. Developed students’ conversational competencies for meetings and other professional situations.
ADDITIONAL METHODOLOGICAL & STATISTICAL TRAINING 2013
Applied Survey Data Analysis, course at the Summer Institute in Survey Research Techniques, Survey Research Center, University of Michigan.
2011 2012
Research Workshop in Advanced Ethnographic Methods, Department of Sociology, University of Michigan. Three-semester monthly workshops.
2012
Longitudinal Data Analysis with Categorical Variables, course at the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR).
2011
Categorical Data Analysis, Matrix Algebra, courses at the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR).
2010
Special topics course on Advanced Qualitative Methods in Social Work, University of Michigan School of Social Work.
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2010
Hierarchical Linear Modeling & Research Methods in Social Policy Analysis, semester course at University of Michigan School of Social Work.
RELATED PRACTICE EXPERIENCE Jan. 2015 -present
Therapist, training and practice in Couples Counseling, The Women’s Center of Southeastern Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI.
2014 Present
Coordinator for program development and implementation, The Women’s Center of Southeastern Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI. Volunteer. Coordinator of team of therapists to develop an innovative program that combines training and supervision in couples’ counseling for social work therapists and new counseling services for the low-income community.
2013 2014
Mentor to children in state residential care. Residential School for Orphans #1, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. Volunteer. Planned and facilitated weekly developmental and socialization activities for 1st – 4th graders. Coordinated volunteer team of nine adults. Planned and participated in outings into the community.
2013 2014
Facilitator, Intercultural Communication Club, NGO Sphera, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. Volunteer. Prepared and facilitated monthly English-language discussion club designed to foster cross-cultural and cross-national dialogue. Created an environment of safety and respect for participants from multiple countries on five continents.
2010 2013
Support Group Facilitator, interdisciplinary weekly peer support group for female graduate students, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
2009
Therapist Intern, The Women's Center of Southeastern Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, School of Social Work field placement. Conducted individual and couples therapy with clients ages nine to sixty-two. Provided behavior management training for parents of children aged ten and under. Facilitated a divorce/break-up support group for women.
2002 2007
Co-founder, facilitator, Moscow Medical Student Service Organization, Started and developed the group with five Russian medical students. Facilitated the students’ learning of team leadership, goal setting, and decision-making. Regularly visited an orphanage to spend time with the kids. Took the older ones to cultural events in the city. 2002-2005. Received training in AIDS education and prevention for young teenagers. Visited youth detention centers to teach this interactive material. 2006-2007. Networked with community organizations.
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2004 2007
Founding (and only foreign) member, Executive Board, Russian Medical Student Association. Russia. In 2004, the Moscow medical group leaders met with leaders from four similar student groups from other cities of Russia and agreed to form a cooperative association. Guided the leaders in a process of articulating the mission statement, purpose, and goals of the movement. Helped them understand and evaluate the various organizational options for working together. Worked with the Board to plan and organize an international medical conference, held in Kursk, Russia, in July 2005.
2005 July
Director, Lingua-cultural exchange program. Moscow and Tver region, Russia. In collaboration with an American colleague, designed the program for a nineteen-day exchange between Moscow State University students and American students. Directed the program on-site. Conducted cultural, safety, and geographic orientation for American students and staff. Responsible for all logistics, from transportation, housing and meals to registration, communication with facilities, payment, and excursions. Led seminars on intercultural communication. At the conclusion of the program, organized a one-day service-learning volunteer experience for the entire group doing rehab and painting at a regional orphanage.
2002 Jan-June
On-site Coordinator of the University of Colorado at Denver’s study abroad program for undergraduates. Moscow, Russia. Designed and led cross-cultural training and orientation to the city. Coordinated student housing. Regularly met with students to process their experiences. Organized and led cultural enrichment outings. Provided financial and program reports to the University of Colorado at Denver study abroad office.
2001 2003
Organizer, facilitator, Debate and Discussion Club. Moscow State University, Faculty of Foreign Languages.
1994 1995
Graduate Assistant, University Resources for Latinos (URL), Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL. Provided follow-up and mentoring for freshman students of Hispanic background. Tutored students. Wrote Mission Statement and Assessment Plan for URL after interviewing director and students, compiling available information, and conducting library research.
LANGUAGES English (first), advanced Russian and German
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PROFESSIONAL SERVICE Ongoing
Reviewer, American Journal of Sociology.
20152016
Invited Member. University of Michigan Provost’s Advisory Search Committee for new Dean of the School of Social Work.
2015
Doctoral Student Representative, Distinguished Faculty of the Year Selection Committee, School of Social Work, University of Michigan
2012 Jan.-May
Symposium Planner. “Cross-National Perspectives on Mental Health: Addressing Issues of Trauma.” Held May 11, 2012, University of Michigan. Collaborated with a team to define the vision and plan the content and schedule for the symposium. Created an on-line registration system and corresponded with registrants. Designed, produced, and distributed public announcements. Coordinated volunteers for on-site registration logistics on day of conference.
Elected Positions: 2011 2013
Doctoral Student Representative, Office of Global Activities Advisory Board, School of Social Work, University of Michigan. Represented the interests of doctoral students and contributed to policy discussions regarding the development of the Office of Global Activities.
2010 2012
Co-chair, Doctoral Student Organization (DSO) of the School of Social Work at the University of Michigan. Represented doctoral students at meetings with the Dean. Served as a liaison between the Director of the Doctoral Program and doctoral students, giving feedback on implementation of university and school policy. Collaborated with the Director on solutions to problematic issues for doctoral students (for example, creating a faculty-led panel on applying for grants after it became clear from data that students from underrepresented groups and first-generation students applied for and received significantly fewer grants). Coordinated mentoring partnerships for incoming students with current students. Set agenda and led monthly DSO meetings with input from School of Social Work student committee representatives.
2008 2010
Treasurer, Doctoral Student Organization (DSO) of the School of Social Work at the University of Michigan. Compiled the first ever year-end financial statement for the DSO. Created annual budget proposals for the Dean. Tracked income and expenses. Created a budget and accounting system and handbook for future DSO Treasurers.
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MEMBERSHIPS & AFFILIATIONS American Sociological Society Society for Social Work and Research Council on Social Work Education Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action International Society for Third-Sector Research Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, University of Michigan - Graduate Student Associate Population Studies Center, University of Michigan - Student Affiliate OTHER WORK EXPERIENCE Consultant, Arthur Andersen & Co., Moscow Office, Russia. 1998. Trainer, curriculum designer, Andersen Worldwide Organization, Center for Professional Education, St. Charles, Illinois. 1996-98. This was the worldwide training facility for the two former Andersen business units, Arthur Andersen and Andersen Consulting. Accountant, David S. Bell, Ltd., CPAs, Lombard, IL. 1984-92. PROFESSIONAL REFERENCES Mary C. Ruffolo, PhD Professor of Social Work University of Michigan 1080 S. University Ave. Ann Arbor MI 48109 (734) 936-4799 mruffolo@umich.edu
Sandra K. Danziger, PhD Professor of Social Work Research Professor of Public Policy University of Michigan 1080 S. University Ave. Ann Arbor MI 48109 (734) 764-5254 sandrakd@umich.edu
Barbara A. Anderson, PhD Professor of Sociology & Population Studies Research Professor, Population Studies Center University of Michigan 500 South State Street Ann Arbor MI 48109-1382 (734) 763-1221 barba@umich.edu
Scott W. Allard, PhD Professor of Public Affairs Evans School of Public Policy & Governance University of Washington 4100 15th Ave NE Seattle, WA 98195-3055 (206) 221-4872 sallard@uw.edu
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Research Statement
Maria V. Wathen, MSW, LMSW PhD Candidate, Social Work & Sociology My research interests lie in the areas of family and child well-being, the development and role of nonprofits in service delivery, international social work, globalization and its impact on social policy and systems at the local level, and poverty. Using both quantitative and qualitative research methods in both the United States and other countries, my work sits at the convergence of social work and policy, sociology, political science, and psychology, and utilizes theories of social movements, social change, civil society development, organizations, globalization, social development, and inequality. My training and experience as a clinical social worker in addition to my experience in business and education inform my work as a researcher, just as my research informs my practice and teaching. Below, I discus three related lines of investigation that characterize my current research projects and future agenda: 1) the role of nonprofits and volunteerism in social service delivery, 2) globalization and its impact on social policy, systems, and social work education at national and local levels, and 3) the utilization of public and private social programs by low income households and individuals. 1) The Role of Nonprofits and Volunteerism in Social Service Delivery Dissertation Research Title: Civic Culture Frameworks, Volunteerism, and Implications for Family and Child Welfare: A case study of Nizhny Novgorod, Russia The concept of civil society seems simple on the surface – the social space outside of the family that is neither the government nor the market in which citizens cooperate to improve collective well-being. This space can include everything from neighborhood gardening collectives, to human rights advocacy organizations, to volunteer groups serving vulnerable populations. Though the concept is simple, in practice the shape of civil society varies across cultural, historic, economic, and policy contexts. Broadly speaking, this dissertation explores how civil society, taking the forms of volunteerism and nonprofit social welfare organizations, arose in a context in which such phenomena were largely nonexistent. Specifically, I look at the grassroots development of civil society and its impact on social services to families and children in post-communist Russia. Funding from a Fulbright Grant and a Rackham Grant enabled me to conduct 83 twohour semi-structured in-depth interviews with various stakeholders and to complete nine months of participant observation in several nonprofit and government social services organizations in one Russian city. Each of the two-hour interviews was digitally recorded and then transcribed. My analytic process uses methods of grounded theory and a case study approach, utilizing Nvivo and an iterative process of coding, reflection, and memo-writing. I characterize emerging civil society from the on-the-ground perspective of actors in this system. Actors/stakeholders include volunteers, paid service providers, leaders of nonprofit organizations, government social welfare administrators, recipients of service, and nonvolunteer community members. These data provide a concrete example of how volunteerism and nonprofits develop, provide services, and advocate for change in a post-communist, constantly-changing economic Wathen RS 1 of 5
and political environment. Three papers arising out of this data make up my dissertation: (1) Volunteering, Nonstate Organizations, & Activism in Russian Social Services: a public sphere of repression, resistance, and renewal, (2) Theoretical Distinctions in Civic Culture Frameworks of Volunteers versus Non-volunteers in Russia: influence of the Soviet legacy, and (3) Stakeholder Perceptions of Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action in Social Services: multiple understandings of benefits, limitations, service utilization and state support. My findings contribute to theory development in several ways. In the first paper, I theorize the emergence of a new public sphere in which small nonprofit social service organization leaders find avenues of advocacy distinctive to the post-communist government structure in their city. Not functioning in ways that traditional social movement literature would define as advocacy because of a repressive environment, they nevertheless are able to promote incremental change. In the second paper, I examine the civic culture frameworks of those who volunteer versus those who do not, and how understandings of government responsibility versus citizen participation influence volunteering decisions and type of service provided. Among other things, I found that nonvolunteers are fairly consistent in their civic culture frameworks, while volunteer frameworks fell into multiple groups: those who felt the government SHOULD take care of social welfare needs and that they were being good citizens and “helping” the government, those who felt the government SHOULD take care of social welfare needs and were annoyed that citizens had to fill the gaps (but felt that they could not stand by and watch people suffer), those who didn’t expect the government to take care of all social welfare needs and felt that it was everyone’s responsibility to care for each other, and those who didn’t expect the government to provide services and felt it was part of national duty to volunteer. This paper argues for an expanded understanding of civic culture frameworks in civil society theory. In the third paper, I examine how positions in social and economic structures influence how various stakeholders understand nonprofit social service delivery, and how these understandings link to service delivery and utilization. I find divergent perceptions of nonprofit service provision, from that of nonprofits as a threat to state power and control, to thinking that nonprofits are flexible innovators of service in changing contexts. The divergent perceptions serve to weaken service delivery on several levels, prevent collaboration among practitioners, and deter potential service users from seeking service. In the future, I will develop these dissertation papers into manuscripts for journal submission, and will continue to research social work and nonprofit social service development in Eastern Europe and Eurasia. Other Research I have published two other articles that relate to this first line of research regarding the role of nonprofits and volunteerism in social service delivery. I summarize them below. Wathen, Maria V., Allard, S.W. (2014). “Local Nonprofit Welfare Provision: The United States and Russia.” Public Administration Issues, n. Special, pp. 7-28. This is a comparative paper about nonprofit welfare provision in the U.S. and Russia. We provide historical overviews of both contexts and then examine data from two surveys of social service organizations in the U.S. We find that nonstate actors strengthen social capital in poor neighborhoods and often link poor persons to public agencies. However, financing arrangements of nonstate welfare provision sometimes favors efficiency over concerns about equity, sustainability, and predictability. In addition, the primacy of nonstate provision leads to a welfare Wathen RS 2 of 5
state that is more varied geographically than might be anticipated. Such variability appears to disadvantage high-poverty and predominately minority communities. These findings invoke important questions for both U.S. and Russian policy-makers as they seek to develop an equitable and efficient means of providing assistance to their populations. Wathen, Maria V. (2014). “Understanding Changes in Board and Director Roles in a Nonprofit Organization: the Need for Paradigm Synthesis and Elaboration.” Journal of Community Practice, 22:4, 472-490. As I studied the literature on nonprofit social services in the U.S., and because of my experience helping establish a nonprofit in Russia, I became intrigued by issues of organizational leadership, change, and survival. Here, I present a U.S. case study examining nonprofit board and director roles, using three organizational change approaches: contingency, life-cycle, and cognitive-interpretive. Data include the monthly board meeting minutes and director’s reports for the first five years of the organization’s existence. Although numerous studies have examined either board functioning and roles or organizational change using one of these models, this is the first study to use an historical approach to compare the explanatory fit of the various approaches. I conclude that although all three theoretical approaches are productive explanatory frameworks for organizational change, each one, on its own, is incomplete. Further theoretical synthesis and paradigm elaboration is needed for understanding nonprofit director and board relationships. 2) Globalization and Its Impact on Social Policy, Systems, and Social Work Education at National and Local Levels In this second line of research, I investigate how the theories we use in conceptualizing global processes influence our definition of problems, identification of possible solutions, and collaboration with international partners. Conceptions of Globalization and Influence on International Social Work My interest in this line of research arose out of 25 semi-structured interviews with social workers and social work educators undertaken as pre-dissertation research in Russia, funded by several grants. I learned a great deal about respondents’ perspectives on globalization and international influence. I subsequently conducted an extensive literature review on globalization theories in general as well as globalization in social work education, policy, and practice. I am currently working on two papers arising out of the literature review and research. In the first, I concentrate on theory and argue that the type of globalization theory we adopt will affect whether and how we recognize varying levels of power in designing research, creating policy, and collaborating for change. I assert that glocalization is the globalization theory most sensitive to power and vulnerable populations. I have invited three colleagues to co-author the second paper, which takes these concepts and looks at actual data from Chile and Russia. In this paper, we show how the dominant globalization narrative suppresses the individual and collective voices of affected groups, and argue for using alternative theories in approaching cross-cultural collaboration. Cultural Humility I am currently developing related lines of inquiry that integrate the theory and practice of cultural humility with international work and globalization paradigms. In my writing, I plan to Wathen RS 3 of 5
address practical questions for social workers and researchers, such as: How do researchers avoid imposing outside paradigms, understandings, and practices but instead promote contextualized adaptation as well as creation of interventions by colleagues who know their own communities? How do I as a scholar and practitioner respectfully serve and contribute in places where religion, values, and norms are different from my own? Although my experience practicing and researching in other countries has made me passionate about foregrounding cultural humility issues in international settings, my experience in the U.S. has confirmed that such issues are crucial here as well. 3) The Utilization of Public and Private Social Programs by Low Income Households and Individuals In the course of my graduate career, I entered into collaborative projects to explore policy, programs, and how potentially eligible households use available supports. These projects are the foundation for my third line of research. With Sandra Danziger and Scott Allard as part of Michigan’s National Poverty Center team on the Michigan Recession and Recovery Study (MRRS), I have a number of papers either forthcoming or in process. I describe two of them here. Allard, S., Wathen, Maria V., & Danziger, S.K. “Bundling Public and Charitable Supports to Cope with the Effects of the Great Recession.” Forthcoming, Social Science Quarterly. Using panel survey data collected in the Detroit Metropolitan Area in 2008 and 2010, we explore the relationships between household characteristics, program use, and bundling of assistance. We find that roughly two-thirds of Detroit households within 300 percent of poverty received a public safety net benefit in the previous year; about forty percent received assistance from more than one public program. Nearly one in six households received help from a nonprofit charity. Low educational attainment, unemployment, and health limitations are positively related to receipt of multiple public assistance programs. Our findings point to persistent needs among poor and near-poor households after the Great Recession, as well as to the reality that many lowincome households draw upon multiple sources of public assistance, even those who also have income from employment. Further, a large group of low-income households remain detached from public and charitable sources of support even as the safety net has expanded in response to the downturn. Allard, S., Wathen, Maria V., & Danziger, S.K. “Place, Poverty, and Program Participation: The Relationship between Food Resource Access and Receipt of SNAP Assistance.” Submitted for Review, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management. Although research has examined the role of structural economic change and policies expanding program eligibility in relation to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participation, very little research has considered the relationship between spatial proximity to food resources and SNAP receipt. Our hypotheses are based on neighborhood access as well as stigma theory. Drawing on survey data from the first two waves of the Michigan Recession and Recovery Study in metropolitan Detroit and unique information about the location of food resources in Detroit, we find that even when accounting for other household factors shaping SNAP receipt, greater spatial access to SNAP administrative offices, concentrations of SNAP recipients, and food retailers accepting SNAP is associated with a higher likelihood of receiving Wathen RS 4 of 5
SNAP benefits. Thus, policy changes to promote access to SNAP among those in need should take into account environmental and community context along with individual or family characteristics. FUTURE WORK In my future research, I plan to continue investigating issues of nonprofit development and service provision in the U.S. and globally, public and private program use among lowincome families, household and child preventive intervention, and cross-national comparative policy. My quantitative work will complement continued qualitative work on culture, globalization, and its role in shaping services, and how nongovernmental and/or international entities engage in service provision. I look forward to collaborative work with colleagues in the U.K., Sweden, and Russia doing work on similar topics, using international datasets. In addition to the work on Russia and Eurasia, my future work includes expansion of current projects and initiation of new ones. With the MRRS dataset, I am currently working on a project that explores grocery shopping behaviors, SNAP receipt, and access to food retailers in metropolitan Detroit with a focus on income, unemployment, and urban vs suburban location. Another project takes three waves of the MRRS to examine use of charity and informal monetary support from family and friends as well as factors such as race, income, unemployment, health limitations, children in household, and educational attainment. I envision several new research projects for which I will seek outside grant support. I will continue to work on low-income households and public and private program use. I plan to use the little-used child supplement survey data in the MRRS to look at child behavioral health outcomes in relation to household public program use. I will also use other datasets in my work, such as the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and Survey of Income and Program Participation. My success in receiving external funding and conducting both team and individual research projects position me well for the future. I am looking forward to a career that integrates research, teaching/mentoring, policy, and practice, and that results in greater understanding of complex global issues and how they influence local policy and service provision to vulnerable populations.
Wathen RS 5 of 5
Teaching Philosophy
Maria V. Wathen I can remember times when my mind was awakened to new horizons and possibilities. It was as if I were living in an opaque dome that gradually disappeared, and I could step out and explore an area I hadn’t known existed before. Perhaps this feeling was heightened because I grew up in an immigrant family, when even kindergarten in the Chicago area felt like a strange world. As time went on, I wasn’t an ‘outsider’ at school anymore, but the exhilaration of discovery continued – when I read a biography of Jane Addams in third grade and saw that one person could be a catalyst for change; when we read George Orwell’s Animal Farm in eighth grade and studied the history behind it, recognizing that entirely different social systems existed; when I studied abroad in undergrad and met refugees through volunteer work and heard stories of other cultures and strife – these and many other experiences developed my mind and values. As an educator, I want to facilitate such transformative learning experiences along with promoting knowledge and skills. I have integrated three broad objectives into this goal: develop critical thinking skills, foster a social justice mindset, and expand skills in connecting theory with applied work. These objectives have been relevant throughout my teaching experience, regardless of the course. I have taught in several contexts, including as an instructor and guest lecturer in social work MSW courses, as a statistics instructor for new sociology PhD students, as a visiting university instructor of American Literature and writing courses (ten years), and as a trainer for international business people. As I continue as a social work educator, I will integrate these objectives into courses I am qualified to teach, such as introductory courses, poverty, social policy & comparative social policy, international social work, statistics, qualitative research, nonprofit development, adult mental health, and couples therapy. In pursuing my objectives, I take into account results from adult learning research. Evidence shows that adult learners do best when they set their own learning goals, build new knowledge by connecting with what they already know, and actively engage in learning of knowledge and skills. In addition, studies show that learning happens most readily in a safe and positive environment. I keep this evidence in mind as I design courses, selecting a range of methods and interventions to facilitate learning. A positive learning environment lays the foundation for optimal development of critical thinking, a social justice mindset, and skills. This begins with how I think about students and how I introduce the class. I recognize that each person coming into my courses will have a unique set of skills, background, identities, knowledge, life experience, and ideas about learning. In building a community of learners, I talk about this during the first session of every course, emphasizing that in order to learn from each other, we need to respect each other’s contributions and differences. For example, I begin each semester of seminar classes with a student discussion of expectations for classroom interaction. Invariably, some core expectations are agreed upon, such as: listen with the goal of understanding, ask clarifying questions, challenge the idea, not the person, respect that we will not always agree with one another, talk about process, give everyone a chance to participate, and be courteous and refrain from interrupting. Setting a foundation of respect and openness to dialogue facilitates students’ openness to new ideas. A positive environment is one that welcomes questions, promotes dialogue, and encourages exploration. I want students to leave my courses better able to analyze, synthesize, conceptualize, and evaluate ideas and interventions. I use several methods to promote these facets of critical thinking. First, I present new knowledge and concepts. I do this through various means, including journal articles, books or chapters, video, and lectures. When appropriate, I invite guest speakers to present and dialogue with the students. For example, in my MSW Practice in International Social Work course, eight guest speakers join the students over the course of the semester in person or over skype. These guests are from both the U.S. and other countries, and together have knowledge and experience in numerous countries. I design class time and assignments to include both individual and group elements. At the beginning of the course, I ask students to begin a “learning journal” by writing three personal learning goals for the course. In Maria Wathen 1
many courses, I ask students to make weekly entries consisting of two parts: first, two- to five-sentence summaries of each reading for the week, and second, a self-reflective paragraph connecting new ideas to other areas of learning in class or in life. In keeping with the value of collaborative learning and the value of each participant, I also integrate methods of group work. For example, when teaching students to write a grant proposal, I first take time to explain its nature and purpose. Then I break up the longer assignment with milestones. The first would be the identification of a problem. Students are presented with basics of how to identify a problem, rhetorical strategies for showing its significance, and examples of such writing. They then write this section of their proposal and bring it to class. In class, we use various assessment methods to check understanding and improve our learning. Early in a course, I might have students do assessments of their own work by giving them a rubric or list of questions with which to evaluate it. As the course progresses, students would work in pairs or small groups in providing feedback for each other’s ideas and rhetorical strategies. Other group methods of critical thinking about readings, presentations, or other material include class discussions, either as a whole or in smaller groups, with the goal of understanding, analyzing, dissecting, and even expanding on new concepts. In applied courses, such as quantitative or qualitative data analysis, this would include work in small groups on actual problems or interview transcripts, for example. Some of these methods to develop critical thinking also serve to foster a social justice mindset and expand skills in connecting theory and practice. However, a social justice mindset includes continually analyzing power and change, both individual and structural. A simple example relates to writing the grant proposal. I ask the students to address questions such as who are the stakeholders, what are their relative levels of power and influence, and who will gain or lose if the proposed activity is funded? Role-plays work well in this situation (as in others) to help students take the positions of various stakeholders and to illuminate the structural forces within which each one operates. Another example shows how all three objectives are integrated into a class session. I have given guest lectures on Russian child welfare in which I describe how historical, political, and cultural context influence current policies and how various stakeholders with differing levels of power in the social structure are affected by the policy. After a 30-minute overview lecture, I show sections from the film, “The Italian� (2005), that depicts the life of a 5-year-old boy in a Russian orphanage. Because this film shows people at several levels of power living within but sometimes resisting the boundaries set by policy, it provides rich material for discussions of power, justice (for whom?), and social change. Because students have been introduced to contextual information by the lecture, they are challenged not only to understand why a system became what it is, but also to think critically about how such a system can be changed. This class session serves as an introduction to and example of a class project in which students choose a country and social problem to investigate over the course of the semester. In my approach to teaching, I see my role as threefold. First, I am a model of these objectives, values, and passion for learning. I must share my critical thinking skills, social justice mindset, and ability to connect theory and practice, and I must do so after creating a safe environment. I must embody an approach of curiosity towards other viewpoints, not glossing over differences but engaging them respectfully. Second, I am a facilitator of learning, providing material and using active and varied methods to engage students. This also includes providing ongoing feedback and assessment opportunities from me, themselves, and each other. Assessment can be self-reflective or interactive as described above, or in the form of tests when the goal is to reinforce basic knowledge and skill acquisition (as in statistics or demographic methods, for example). Finally, I am a mentor, not just in class, but outside the classroom in community engagement and research.
Maria Wathen 2
Curriculum Vitae ABIGAIL B. WILLIAMS abigwill@umich.edu University of Michigan School of Social Work 1080 S. University Avenue Ann Arbor, MI 48109 (734) 764-3309
University of Michigan Department of Psychology 530 Church Street Ann Arbor, MI 48109 (734) 764-2580
EDUCATION PhD
Expected Graduation Date 2017 University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan School of Social Work and Department of Psychology
MS
May 2013 University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan Department of Psychology
MSW
August 2010 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois School of Social Work
BA
May 2008 Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington, Illinois Department of Psychology
RESEARCH INTERESTS • • • •
Impact of race, gender, and class on adolescent development and the transition to adulthood Racial disparities in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems Understanding the mechanisms of protective and risk factors for at-risk youth Cross-cultural differences in developmental outcomes related to poverty in a developed and developing world context
GRANTS & FELLOWSHIPS 2015 2014 2013
Global Social Work Learning Community International Research Grant, $3,000 Rackham Spring/Summer Research Partnership Grant, $8,000 Rackham Travel Grant, $700 Rackham Pre-candidate Research Grant, $1,500 Rackham International Travel Grant, $950 Abigail Williams CV/ Page 1 of 8
AWARDS & HONORS 2015
2014
2013 2011 2010 2009
German Centre of Gerontology Speaker Honorarium, â‚Ź250 John W. Holmes Award, $10,000 Doctoral Scholarship for Underrepresented Students, $1,000 Shapiro/Malik/Forrest Award, $2,000 Travel Award for the Biennial Division 45 Research Conference, $500 Internationalizing the Doctoral Program: Poverty Alleviation in Quito, Ecuador The LIFE Course: Evolutionary and Ontogenetic Dynamics Fellow Vivian A. and James L. Curtis Endowed Scholarship, $18,000 Travel Award for SSWR Conference, $400 Field Placement Tuition Waiver, $10,000 Alpha Delta Mu National Social Work Honor Society
PROFESSIONAL PUBLICATIONS Peer Reviewed Manuscripts Williams, A. B., Ryan, J. P., Davis-Kean, P. E., McLoyd, V. C., & Schulenberg, J. E. (In Press). The discontinuity of offending in African-American youth in the juvenile justice system. Youth & Society. DOI: 0.1177/0044118X14551322. McLoyd, V. C., Jocson, M. R., & Williams, A. B. (In Press). Linking poverty and children’s development: Concepts, models, and debates. In L. M. Burton & D. Brady (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of poverty and society. New York: Oxford University Press. Ryan, J. P., Williams, A. B., & Courtney, M. E. (2013). Adolescent neglect, juvenile delinquency, and the risk of recidivism. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 42, 454-465. Patton, D.U., Hong, J. S., Williams, A. B. & Allen-Meares, P. (2013). A review of research on school bullying among African American youth: An ecological systems analysis. Educational Psychology Review, 25, 245-260. Algood, C. L., Hong, J. S., Gourdine, R. M., & Williams, A. B. (2011). Maltreatment of children with developmental disabilities: An ecological systems analysis. Children and Youth Services Review, 33, 1142-1148. Research Reports Ryan, J.P., Chui, Y., & Williams, A. B. (2011). Is there a link between child welfare and disproportionate minority contact in juvenile justice? Models for Change: Systems Reform in Juvenile Justice. MacArthur Foundation. (Policy brief 12-11). Williams, A. B. (2009). India Study Abroad Experience Reflection Paper. Archives of the Child In Need Institute.
Abigail Williams CV/ Page 2 of 8
Manuscripts Under Review Williams, A. B. (Under review). A Review of the Link between Relational Permanence and Attachment for Youth in Foster Care. Child & Family Social Work. Manuscripts in Preparation Williams, A. B., Patton, D. U., Pingel, E. M., Patel, S. Y., & Zimmerman, M. A. (In preparation). Pathways to success: Perceptions of what makes the difference among low-income African-American female adolescents. Williams, A. B., Mahne, K., Tesch-Roemer, C. (In Preparation). The impact of social welfare policy on intergenerational family formation in the United States and Germany. CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS Williams, A. B., Ryan, J. P., McLoyd, V. C., & Davis-Kean, P. E. (2015). The Role of Relational Permanence Among African American Youth in Foster Care. The LIFE Academy at the Institute for Social Research. Ann Arbor, Michigan. Williams, A.B., Chopik, W. J., Antonucci, T. C., & Lindenberger, U. (2014). Integrating diverse populations into theories of lifespan development. Moderated discussion during the LIFE Academy at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development. Berlin, Germany. Williams, A. B., Patton, D. U., Pingel, E. M., Patel, S. Y., Wallace, B., & Zimmerman, M. A. (2014). Pathways to academic success: Perceptions of what makes the difference among lowincome Black female adolescents. American Psychological Association, Division 45, Eugene, Oregon. Williams, A. B., Patton, D. U., Pingel, E. M., Patel, S. Y., Wallace, B., & Zimmerman, M. A. (2014). Pathways to success: Perceptions of what makes the difference among low income African American female adolescents. Society for Research on Adolescence, Austin, Texas. Wallace, B., Patel, S. Y., Williams, A. B., Patton, D. U., Pingel, E. M., & Zimmerman, M. A. (2014). Positive milestones: Experiences that make the difference in the lives of low-income African American males. Society for Research on Adolescence, Austin, Texas. Williams, A. B., Davis-Kean, P. E., & Ryan, J. P. (2013). The discontinuity of offending among African American youth. Society for Research in Child Development, Seattle, Washington. Williams, A.B., Davis-Kean, P.E., & Ryan, J. P. (2012). The discontinuity of offending trajectories in the juvenile justice system. Centre for Longitudinal Studies Conference, London: United Kingdom. Williams, A. B. & Ryan, J. P. (2012). Girl delinquency: Identifying unique needs and modeling recidivism. Society for Social Work Research, Washington, D.C. Abigail Williams CV/ Page 3 of 8
INVITED TALKS Williams, A. B. (2015). The impact of social welfare policy on intergenerational family formation in the United States and Germany. German Centre of Gerontology Lecture. Williams, A. B. (2013). Mapping Resilience Trajectories for African American Youth in the Juvenile Justice System. Developmental Psychology Brown Bag Lecture. RESEARCH EXPERIENCE 9/15 – Present
Research Exchange, German Centre of Gerontology, Berlin Germany • Perform analysis for cross-cultural paper examining the impact of social welfare policy on intergenerational family formation in the United States and Germany. • Conduct literature review for paper in preparation for publication. • Collaborate with international colleagues for publication.
9/12 – Present
Research Assistant, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan • Perform data analysis on administrative data sets regarding disproportionate minority contact in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. • Conduct literature reviews for paper publishing purposes. • Publish papers regarding youth involved in the child welfare and juvenile justice system.
1/09 – 8/11
Research Assistant, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois • Analyzed administrative data sets regarding disproportionate minority contact in the juvenile justice system. • Conducted literature reviews for paper publishing purposes. • Published articles on disproportionate minority contact.
1/06 – 5/08
Research Assistant, Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington, Illinois • Conducted research studies where surveys and data were collected on group dynamics and race relations. • Conducted literature reviews for paper publishing purposes. • Carried out data input and aided in the analysis of variables of interest.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE 1/15 – 4/15
Primary Instructor, University of Michigan 601 Adolescent Development and Behavior • Primary instructor for weekly three hour course for 25 MSW students. • Selected course readings and created lesson plan for course. Abigail Williams CV/ Page 4 of 8
•
Responsible for creating and grading all course assignments.
9/14 – 12/14
Primary Instructor, University of Michigan 530 Introduction to Social Welfare Policy and Services • Primary instructor for weekly three hour course for 25 MSW students. • Selected textbook and created lesson plan for course. • Responsible for creating and grading all course assignments.
1/14 – 4/14
Graduate Student Instructor, University of Michigan 111 Introduction to Psychology • Engaged 75 students in three one-hour long discussion sessions. • Created lesson plans, grade papers and attended biweekly lectures. • Responsible for arranging special accommodations for students with disabilities.
11/13 – 11/13
Guest Speaker, University of Michigan 683 Evaluation in Social Work • Lectured on statistics and quantitative data analyses in evaluation. • Led hands-on statistical analyses with SPSS during session. • Taught students how to interpret statistical findings in evaluation.
9/13 – 4/14
Graduate Student Instructor, University of Michigan 111 Introduction to Psychology • Engaged 75 students in three one hour long discussion sessions. • Created lesson plans, graded papers and attended biweekly lectures. • Responsible for exam grading, item analysis and grade posting.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE 6/14 – 3/15
Doctoral Student Statistician, Bridges to the Doctoral Program, Ann Arbor, Michigan • Tutor underrepresented graduate students in statistical courses taken throughout the summer through ICPSR. • Mentor students through the doctoral application process. • Advise Bridges students in career and professional development as needed throughout the process.
6/13 – 7/13
Research Consultant, University of Michigan, Chennai, India • Provided consultation on creating a global field placement for MSW students. • Traveled to villages near Chennai and Tuticorin, India in order to investigate the feasibility of a global placement at various sites. • Conducted a data inventory with TVS board members about the Abigail Williams CV/ Page 5 of 8
possibility of creating a global field placement for MSW students. 1/10 – 8/10
Child Welfare and Mental Health Policy Intern, Children’s Defense Fund, Washington, D.C. • Attended and prepared reports on congressional subcommittee hearings on Capitol Hill. • Conducted nationwide analyses on topics ranging from the impact of the current recession on state budgets to the call for the reduction of congregate care. • Worked as national staff in the designing and implementation of the April 2010 Young Advocate Leadership Training conference at the Alex Haley Farm in Clinton, Tennessee.
1/09 – 1/09
Social Work Intern, Child In Need Institute, Pailan, India • Interviewed mothers of children living in the villages of India about the reasons that led to their involvement with the organization. • Wrote reports about the underlying social problems that led to the malnourishment of children who received services. • Interacted with the local people and learned the culture and language of those living in the villages of India.
5/08 – 11/09
Mental Health Technician, Pavilion Behavioral Health System, Champaign, Illinois • Provided supervision of adolescent residents to ensure their physical and emotional safety on the unit. • Led skills groups that helped the residents learn age appropriate methods of understanding and relating to others. • Transported and supervised residents on home visits within the community.
6/07 – 5/08
Residential Counselor, Chestnut Health Systems, Bloomington, Illinois • Involved with the direct supervision and direction of clients during their residential treatment stay. • Taught behavioral management and life skills to clients struggling with problems related to their drug addiction. • Facilitated skills group sessions where clients learned behavioral management skills to improve their life circumstances.
PROFESSIONAL SERVICE School and University Service 10/13 – 7/15 Treasurer, Doctoral Student Organization • Managed DSO accounts, paid for goods and services, completed reimbursement paperwork. Abigail Williams CV/ Page 6 of 8
7/13 – 4/15
Student Representative, Brown Bag Committee • Invited, scheduled, and moderated Brown Bag talks regarding current research of faculty and students.
6/12 – 10/12
Historian, Black Student Psychological Association • Maintained historical documents and the BSPA website and listserve.
8/11 – 10/12
Student Representative, Doctoral Committee • Represented student concerns/issues relating to the doctoral program, such as faculty, recruitment, funding, teaching support and opportunities.
8/08 – 8/11
Student Member, Diversity Committee • Organized events throughout the year to celebrate the cultural diversity of students, faculty, and staff.
8/08 – 5/09
Community Service Chair, Graduate Social Work Association • Made contacts and planned volunteer opportunities for students within organizations such as: Books for Prisoners, Family and Graduate Housing, and Champaign County Healthcare Consumers.
8/08 – 5/09
Student Member, International Committee • Discussed issues involving international programs being planned and pursued by students, faculty, and staff.
National Service 8/15 – Present
REVIEWING 9/15 – Present
Student Representative, SSWR Doctoral Student Task Force • Plan conference events and year-round initiatives for doctoral student members.
Perspectives on Social Work Journal, University of Houston • Review manuscripts for publication from doctoral students.
PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATION AFFLIATIONS International Society for Interpersonal Acceptance and Rejection Society for Research in Child Development Society for Research on Adolescence Society for Social Work and Research
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REFERENCES Joseph P. Ryan, PhD Associate Professor School of Social Work University of Michigan 1010 South University Avenue Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Phone: 734-763-6580 Email: joryan@umich.edu Vonnie C. McLoyd, PhD Ewart A. C. Thomas Collegiate Professor University of Michigan Department of Psychology 530 Church Street, 2016 East Hall Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1043 Phone: 734-615-9603 Email: vcmcyloyd@umich.edu Pamela E. Davis-Kean, PhD Associate Professor Department of Psychology 530 Church Street Ann Arbor, MI 48019 Phone: 734-647-3877 Email: pdakean@umich.edu Berit Ingersoll-Dayton, PhD Professor and Director of Joint Doctoral Program in Social Work and Social Science University of Michigan School of Social Work 1080 South University Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Phone: (734) 763-6577 Email: bid@umich.edu
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Abigail Williams CV/ Page 8 of 8
Research Statement Overview of Research Interests Using an interdisciplinary lens regarding social work and developmental psychology, I am interested in understanding the mechanisms which contribute to both positive and negative outcomes regarding the impact of childhood poverty and social welfare policy. I am particularly interested in the intersections of race, gender, and social class on the development of adolescents and young adults as they transition to adulthood. My research spans both the national and international levels. In one line of research, I am interested in developmental outcomes as they relate to racial disparities for African American youth involved in the child welfare, juvenile justice, and educational systems. In another line of research, I am interested in examining crosscultural differences in developmental outcomes related to poverty in a developed and developing world context. I utilize both quantitative and qualitative methods in order to inform my research agenda. Adolescence and the Transition to Adulthood in Child Serving Systems Adolescence is the time period between childhood and adulthood where youth experience rapid changes in physical, cognitive, emotional and social development (Collins & Steinberg, 2006). Youth in the general population currently receive increased levels of support from parents years after what has traditionally been considered the end of adolescence well into their 20s and even 30s (Settersten, Furstenberg, & Rumbaut, 2008). Adolescents who age out of foster care often experience an abrupt end to adolescence on the day of their 18th birthday. Many forms of emotional support (advice, guidance, and comfort) and instrumental support (housing and financial assistance) end when they no longer receive assistance from the child welfare system (Avery & Freundlich, 2009). It is no surprise that foster youth are repeatedly demonstrated to be disadvantaged when compared to same-aged peers in the general population (Osgood, Foster, & Courtney, 2010). This is particularly true for adolescents of color. There is a growing body of literature on the child welfare system being a contributing source for Disproportionate Minority Contact (DMC) within the juvenile justice system (Ryan, Herz, Hernandez, & Marshall, 2007). In investigating the relationship between the child welfare system and DMC in the juvenile justice system, I collaborated on a policy brief titled “Is there a link between child welfare and disproportionate minority contact in juvenile justice?� (Ryan, Chui & Williams, 2011). In this brief, we explored how the child welfare system may be a mechanism contributing to the overrepresentation of African American Youth in the juvenile justice system. We found that involvement with the child welfare system is a significant predictor of contact with the juvenile justice system. This relationship was especially pronounced among African American females in our sample. Given the overlap of youth of color in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems, I collaborated with other researchers to examine the impact that adolescent neglect and juvenile delinquency had on recidivism rates for youth in the juvenile justice system. In this study (Ryan, Williams, & Courtney, 2013), we found adolescents with an ongoing case of neglect within the child welfare system were significantly more likely to continue offending as compared to youth without a history of neglect. These findings further emphasized the importance of increased collaboration across the child welfare and juvenile justice systems to target interventions for youth involved in both state agencies.
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At this point, I began to become more familiar with the resilience literature and questioned the utility of solely focusing on risk in relation to youth in child serving systems. I began to be interested in exploring intervention research focused on changing the negative trajectories of youth involved in the child welfare and juvenile justice system. Williams, Ryan, Davis-Kean, McLoyd & Schulenberg, (in press) explored the relations between resilience, race, gender, and not being re-arrested among African American youth in a statewide sample. In this study, my collaborators and I utilized resilience theory to inform the discontinuity of offending among African American youth in the juvenile justice system. I hypothesized that having protective factors would decrease the likelihood of recidivism among African American youth. I also hypothesized that the influence of each protective factor would differ by gender. In this study, we discovered that African American youth in the juvenile justice possess protective factors at the individual and contextual level. Greater impulse control, parental supervision, and more pro-social peers were most important for reducing recidivism. Problem solving was more influential for African American males, while impulse control and parental supervision were more influential for African American females. The results of this study continue to support the notion that context matters. In this study, we concluded that addressing the developmental needs of youth by investing in effective interventions and policy options that focus on strengthening protective factors may be the most direct route in reducing recidivism rates. Finally, in continuing my interest in looking at the role of protective factors in the process of resilience, I am currently working on a qualitative study examining protective factors in lowincome African American females’ lives in achieving academic success (Williams, Patton, Pingel, Patel & Zimmerman, In preparation). In this study, my collaborators and I examined what factors young adults now in their early 30s believed contributed to or hindered their academic success during their adolescent years. In this study, participants identified motherhood, healthy romantic relationships, support from family, and support from non-relative adults as protective factors. Risk factors included negative peer influence and unhealthy romantic relationships. This study will allow me to be able to continue my exploration of the intersection of race, gender, and social class on outcomes during the transition to adulthood. Cross-Cultural Differences in the Developed and Developing World Context In my second line of research, I am interested in extending my work on risk and resilience to a cross-cultural context by looking at developmental outcomes in the developed and developing country context. In 2009, I traveled Pailan, India and completed an MSW internship with the Child In Need Institute (CINI). CINI is a social service agency that specializes in educating village mothers of children five years of age and under at risk for malnutrition. CINI provides training to mothers on how to properly provide nutrition, child care, hygiene and other supports so that each child can avoid malnutrition. With the assistance of an interpreter, I interviewed the mothers of children living in the villages of India about reasons that led to their involvement with the organization. This internship culminated with a written report about the underlying social problems that led to service utilization including: marriage before adolescence, lack of contraception, lack of access to hospital services throughout pregnancy, during delivery, and after birth, inadequate child nutrition, and illiteracy (Williams, 2009). As a result of my experiences, I have since traveled back to India to serve as a research consultant to the Director of the Office of Global Activities on creating an international field placement for MSW students. These experiences have resulted in me becoming intimately aware of the impact of poverty in a developing world context. Given the differences in poverty in a Abigail Williams Research Statement / Page 2 of 3
developed versus developing world context, my experiences led me to explore the validity of theoretical frameworks from developed countries being applied to the developing world. In McLoyd, Jocson, Williams, (In Press) we explored how many Western frameworks such as the parental investment and family stress models may be applicable for understanding the effects of childhood poverty in developing countries. However, it is also important to modify existing theories to capture important context-specific variables which may be relevant only in a developing country context. We concluded automatically assuming frameworks developed for childhood poverty in an affluent country such as the United States will hinder the development of strong, context-sensitive, and policy-relevant knowledge generation in the developing world context. My research and practical experiences led me to be interested in exploring poverty alleviation efforts in Quito, Ecuador with the opportunity for future collaboration and exploring disparity research in a cross-cultural context. I am currently in the process of preparing a manuscript which will examine the impact of social welfare policy on intergenerational family formation in the United States and Germany (Williams, Mahne, & Tesch-Roemer, In preparation). I am particularly interested in expanding this line of research to further explore the differing impact of social welfare policies on child outcomes in a developed and developing world context. Dissertation and Future Directions My dissertation research will primarily focus on my first line of research. There is little representation of the assets of Black youth, especially those who are poverty stricken with few opportunities (Cauce, Stewart, Rodriquez, Cochran, & Ginzler, 2003). Giving a more accurate representation of Black youth who are involved in child serving systems is also a social justice issue I would like to address in my dissertation. By changing the narrative surrounding black youth at the individual level, perhaps it will be possible for more youth to identify, embrace, and emulate positive role models (Oyserman, Elmore, & Smith, 2002) rather than the overwhelmingly negative stereotypes often perpetrated by the media (Ward, 2004). At the macro level, utilizing this strengths perspective can aid practitioners and policymakers to create and fund programs for African American youth which are important in informing effective interventions and social policies (Leadbeater, Dodgen, & Solarz, 2010). My dissertation will explore the role that promotive factors across the individual, relationship and community levels play in African American adolescents in the child welfare system having a positive transition to adulthood. I plan on examining the role relational permanence plays on avoiding negative outcomes such as arrest but also achieving positive outcomes such as academic achievement and psychological well-being. Identifying and explaining the relationship between promotive factors at the individual and contextual level will be the primary focus of my dissertation. I also plan on exploring the role of gender in relation to these outcomes as well. My future directions include continuing to explore developmental outcomes for African American youth involved in the child welfare, juvenile justice, and educational systems and examining cross-cultural differences in developmental outcomes related to poverty for ethnic minorities in a developed and developing world context. My interest in both lines of research will continue to examine the mechanisms which contribute to both positive and negative outcomes regarding the impacts of childhood poverty and social welfare policy.
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Teaching Statement The goal of my teaching philosophy is to integrate the theoretical and practical principles of social work and development psychology to the benefit of students’ critical thinking skills. I have a wide range of teaching experiences both outside and inside of the classroom which I incorporate into my teaching practice. My direct practice experiences outside the classroom working as a residential counselor and mental health technician specializing in the treatment of adolescences with substance abuse and mental health disorders has aided my teaching philosophy tremendously. Inside the classroom, I have taught two undergraduate lecture courses of Introduction to Psychology. At the graduate level, I have taught two courses as the Primary Instructor for Introduction to Social Welfare Policy and Adolescent Development and Behavior. Teaching Philosophy The most important skills I hope students gain from taking my courses are: critical thinking skills, the ability to apply what they learn in practice, and the ability to hold respectful civil discourse. I have taught introductory courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels. As a result, I am aware students may go on to pursue a variety of different career paths. Consequently, it is important that I foster the development of critical thinking skills. Critical thinking skills are essential no matter what career field students go on to pursue. It is also important students are informed consumers of knowledge. For example, I taught as the Primary Instructor for the graduate level course Introduction to Social Welfare Policy. This course emphases the role that history, economics, and politics plays in understanding the policy context in the United States. As part of this course, I developed a “Hot Topics� media component. Students were divided into five groups: Gun Violence in America, the Affordable Care Act, Immigration, LGBT Rights, and Poverty and Inequality. Throughout the course, students were responsible for reporting to the class on what developments in the media occurred in the last week. The goal of this assignment was for students to think critically about the role that media plays in influencing public opinion on hot button issues and to analyze how the media impacts public opinion on policy decisions. Students were also required to critically evaluate the source of the media outlet and critique the validity of the media claims based on the source. In addition to critical thinking skills, it is also a goal that students will apply the skills and information given to them in their practice. This is particularly the case when teaching social work courses where students go into the field with clients and in organizations where what they learn in the classroom will make a critical difference in the lives of others. It is important that students learn not only how to interact with clients, but are also aware of the policies in place to guide service provision. Therefore, giving students the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned is an important component of the teaching process. I require writing assignments throughout the semester that students may find useful in their professional lives. In my Introduction to Social Welfare Policy course, I required students to write a policy memo to inform the National Association of Social Workers on a selected policy of interest. Students were then required to advocate on behalf of the policy and why they believe the organization should support the policy proposal. It is important that social workers are capable not only of providing direct services, but also able to engage in macro level advocacy and policy change as well. In professional as well as personal settings, I believe it is important for students to understand and recognize the various privileged and marginalized positions that each individual possesses and the impact those experiences have on service provision. Given this, it is central to Abigail Williams Teaching Statement / Page 1 of 3
my teaching philosophy that students respect the viewpoints of fellow students even if they do not agree with them. As one might imagine, when discussing a “Hot Topic” issue there were many class discussions that had the potential of quickly getting out of hand. I constantly reminded students that though you may disagree with a fellow students’ point of view, it is still important that you respect the other person. Civil discourse is necessary in order to have respectful and meaningful discussion in the classroom. This is especially important when students share personal information that may be of a sensitive nature. It is only when students feel they can truthfully discuss an issue that critical thinking and learning can take place. Teaching Experiences I have a variety of teaching experiences which inform my teaching philosophy. My first teaching experience was as a residential counselor at a social service organization which specialized in the treatment of adolescents with substance abuse disorders. As a substance abuse counselor, I led skills groups with clients who were dealing with various issues related to drug and alcohol abuse. In addition to these issues, many clients were also dealing with the normative developmental challenges that every adolescent experiences in daily life. I taught clients about the importance of coping skills, how to deal with parental conflicts when they returned home, and how to deal with other teens on the unit and after their discharge from the residential treatment center back into the community. This experience led me to my next position as a mental health technician for adolescents with severe mental illness. These adolescents were often involved with the child welfare system because court involvement was necessary regarding the youth’s well-being. In addition to working on the unit with clients, I also did many home visits between the parent and the adolescent. Both of these experiences were excellent in regards to clinical experience and teaching experience. My experiences with clients allowed me to understand that each person lives in a contextual environment that shapes their thoughts, beliefs, and actions. It is important to engage in active listening when working with clients and students. Careful listening is an important part of assessing the needs and strengths of students. It is important when interacting with students to give them your undivided attention and sometimes reading between the lines to identify when a student is struggling. For example, as an Intro instructor I often had students who were struggling with course content and also adapting to a new level of intellectual rigor that was not necessarily required of them at their previous academic institutions. I constantly made myself available to meet with students individually inside and outside of class times because it is important to make sure students’ voices are heard and concerns addressed. I taught two semesters as a Graduate Student Instructor for Introduction to Psychology. The undergraduate lectures were led by a professor and I led three discussion sections with 25 students each. Teaching Introduction to Psychology was beneficial because it challenged me to introduce students to the field of psychology with both breadth and depth. Teaching this course also gave me the opportunity to get familiar with many of the intricate aspects of psychology and their application for human development I might have missed had I not taught this course. Over the course of two semesters, I introduced students to many different psychological theories and sub-psychological fields such as neuroscience, cognitive psychology, and of course developmental psychology. In addition to the nuts and bolts of Intro Psychology, I also engaged in developing students’ basic study skills which could be used throughout their college careers. The majority of students in the course were freshman. Therefore, a large part of this course was teaching students about study habits such as how to use APA style with written assignments and Abigail Williams Teaching Statement / Page 2 of 3
time management. In one Introduction to Psychology course I noticed after the first written assignment that many students were struggling with the correct use of APA style citations and reference pages. I gave a brief overview of the correct manner to cite and reference an article in APA style. In addition to basic skills, I also hoped to spark a flame within those undecided majors to pursue Psychology as a major. I was successful in my goal with one of my students who eventually went on to work in one of my labs and is interested in pursuing graduate studies in Psychology. I have taught as a Primary Instructor in Social Work for Introduction to Social Welfare Policy and Adolescent Development and Behavior. To prepare for these courses I selected a textbook, choose all additional course readings, created all student assignments, and graded all student assignments and presentations. It is the responsibility of the instructor to prepare graduate level social work students with foundational knowledge that will equip them to go out into the world and touch the lives of clients each and every day. This is a responsibility I do not take lightly. My past and future teaching experiences have prepared me well to teach a wide variety of courses at the undergraduate and graduate level. Teaching Interests As a result of my interdisciplinary training and direct practice experiences, I am equipped to teach a variety of courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels. I am prepared to teach courses in the area of human development across the lifespan, service delivery, and policy related courses. Specifically at the graduate level, I would be most excited to teach: Introduction to Social Welfare Policy, Child Welfare Policy, Child and Adolescent Development, and Child and Adolescent Development, Services and Polices. I am also interested in teaching research methods courses which emphasize both quantitative and qualitative methodology.
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