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 (culture...

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 these...

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 Research...

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, Mississippi...

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...

Jorge Delva, a native of Chile, conducts research focusing on addressing and reducing health disparities and helping improve the lives of low-income and racial and ethnic minority populations. His research began in Honolulu two decades ago where he worked on SAMHSA-funded projects aimed at improving...

Mat Despard, MSW, PhD, is an assistant professor with a research focus on the financial security of lower-income families and on the capacity and effectiveness of nonprofit organizations serving these families. Currently, Despard is conducting research on the outcomes of a large scale tax-time savings...

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 in the...

Dr. William Elliott III will be joining the UM-SSW in July 2017. He is currently an associate professor at the University of Kansas (KU) and founder of the Center on Assets, Education, and Inclusion (AEDI) in KU’s School of Social Welfare. He received his Ph.D. and master’s in social work from George...

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 performance...

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 collaborative...

Andrew Grogan-Kaylor's current research focuses on the way in which parenting behaviors, like the use of physical punishment, or parental expressions of emotional warmth and support, have an effect on child outcomes like aggression, antisocial behavior, anxiety, depression, and children’s thinking...

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 scholarship...

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 epidemiological...

Professor Berit Ingersoll-Dayton is interested in social support and clinical research with respect to families in later life. Within the area of social support, she focuses on positive and negative aspects of support, gender differences, issues of equity and reciprocity, and cross-cultural differences...

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 community...

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 the...

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 Center...

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 multiple...

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 to...

Jamie Mitchell is an assistant professor of social work and co-director of the Gender and Health Research Lab at the University of Michigan. Her interdisciplinary research examines the mechanisms that patient-centered communication between older African American men and their physicians during the course...

Sandra L. Momper, PhD, Associate Professor of Social Work at the University of Michigan, completed her MSW and PhD at the University of Pittsburgh. She has 20 years of mental health experience with American Indian and African American families as well as community organizing experience. Her aim is to...

E. Nicklett joined the UM SSW faculty after completing a postdoctoral fellowship at the Center on Aging and Health at Johns Hopkins University. Her active research agenda concerns social and contextual determinants of health in later life. She specializes in strategies for successful chronic disease...