Faculty

Mari Pitcher, MSW 2000, specializes in grief work, trauma work and patient and family centered care for individuals, and their families, with life limiting illnesses. Currently a member of the Univ of Mich Med Center Palliative Care Consult Team, she has over 16 years of hospice, palliative care ...

Andrea Smith has primarily focused on working with adolescents, law enforcement and the justice-involved population. In addition, Smith provides program evaluation and program development services and training on various subjects. She has over 15 years of increasing expertise within the field of ...

Carmen E. Wargel, MSW ’04, is a social justice community organizer and strategist committed to shifting power to build equitable systems. For the past 17 years, she has improved coordinated community responses to survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and human trafficking through ...

Sandra Danziger is professor of social work and research professor of public policy. Her primary research interests are the effects of public programs and policies on the well-being of disadvantaged families, poverty policy and social service programs, demographic trends in child and family ...

Marion Elizabeth Blue Endowed Professor Emerita of Children and Families in the School of Social Work at the University of Michigan; Director, Family Assessment Clinic Kathleen Coulborn Faller is involved in research, clinical work, teaching, training, and writing in the area of child welfare. ...

Laura Lein is the former dean of the University of Michigan School of Social Work (2009-2016). Formerly professor of social work and anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin (UT), she was a respected researcher and teacher from 1985 to 2008. She has served as principal investigator on ...

Lawrence Root is a professor in University of Michigan's School of Social Work. His research and practice have focused on the intersection of employment and social welfare. He has directed programs and published in the areas of fringe benefits and social policy, employee assistance programs, ...

Associate Professor Emeritus Brett Seabury has a primary interest in interpersonal practice and has practiced social work in mental health and child welfare settings, as well as in the U.S. Army. His current research and teaching interests are social work education, time-limited practice, using ...

Dr. Ashley Lacombe-Duncan received her MSW (2010) and PhD (2018) from the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on healthcare access and health equity, with a particular focus on healthcare access for people who experience multiple forms of ...

Brian E. Perron, PhD, is a Professor at the University of Michigan School of Social Work. Perron’s recent work focuses on helping community-based organizations use data to improve service delivery and other business processes. This includes developing user-friendly and sustainable data ...

Born in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, Rogério M. Pinto uses art-based methods to conduct community-engaged research in the United States and Brazil. Funded by the National Institutes of Health and other sources, Pinto investigates strategies for improving delivery of services (HIV and drug-use ...

Associate Professor Kristin Seefeldt’s primary research interests lie in exploring how low-income individuals understand their situations, particularly around issues related to work and economic well being. Currently, she is conducting research on families’ financial coping strategies and is a ...

Dr. Shanks’ research interests include the impact of poverty and wealth on child well-being; asset-building policy and practice across the life cycle; and community and economic development. As Director of the Center for Equitable Family and Community Well-Being, she continues ongoing research ...

Rachel Naasko joined the Office of Field Education as a field educator/lecturer/field liaison in March 2016. Naasko previously worked in the University of Michigan Dean of Students Office as the Director of the Blavin Scholars Program and the University’s Critical Incident Coordinator, a ...