Faculty Directory

Karla Arenas-Itotia, M.A., MSSW, LMSW

Assistant Professor in Practice

• karla.arenas@uta.edu
  
• Faculty Profile
• Research Interests: Family, Gender, Race and Ethnicity, Violence Prevention, Trauma, Victim Services, Relationship and Sexual Violence, Higher Education, Student Development and Leadership, Field, Mental Health, Community Education

Philip Baiden, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

• philip.baiden@uta.edu
  
• Faculty Profile
• Research Interests: Suicide Prevention Research; Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs); Adolescent Substance Use Behaviors; Social Determinants of Health and Mental Health; Barriers to Health Service Utilization; International Social Work Research

Ly-Huong Barrett, JD, LCSW

Assistant Professor in Practice

• lyhuong.barrett@uta.edu
  
• Faculty Profile
• Research Interests: Health and Mental Health, Risk Management, Professional Ethics, Field, Leadership and Professional Development

Randy Basham, PhD

Associate Professor

• basham@uta.edu
  
• Faculty Profile
• Research Interests: Program and Practice Evaluation, Research Methods, Information Technology, Health and Behavioral Health Aging, Child Welfare and Disaster Response, Service Delivery, Group Measurement, International Issues, Sustainability

Beverly Black, PhD

Jillian Michelle Smith Professor in Family Violence Research

• beverlyblack@uta.edu
  
• Faculty Profile
• Research Interests: Violence, Prevention Programming, Dating Violence, Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault

LaShaunn Bold, LMSW

Associate Professor in Practice

• lashaunn@uta.edu
  
• Faculty Profile
• Research Interests: Child Welfare, Domestic Violence, Victim Services, Community Development, Non-profit management, Volunteer Coordination

Saltanat Childress, PhD, Fulbright Scholar 2020 – 2021 

PhD – University of Maryland, Baltimore 
MSW – Washington University in St. Louis

Assistant Professor

• saltanat.childress@uta.edu
• Faculty Profile

Norman Cobb, PhD

Associate Professor

• cobb@uta.edu
  
• Faculty Profile
• Research Interests: Mental Health Treatment, Cognitive and Behavioral Theory, Decision making, Professional Ethics

Ryon J. Cobb, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

• ryon.cobb@uta.edu
  
• Faculty Profile
• Research Interests: His program of research elucidates how experiences of mistreatment combine with one’s racial identification to affect the health of adults in the United States.

Jandel Crutchfield, Ph.D., LCSW

Assistant Professor

• jandel.crutchfield@uta.edu
  
• Faculty Profile
• Research Interests: School social work in traditional and charter schools, cultural competence of school social workers, colorism and social work practice.

Maxine Davis, MSW, MBA, PhD

Assistant Professor

• maxine.davis@uta.edu
  
• Faculty Profile
• Research Interests: Intimate partner violence/abuse perpetration; Community-based intervention; Black-American and Latin populations; Black-church; Religious-faith; Religion-spiritual abuse; Program evaluation; Community-engaged research (i.e. CBPR)

Sophia Fantus, PhD

Assistant Professor

• sophia.fantus@uta.edu
  
• Faculty Profile
• Research Interests: Reproductive ethics, specializing in LGBTQ advocacy and inclusivity, moral distress, and clinical social work ethics.

Noelle Fields, Ph.D., LCSW

Assistant Professor

• noellefields@uta.edu
  
• Faculty Profile
• Research Interests: Aging in Place, Home and Community-based Services, Family Caregiving, Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementia, Assistive Technology, Transportation Equity

Pamela Fox, Ph.D., LCSW-S

Assistant Professor in Practice

• pamela.fox@uta.edu

Genevieve Graaf, PhD, MSW

Assistant Professor

• genevieve.graaf@uta.edu
• Research Interests: Children's Mental Health Policy and Service Systems; Evidence-Based Practice in Community Settings; Implementation Science and Knowledge Translation in Social Work; Medicaid Home and Community-Based Service Policies; Medicaid and disparities in access to care

Kiva Harper, MSSW, LCSW

Assistant Professor in Practice

• harperkiva@uta.edu
  
• Faculty Profile
• Research Interests: Military Social Work, Trauma Therapy (PTSD, Intimate Partner Violence and Sexual Assault), Traumatic Grief

Richard Hoefer, PhD

Professor

• rhoefer@uta.edu
  
• Faculty Profile
• Research Interests: Program Evaluation; Nonprofit Management; Social Policy; Comparative Social Policy; and Nonprofit Advocacy

Darlene Hunter, LMSW, Ph.D. Family Studies

Assistant Professor in Practice

• darlene.hunter@uta.edu
  
• Faculty Profile
• Research Interests: Disability; Disability and Sports

Pamela Johnson, MSW, LCSW

Assistant Professor in Practice

• pamelajohnson@uta.edu
  
• Faculty Profile

Catheleen Jordan, MSW, PhD, LCSW

Professor

• jordan@uta.edu
  
• Faculty Profile
• Research Interests: Family assessment and treatment, Family violence, Baby boomers, Technology and elders

Catherine LaBrenz, PhD

Assistant Professor

• catherine.labrenz@uta.edu
  
• Faculty Profile
• Research Interests: Child Welfare; Reunification; Permanence; Family Engagement

Jim Langford, LCSW

Assistant Professor in Practice

• jimlangford@uta.edu
  
• Faculty Profile

Kathy Lee, PhD, MSW

Assistant Professor

• kathy.lee@uta.edu
  
• Faculty Profile
• Research Interests: Health and well-being of older adults with cognitive impairment, non-pharmacological interventions, social engagement, minority older adults and family caregivers, home- and community-based services, and health disparities.

Karen Magruder, LCSW

Director of Undergraduate Programs

• karen.magruder@uta.edu
  
• Faculty Profile
• Research Interests: Aging, mental health, health promotion, long-term care, hospice, dementia, sustainability, environmental justice

Pamela Malone, PhD, LCSW, FT

Assistant Professor in Practice

• pamela.malone@uta.edu
  
• Faculty Profile
• Research Interests: Loss and Grief, Trauma and Disaster, Adolescent Development, Substance Abuse Intervention and Treatment, Clinical Supervision

Rebecca Mauldin, LMSW, MSW, PhD

Assistant Professor

• rebecca.mauldin@uta.edu
  
• Faculty Profile
• Research Interests: Aging, Social Integration/Isolation, Social Network Analysis, Social Support and Generosity

Diane Mitschke, PhD, MSW

Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs

• dianemitschke@uta.edu
  
• Faculty Profile
• Research Interests: Health and Mental Health of Vulnerable Populations; Refugee and Immigrant Health and wellness

Marcela Nava, LMSW

Assistant Professor in Practice

• marcela.nava@uta.edu
  
• Faculty Profile
• Research Interests: Health Equity, Community Based  Participatory Research, Immigration, Policy Advocacy

Anne Nordberg, PhD, MSW

Associate Professor

• annenordberg@uta.edu
  
• Faculty Profile
• Research Interests: Problem-Solving Courts, Forensic Social Work, Populations At-Risk for Criminal Justice Involvement, Structural Violence, Qualitative Methodologies, Innovative Approaches to Reduce Recidivism

Tracy Orwig, LCSW

Assistant Professor in Practice

• tracy.orwig@uta.edu
  
• Faculty Profile
• Research Interests: Health Interventions, Health Disparities, Health Literacy and the Impact of Interprofessional Education on Health Students

Diana Padilla-Medina, PhD, LMSW

Assistant Professor

• diana.padilla@uta.edu
  
• Faculty Profile
• Research Interests: Latino adolescent dating violence, interpersonal violence in global contexts, Latino adolescent decision making.

Ashley Palmer, PhD, LMSW

Assistant Professor

• ashley.palmer@uta.edu
  
• Faculty Profile
• Research Interests: Experiences and connections during the transition from adolescence into young adulthood as they relate to health and well-being; housing policy and interventions.

Vijayan Pillai, PhD

Professor

• pillai@uta.edu
  
• Faculty Profile
• Research Interests: Adolescent social problems , Reproductive health , National and International social policy, Population, Community Planning, Demographic Techniques, Zambia, Social Policy, Reproductive rights, Development

Regina T. Praetorius, Ph.D., LMSW-AP

Director of Graduate Programs

• rtpraetorius@uta.edu
  
• Faculty Profile
• Research Interests: Trauma, Suicide, Military and Veteran Issues, Suicide, Suicide Bereavement, Qualitative Interpretive Meta-Synthesis (QIMS) and Social Work Education

Ericka Robinson-Freeman, LCSW

Associate Professor in Practice

• erickarobinson@uta.edu
  
• Faculty Profile
• Research Interests: Retention and Empowerment of Social Workers within Child Welfare, primary medical needs challenges in foster and adoptive homes, youth aging out of foster care, and supportive services for families and children.

De’An O. Roper, PhD, LCSW

Assistant Professor in Practice

• dean.roper@uta.edu
• Research Interests: Sexual and gender minority health disparities, the intersection of behavior change and technology, health risk behaviors, substance abuse, mental health and criminal justice.

Scott Ryan, MSW, MBA, PhD

Dean and Jenkins Garrett Professor

• sdryan@uta.edu
  
• Faculty Profile
• Research Interests: Leadership in Higher Education, Child Welfare/Adoptions, Intervention Research, Systematic Review Syntheses and Survey Methodology

Marie Salimbeni, Ph.D, LCSW CAS

Assistant Professor in Practice

• marie.salimbeni@uta.edu
  
• Faculty Profile
• Research Interests: Forensic Social Work, Military Families and Children, Qualitative Research, Action Research, Race and Ethnicity, Relationship Violence and Prevention, Trauma, Higher Education, Student Development and Leadership, Community Education

Katherine Sanchez, PhD

Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Affairs
Associate Professor

• ksanchez@uta.edu
  
• Faculty Profile
• Research Interests: Integrated health care, mental health disparities, implementation science, health services research, behavioral health issues of disparity populations, cultural and linguistic competency in mental health services, social work in medical settings and disease management, motivational interviewing and other brief clinical interventions, and the role of social work in chronic disease care.

Maria Scannapieco, PhD, MSW

Professor

• mscannapieco@uta.edu
  
• Faculty Profile
• Research Interests: Child Welfare, Implementation, Indian Child Welfare, Youth Aging Out Foster Care, Child Maltreatment, Mental Health Problems of Children and Adolescents, Kinship Care, University/Agency Collaborations and Workforce Development

Donald Schuman, PhD, LCSW, LCDC

Assistant Professor in Practice

• donald.schuman@uta.edu
  
• Faculty Profile
• Research Interests: Substance use disorders, addiction treatments and suicide prevention in the general population with emphasis on veterans and service members; Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) treatment, group psychotherapy, developing interdisciplinary health treatment teams, and measuring the impact and relevance of feedback on the treatment experience.

Eusebius Small, PhD

Associate Professor

• esmall@uta.edu
  
• Faculty Profile
• Research Interests: International Social Work, The Intersection of HIV and Contextual Social Norms, Adolescent Risk Behaviors, Comparative Social Policy

Rachel Voth Schrag, PhD, LCSW

Assistant Professor

• rachel.vothschrag@uta.edu
  
• Faculty Profile
• Research Interests: Violence Against Women, Trauma and Mental Health, Convergence of Poverty and Interpersonal Trauma, Violence Against Women in Diverse Educational Settings; Interpersonal Violence Prevention and Intervention

Allison Tomlinson, PhD, LCSW

Assistant Professor in Practice

• Diversity Studies Liaison
  
• allison.tomlinson@uta.edu
  Research Interests: Maternal incarceration, stress theory and non-normative family stress, couple and marriage dynamics in African American families, and mental health.

Micki Washburn, PhD, LMSW, MA, LPC-S

Assistant Professor

• micki.washburn@uta.edu
  
• Faculty Profile
• Research Interests: Health disparities related to mental health and substance misuse in historically underserved communities, applications of technology in behavioral health assessment and treatment, mindfulness based clinical interventions for women with co-occurring mental health and substance use concerns, social policy related to SOGIE for child welfare involved youth and families.

Debra Woody, PhD

Associate Professor and Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs

• debwoody@uta.edu
  
• Faculty Profile
• Research Interests: Substance Abuse, School Based Social Work Services

Ling Xu, PhD

Assistant Professor

• lingxu@uta.edu
  
• Faculty Profile
• Research Interests: Aging, grandparents, ethnicity (Chinese), assistive technology, Intergenerational Support and Healthy Aging, Health Disparity, Health Care Utilization, Acculturative Stress, Social support and Well-being of Older Adults, Asian American Older Adults