Class Notes

Gayle Shier Kricke received her doctorate in June from Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine in Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety. Gayle is the second person in the nation to hold PhD-level training specific to healthcare quality and patient safety. Gayle works at Northwestern Medicine as a Clinical Quality Leader for the healthcare system where she focuses on establishing an integrated quality program across a multi-hospital system.

Melissa Mendez has worked to build Wheeler Clinic's early childhood programs that serve very young children with trauma and their families. She administers the Birth to Three early intervention services at Wheeler and serves as President of Connecticut's Infant Mental Health Association. She serves on a number of advisory boards and work groups aimed at improving the early childhood system in Connecticut including the CT Home Visiting Consortium, the CT Help Me Grow Advisory Board and the CT Early Childhood Trauma Collaborative. Melissa is a trained Child Parent Psychotherapy (CPP) therapist and a trainer for home visitors on culturally responsive practice in infant and early childhood mental health and working with families in intergenerational poverty.

Linda Young Landesman, since retiring in 2012 from the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation has published several books on behavioral health: Landesman's Public Health Management of Disasters: The Practice Guide, 4th edition, published by the American Public Health Association, May, 2017; co-edited Case Studies in Public Health Preparedness and Response to Disasters, published by Jones and Bartlett Learning; and Emergency and Disaster Preparedness for Health Professionals, published by Paradigm Education Solutions, November, 2017.

Bruce Thyer, Ph.D. 1982 (Social Work and Psychology), was recently appointed as a Distinguished Research Professor at Florida State University, where he has been a Professor since 2002. In 2016 he was inducted as a Fellow into the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare.

Sirene-Rose Lipschutz recently began working as Tribal Therapist in Flagstaff, Arizona, working with the Navajo and Hopi in Tuba City, Arizona and with the Havasupai at the floor of the Grand Canyon.

Aneeta Pearson launched www.internationalchildwelfarenews.com in March 2017, a site that features child welfare news from around the world, not covered through mainstream media. ICW News features news through discussion, interviews with child welfare professionals, and recommended literature. Child welfare professionals interested in being interviewed related to a story, please contact Aneeta through the website.

Karen Gordon Rosenberg’s experience in the field of geriatrics spans two decades. Her involvement with Caring Across Generations, a national organization, included two visits to Washington, D.C., to collaborate with others from around the country to raise the national consciousness on aging, caregiving, and access to dignified care through dialogue and advocacy. In November 2017, she presented at the Interdisciplinary Conference of the Aging and Society Research Network on the following topic: The Case for Care Management: Changing the Trajectory of Aging.

Elda Dawber's novel about childhood trauma and recovery, "Wait Until I'm Dead!" is available at amazon.com. It recently received an exceptional review in Dignity: A Journal on Sexual Exploitation and Violence at [email protected]/dignity, highlighting its value in the prevention of child sexual abuse and the treatment of survivors.

The Afterschool Alliance (Washington, DC) announced in September that Maria Mitter, Assistant Director at Eastern Michigan University’s 21st Century Community Learning Centers Bright Futures Afterschool Programs, has been selected to serve as a 2016-2017 Afterschool Ambassador. Each Afterschool Ambassador will continue directing or supporting a local afterschool program while also serving a one-year Afterschool Ambassador term, organizing public events, communicating with elected officials and policy makers, and in other ways growing support for afterschool programs.

Eastern Michigan University’s Bright Futures is a 21st Century Community Learning Centers Afterschool Program. More information is available at www.emubrightfutures.org.

Dr. Grace Chee, Ph.D., M.S.W. U of M SSW class of 2009, defended her doctoral dissertation on March 25, 2016. She has accepted a teaching position at the Singapore Institute of Management (SIM), beginning in January 2017. She will be teaching human lifespan development and introduction to social work courses.