Rebecca Cole
Rebecca Cole
Rebecca.cole@uta.edu
Research Interests:
- Mental health and online dating
- Online romance scams
- Crisis intervention and mental health
- Financial health of social workers
- Social worker development
Teaching Interests:
- clinical social work practice
- social work and criminal justice
Rebecca Cole is in the 3rd year of the University of Texas School at Arlington Social Work of Social Work’s (UTA SSW) Ph.D. program. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas, with a double major in criminal justice and psychology. She completed a Master of Social Work (MSW) degree from the University of Houston, where she focused on the clinical social work track.
Rebecca entered the Ph.D. program in the Fall of 2020 during the height of the pandemic. This unprecedented event posed new challenges in conducting research. As a graduate research assistant, Rebecca had to consider, along with her supervisors, creative approaches to oversee participant recruitment and data collection; owing to changes in IRB protocols due to health and safety measures from the pandemic, the qualitative study could no longer be completed in person. She has gained experience with sampling, data collection, and data analysis while working on qualitative and quantitative research projects.
Rebecca has worked as a licensed clinical social worker in a community mental health setting. Rebecca desires to pursue a career in research focusing on online romance scams, cyber victimization, and crisis mental health needs. She believes that her research can contribute to systemic changes that benefits online dating users, inform policies, and support interdisciplinary efforts to reduce violence and victimization.
Rebecca has a long pattern of service to the social work profession, the University, and to her community. She has been a field instructor for Baylor University’s Master of Social Work program supervising students since August 2020. Rebecca was a volunteer with the UTA’s SSW Ph.D. Student Association as their social media manager from fall 2020 – Spring 2021. Rebecca is a Democratic precinct chair for her neighborhood.