Faculty

Diana Seales is a seasoned advocate for environmental justice with a wealth of experience in project management and community organizing. Her work centers around building alliances between environmental organizations, communities and advocacy groups to address environmental health and justice concerns. Seales has honed her skills in grassroots community organizing and has been instrumental in establishing several non-profit institutions.

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 Principal Investigator of a survey examining the effects of the recession and recovery policies on individuals’ well being.

H. Luke Shaefer, PhD, is the Hermann and Amalie Kohn Professor of Social Justice and Social Policy and Professor of Public Policy at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan. At U-M, he is also the inaugural director of Poverty Solutions, an interdisciplinary, presidential initiative that partners with communities and policymakers to find new ways to prevent and alleviate poverty.

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 and intentionally seeks and responds to new opportunities that will empower families and communities to thrive.

In 1970 Vivian B. Shapiro joined the research group headed by Professor Selma Fraiberg within the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Michigan. This clinical research group, funded by the National Institute of Mental Health and part of a multi-university effort that included groups at NIH, Harvard, and Yale, focused on the assessment and treatment of very young children with emotional and developmental difficulties.

Beth Sherman received her MSW and BA in psychology from the University of Michigan and completed two years of undergraduate work at Oberlin College. Ms. Sherman specializes in the area of social work practice with children and youth. As an outpatient therapist, clinical supervisor, prevention program developer, and school social worker, she has provided social work services within multiple mental health, educational, and child welfare arenas.

Kristine Siefert’s research focuses on identifying modifiable social, behavioral, and environmental determinants of health, with an emphasis on addressing socioeconomic and racial/ethnic health disparities.

Siefert joined the faculty in of the School of Social Work in 1979. She held the Edith S. Gomberg Collegiate Professorship in Social Work from 2007 until her retirement in 2012. She also served as associate dean for academic affairs and assistant dean for research.

Nitesh Singh is an experienced social worker, educator and program administrator. Across his 15-year career at the University of Michigan, Singh has managed academic programs, stewarded university-community partnerships and served on the board of directors of national non-profit organizations. Singh has also worked as a clinical therapist in private practice, specializing in college student mental health.

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 health and human services.

Matthew J. Smith, PhD, MSW, MPE, LCSW, received his PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and completed post-doctoral fellowships in psychiatric epidemiology and biostatistics at Washington University in St. Louis and in translational neuroscience at Northwestern University. Smith also completed a fellowship on leading randomized controlled trials to evaluate behavioral interventions through the Office of Behavioral and Social Science Research, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Smith is the director of the NIH-Funded Level Up: Employment Skills Simulation Lab.