New Faculty Join BUSSW in 2006/07

The Boston University School of Social Work welcomes the following new faculty in 2006/2007:

Jordana Muroff, Ph.D., M.S.W., Assistant Professor, received her MSW and PhD from the University of Michigan joins the Clinical Practice Department. In academic year 2005-2006 she was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Michigan in the Program for Improving Health Care Decisions. Her research interests include mental health assessment and intervention; cognitive behavioral treatment of anxiety disorders; culturally competent and empirically supported intervention methods; clinical decision-making and mental health services research; and cultural, racial/ethnic, and gender influences on mental health. She is teaching the intermediate course on assessment and intervention for individuals and families and the advanced course on cognitive and behavioral treatment.

PART-TIME FACULTY

Sharon Adelman, M.Ed., M.S.W., is from Cleveland, Ohio. She received an M.Ed. at Kent State University, majoring in Rehabilitation Counseling and worked with individuals, families and groups at a Free Clinic and in a Community Mental Health Center. In Boston, she worked in the field of substance abuse and then in residential treatment with adolescent girls and their families. Sharon received an M.S.W. from Simmons School of Social Work in 1986. She worked on a psychiatric unit of a hospital and in residential treatment at the New England Home for Little Wanderers as the Director of the Social Work Department. She has facilitated groups, and done teaching and supervision with social workers, nurses, medical students, psychiatric residents, treatment teams, and maintains a private psychotherapy practice. She is teaching Perspective on Family in Fall 2006.

Tara Earl, Ph.D., M.S.W., has spent the past five years participating in and implementing studies involving African Americans in relation to the mental health service system. She is currently a Research Associate with the Center for Multicultural Mental Health Research and a Post Doctoral Fellow in Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. At CMMHR, Dr. Earl is investigating the assessment and diagnostic decision-making process that physicians use when working with African American patients in public and private medical settings. Prior to joining CMMHR, under the advisement of Dr. King Davis, Dr. Earl completed her dissertation studies at the School of Social Work at The University of Texas at Austin. Her dissertation topic examined the impact of race and ethnicity on caregiving practices of siblings of color who had a brother or sister formally diagnosed with a severe mental illness. Dr. Earl has a BSW from Virginia Commonwealth University and an MSW from the University of Pennsylvania. She is teaching SR743 Research I in Fall 2006.

Therese Fitzgerald, M.S.W., L.C.S.W., is a Research Associate at the BUSSW Center on Work & Family. She is the Project Director for the Center’s program evaluation of La Voz, an HIV/AIDS prevention, education, and substance abuse treatment program serving Puerto Ricans and other Latinos in western Massachusetts. She is a clinical social worker and a doctoral student in BU’s Interdisciplinary Sociology and Social Work Ph.D. Program. Therese has co-authored a number of articles in the areas of HIV/AIDS risk behaviors and injection drug use. Her research interests include women and substance abuse, harm reduction in social work, and substance abuse and parenting. She is teaching Social Welfare Policy in the School’s Northeastern Massachusetts off-campus program.

Nicole Roberts, MSW is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Imani Corporation, a nonprofit founded in 1993 with a mission to help African American women MAXIMIZE their potential. Their initial program for youth, Imani Phi Christ, is building chapters in churches throughout the country. Ms. Roberts has over 10 years experience in nonprofit management, has worked with at-risk youth for over 10 years, and has experience developing programs and securing funding opportunities in nonprofit, faith- and school-based settings. She has also served as an adjunct professor in the University of Southern California (USC) School of Social Work where she taught Administrative and Community Practice for Family and Children Settings, Social Planning and Administration, and Social Policy for Families and Children. Additionally, she was a founding member of the Faith-Based Office Collaborative Council, which is a partnership between the California Council of Churches and the California Department of Public Social Services that was established to help faith-based organizations build their programmatic and funding capacity. Ms. Roberts holds an MSW from the University of Southern California. She is teaching the Macro Practice course.