Tenure-Track Faculty

Professor Carter studies associations between pubertal development and patterns of adjustment (psychological, behavioral, and health), with particular attention to how pubertal processes, social-cultural contextual factors (family, peers, teachers, romantic partners), and wider social systems ...

My current research interests involve the study of several different predictors of psychological and physical adjustment, including optimism and pessimism, perfectionism, and social problem solving. I am also interested in understanding how cultural and racial factors influence the function of ...

Linda M. Chatters is a professor in the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, School of Public Health and professor in the School of Social Work. She is a faculty associate with the Program for Research on Black Americans at the Institute for Social Research and the Center for ...

Professor Barry Checkoway is an internationally-recognized scholar and practitioner on youth empowerment, neighborhood development, and community change. His projects and publications draw on work with grassroots groups, community agencies, and government programs in the South Bronx, Detroit, ...

Professor Córdova received his Ph.D. from Michigan State University and graduated a Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Minority Fellow. After completing his National Institutes of Health-funded postdoctoral training at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, ...

Professor Ruth Dunkle's research, teaching, and clinical practice focus on gerontology. Recent research projects include "Mothers of Adult Daughters with a Serious Mental Illness: The Experience of African Americans and Whites" and "An Historical Perspective of Social Service Delivery in Detroit ...

William Elliott III is a professor and founder of the Center on Assets, Education, and Inclusion in U-M’s School of Social Work. He received his PhD and master’s in social work from George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis, MO. He received his bachelor’s ...

Katrina R. Ellis earned her PhD from the University of Michigan School of Public Health (Health Behavior and Health Education). Her research interests include family health interventions; cancer survivorship; racial and ethnic disparities in cancer; and, program evaluation. Katrina’s future ...

Larry Gant's research focuses on neighborhood based responses to health disparities and social economic challenges in post-industrial cities in the United States and urban metropolitan areas in Europe, sub-Saharan African and China. Another strand of research includes the use of visual and ...

Karla Goldman's research focuses on the history of the American Jewish experience with special attention to the history of American Jewish communities and the evolving roles and contributions of American Jewish women. She directs the University of Michigan Jewish Communal Leadership Program, a ...

Giovanna (Odessa) Gonzalez Benson's research focuses on refugee resettlement. Her research expands current knowledge about policy and practice with refugees with an emphasis on labor equity, socioeconomic adjustment and organizations' participation as dimensions that prioritize refugee ...

Andrew Grogan-Kaylor's research focuses on both basic science research, and intervention research, on children and families. Grogan-Kaylor's current research projects examine parenting behaviors, such as physical punishment, and parental expressions of emotional warmth and support, and their ...

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 ...

Dr. Herrenkohl’s primary research interests focus on the areas of child and family well-being, child maltreatment and the psychosocial and developmental underpinnings of health-risk behaviors in youth and adults; substance use, mental and physical health outcomes of adversity; and resilience.  ...

Professor Joseph Himle's research interests focus on mental health intervention research with adults and youth. Himle's current intervention projects include treatment development projects focused on bringing cognitive behavioral therapy to underserved populations. He is also involved in ...

Shanna K. Kattari, PhD, MEd, ACS is faculty at the University of Michigan School of Social Work. Her background is as a board certified sexologist, experienced sexuality educator, and social justice advocate. Her extant research focuses on understanding how power, privilege and oppression ...

Professor Edith C. Kieffer, MPH, Ph.D., University of Michigan School of Social Work, conducts research addressing health and health care disparities. She has extensive experience planning, conducting and analyzing data from qualitative formative research and intervention research studies in ...

Sherrie A. Kossoudji is presently an associate professor in the School of Social Work and an adjunct associate professor in the Department of Economics. Her principal research area is immigration. She has written numerous articles on the legal status of immigrant workers in the United States and ...

Shawna J. Lee, PhD '05, is associate professor at the University of Michigan School of Social Work, where she is director of the Parenting in Context Research Lab. She is a faculty affiliate at the Center for Human Growth and Development (CHGD) and at the Institute for Social Research, Research ...

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 ...

Lydia Li is Associate Professor at the University of Michigan School of Social Work where she is a gerontologist with an interest in issues related to aging and health, and cross-cultural gerontology. Her research aims to understand how multiple levels of factors and their interaction contribute ...