Faculty

Park is an organizational scholar with an overarching research question, "how can health and social service organizations provide more responsive and effective services?" He is deeply interested in (1) how to ensure user's meaningful representation opportunities in service and policy ...

Joe Ryan's research and teaching build upon his direct practice experiences with child welfare and juvenile justice populations. Dr. Ryan is the Co-Director of the Child and Adolescent Data Lab an applied research center focused on using data to drive policy and practice decisions in the field.  ...

Professor Yoshihama's research interests are violence against women, immigrants, mental health, and community organizing. Combining research and social action at local, state, national, and international levels over the last 25 years, Dr. Yoshihama focuses on the prevention of gender-based ...

Daphne C. Watkins is a University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor at the University of Michigan who studies: (1) behavioral interventions for historically marginalized groups; (2) mixed methods approaches to research in context; and (3) leadership development and organizational ...

Lisa Wexler is a professor of social work and a research professor in the Research Center for Group Dynamics at the Institute of Social Research at the University of Michigan. She received her doctoral education from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities and did her critical ethnographic ...

Professor Lorraine Gutiérrez has a joint appointment with the School of Social Work (SSW) and Department of Psychology at the University of Michigan and is a faculty associate in American Culture. She also is a member of the SSW Community Organization Learning Community. Her teaching and ...

Professor David Tucker's scholarly areas of interest include the formation, growth, and death of organizations; the structural analysis of inter-organizational service delivery systems; and the application of macro organizational theory to the analysis of selected social policy issues. His ...

Danny Alvarez (they/them), MSW ‘12, is a passionate facilitator, educator and organizer who has applied social work practices to their work for the last decade. With practices strongly rooted in popular education and intergroup dialogue pedagogy, they have taught, developed and managed programs ...

Sean de Four currently serves as the President and CEO of Southwest Solutions, one of Detroit’s most innovative and impactful nonprofit organizations, which provides a range of services in the areas of behavioral health, economic self-sufficiency, workforce development, affordable housing, ...

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 ...

Brooke Buys, MSW '13, PhD, focuses on innovative mental health care development, complex family systems and gender-responsive addiction treatment. Buys is the founder and CEO of BLND Health, a mental health care company located in Michigan and Colorado. The BLND team is composed of clinical ...

Ayesha Ghazi Edwin, MSW '10, is a political social worker and community organizer with over 10 years of experience in various social justice areas, including labor, healthcare, voting, immigration, housing and disability. Ghazi Edwin serves as a lecturer and program manager for the School of ...

Dr. Dana Levin is a graduate of the Joint Program in Social Work and Developmental Psychology (2010), and an associate professor of social work at the University of Windsor in Ontario. Her research focuses primarily on gender and sexual socialization in adolescents and emerging adults, looking ...

Douglas Manigault III (he/him), MSW '15, is a respectful boundary pusher, experienced relationship manager and strategist. A macro social worker by training and profession, Manigault has worked in organizations across Southeastern Michigan to support program development, volunteer engagement, ...

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 ...

Justin Hodge is a clinical assistant professor of social work at the University of Michigan. He is the co-lead for the Policy & Political Social Work Pathway and the director of the Online Certificate in Political Social Work. Hodge is committed to increasing the presence of social workers in ...