School of Social Work News

Dear SSW Community:

I am delighted to announce that Todd Herrenkohl will be joining the U-M School of Social Work in January, 2018. He has been appointed as a Marion Elizabeth Blue Professor of Children and Families. Todd will officially join the School of Social Work at Michigan in January, 2018.  He joins us from the University of Washington School of Social Work in Seattle, WA where he is currently a Professor and Co-Director of the 3DL Partnership 4 – a newly established center focused on innovations in three-dimensional learning. The mission of the center is to raise the profile and practice of social, emotional and intellectual learning to better prepare young people for success in school, work and life. He is also currently serving as the interim associate dean for research, for the School's Office of Research. He has also acted of the Undergraduate Program Director while with the University of Washington School of Social Work.

Todd holds a Ph.D. in Social Welfare from University of Washington, an M.S.W. from Simmons College in Boston, MA and a B.A. in Social Relations from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA. Dr. Herrenkohl’s work focuses on the study and promotion of positive youth development and the amelioration of risk factors related to interpersonal violence. His current work includes an extended prospective, longitudinal study on intergenerational patterns of violence within families, developmental consequences, and resilience in adults who were maltreated as children (Lehigh Longitudinal Study).

Todd has received research funding from several sources, including the National Institute on Child Health and Human Development, Office of Behavior and Social Sciences Research, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institute of Justice, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. His funded projects and publications examine various health-risk behaviors in children exposed to violence, resilience and protective factors that buffer against early risk exposure in children, and methods and approaches to promoting wellness by investing in the whole child.

His work reflects a strong and unwavering commitment to advancing knowledge for programs and services for vulnerable groups. Trained as a prevention scientist with a commitment to social welfare, he is committed to bridging the gap between research and practice in prevention, including policy. He was recently selected to serve on the Washington State Social Emotional Learning Benchmark Workgroup, a professional group convened by the state legislature and directed by the Washington State Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to recommend comprehensive benchmarks for developmentally appropriate interpersonal and decision-making knowledge and skills of social and emotional learning for children in kindergarten through high school.

Rewards that Todd has received include: Honorary Professor, Australian Catholic University (2013); Distinguished Visiting Research Fellow, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Australia (2012); and Visiting Research Fellow, Centre for Adolescent Health and Department of Pediatrics, University of Melbourne, Australia (2008).

Before beginning his official duties in January, Todd will visit campus several time during the fall semester.  I hope you will take the opportunity to meet him if you have not already done so.

Please join me in welcoming Todd to the School of Social Work at U of M,

Lynn Videka, Dean
University of Michigan School of Social work