Department of Social Work - Faculty & Staff

Michael Balliro, MSW, Ph.D.: Lecturer
(707) 826-4451
Behavioral and Social Sciences 542
michael.balliro@humboldt.edu; I came to Humboldt via Austin, Texas, where I completed my dissertation research examining the lived experience of ex-offenders in their respective communities of return. I am particularly interested in qualitative research that honors the expertise of those who have direct experience with the social problems that vex many social workers. I feel we have much to learn from these experts and should we be able to amplify their voices, we might be more effective allies in effecting positive policy change. These values were instilled during my formative undergraduate years at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where I majored in Community Studies and conducted research with those who employed direct action as a strategy to promote social change. For a few decades thereafter I closely followed those anti-globalization activists who were once known collectively as the global social justice movement. I spent a year on the African continent, mostly South Africa, before returning to the US to complete my graduate studies. I have since worked with the Veterans Administration doing outreach with homeless vets, and in NYC as a case manager coordinating access to services for victims of the September 11th attacks. My hobbies include gardening, quilt making, creative writing, and cooking. I make a mean vegetarian chili.
Serenity Bowen, LCSW: Lecturer
(707) 826-4343
Founders Hall 101
serenity.bowen@humboldt.edu
Pamela Brown, MSW, Ed.D.: Professor
Title IV-E Pathway Progam Project Coordinator
(707) 826-4564
Founders Hall 166B
pb4@humboldt.edu; After practice in the fields of mental health and development disabilities, I accepted a teaching position in social work in 1977 at Bodø College in the arctic region of Norway where I taught practice and field courses for six years. I have been teaching ever since. My practice interests are in family violence and poverty. My most recent research projects include two collaborative studies with colleagues in Russia, Australia, Canada and Norway on social work education, poverty and crisis shelters. I find it rewarding to forge partnerships with people who are most affected by injustice and inequity as a way to affect change in policies and practices in our social welfare system.
Carrie Cline: Administrative Support Coordinator, CalSWEC Programs
(707) 826-4459
Behavioral and Social Sciences 454
Carrie.cline@humboldt.edu
Debbie Gonzalez, MSW: Lecturer
(707) 826-4438
Behavioral and Social Sciences 546
dlh1@humboldt.edu
Dr. Christian M. Itin, MSW: Professor
(707) 826-4451
Behavioral and Social Sciences 542
ci3@humboldt.edu; PLEASE NOTE: Professor Itin is on leave for Fall, 2011 and he is on sabbatical for Spring, 2012.; I joined the faculty at HSU in fall 2005. My BS is in Social Work from Cornell University and my MSW and PhD in Social Work from the University of Denver. I’ve been teaching in social work education since 1995. Prior to arriving here, I was the founding faculty member of the Greater Rochester Collaborative MSW Program in Rochester, NY and an Assistant Clinical professor at the University of Denver in Denver, CO. My practice experience is in the area of addictions and mental health primarily with youth, families and groups. I’ve also worked with community groups and organizational change. My specialized area of focus is in wilderness and adventure-based practice. My scholarship focuses on the philosophy of experiential education, the application of wilderness and adventure-based practice, group work, and work within the HIV/AIDS community. I enjoy music, art, gardening, hiking, backpacking, climbing, skiing, riding my motorcycle and trying new things.
Jyll Jackson: Administrative Support Assistant, MSW/Field Education Programs
(707) 826-4443
Behavioral and Social Sciences 510a
Jyll.Jackson@humboldt.edu
Jamie Jensen, MSW: Lecturer
(707) 826-4447
Behavioral and Social Sciences 514b
jamie.jensen@humboldt.edu
Sheri Johnson, MSW: Director of Field Education
(707) 826-4452
Behavioral and Social Sciences 510c
slj1@humboldt.edu; I started teaching at Humboldt State University in 1999 in the Sociology Department while working full time as the project director for the Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services Public Health Branch Domestic Violence Prevention Program. For many years, I worked in the management of the local battered women’s program where I began as a crisis line worker in 1981. For ten years, I co-instructed with law enforcement the domestic violence unit at the College of the Redwoods police academy. Before moving to Humboldt County in 1980, I lived in San Francisco for ten years and learned how to engage in community organizing in the Haight Ashbury. I remain committed to the principles of equality and social justice. I am thrilled to become the Director of Field Education and look forward to the difference our program can make for our students and for the Humboldt County community.
Barbara LaHaie: Lecturer
(707) 826-4343
Behavioral and Social Sciences 546
barbara.lahaie@humboldt.edu
Peter LaVallee: Lecturer
(707) 826-4343
Behavioral and Social Sciences 546
peter.lavallee@humboldt.edu
Marissa O'Neill, MSW, Ph.D.: Lecturer
(707) 826-4552
Behavioral and Social Sciences 448
marissa.oneill@humboldt.edu
Laura Power, MSW: Latino Community Field Development Coordinator
(707) 826-4343
Behavioral and Social Sciences 546
laura.power@humboldt.edu
Michelle Rainer, MSW, LCSW: Lecturer
Title IV-E American Indian Recruitment Program Coordinator
(707) 826-4449
Behavioral and Social Sciences 540
mr49@humboldt.edu

Holly Scaglione, MSW: Lecturer
(707) 826-4343
Behavioral and Social Sciences 546
hed9@humboldt.edu

Carrie Slack, MSW, LCSW: Lecturer
(707) 826-4449 ext. 2
Behavioral and Social Sciences 540
cls7003@humboldt.edu

Ken Smith, MSW: Project Coordinator, Title IV-E Child Welfare Training Project
(707) 826-4458
Behavioral and Social Sciences 452
kes8@humboldt.edu; Living in Humboldt County since 1968, I earned a BA in German at HSU in 1985 and an MSW from CSU Long Beach, HSU Extension, in 1998. Having served the children, youth, and families of this community for over twenty years through job experiences in education, juvenile probation, child welfare, and adoption services, it has been my honor to work with hundreds of resilient children and wonderful families. It is now my honor to serve the students and community through my role at this university.
Erin Stanley, MSW: Lecturer
(707) 826-5346
Behavioral and Social Sciences 510b
erin.stanley@humboldt.edu
Ronnie Swartz, MSW, Ph.D., LCSW: Department Chair
Associate Professor
(707) 826-4562
Behavioral and Social Sciences 514c
rjs19@humboldt.edu
website »; I am particularly interested in the living wisdom and knowledge people have developed, and the processes through which this wisdom and knowledge is marginalized by dominant cultural discourses. I believe social work requires a commitment to highly ethical and effective practices that privilege people's ways of thinking, feeling, acting, and being in the world rather than universalizing experience and totalizing people's identities. As a social worker I have consulted with individuals and their families, adults, and organizations in education, mental health, substance abuse, juvenile justice, and child advocacy systems. My interests include narrative work, harm reduction, restorative justice, family-centered practices, and social/economic policy. My purpose in practicing and teaching social work is to assist people in the realization of their preferred ways of being in the world.
Lorraine Taggart: Department and BA Program Administrative Support Coordinator
(707) 826-4448
Behavioral and Social Sciences 514a
llt1@humboldt.edu

Vickie Thornburgh

Administrative Support Assistant, CalSWEC Programs
(707) 826-4438
Behavioral and Social Sciences 450
vfd3@humboldt.edu

Margi Waller, MSW, Ph.D.: Associate Professor
CalSWEC Mental Health Educational Stipend Program Project Coordinator
(707) 826-5350
Behavioral and Social Sciences 544
maw62@humboldt.edu; I bring perspective based on a BA in Music Therapy, an MSW at the University of Illinois, a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, 3 years as an integrated arts therapist, 10 years as a family therapist, and 20 years teaching social work in state universities. My research focus is resilience theory and its application to understanding the protective factors that facilitate educational resilience in Native students and well-being in Native communities. Recently I've been teaching courses in human behavior and mental health and co-ordinating the CalSWEC Mental Health Stipend Program. You can also find me leading women's backpack trips for the Sierra Club, solo backpacking in the High Sierras, backpacking with international exchange students from AFS, being on-site co-ordinator for Coastwalk, hiking, kayaking with Explore North Coast, galloping my draft horse on Clam Beach, and enjoying family and friends.

Michael Yellow Bird, MSW, Ph.D.: Professor
(707) 826-5346
Behavioral and Social Sciences 510b
Michael.YellowBird@humboldt.edu
Blog»

I am a citizen of the Arikara (Sahnish) and Hidatsa Nations in North Dakota. I have a BSW from the University of North Dakota, an MSW from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and a Ph.D. in social welfare from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. I have held faculty appointments in the Schools of Social Work at the University of British Columbia, Arizona State University, and the University of Kansas. I am the previous director of the Indigenous Nations Studies program (now the Global Indigenous Nations Studies program) at Kansas.

I have authored a number of scholarly papers and book chapters and have presented workshops and scholarly papers and keynote addresses (related to Indigenous Peoples) in numerous academic and non-academic venues in the United States, Canada, Australia, Finland, Mexico, and the Middle East. I am the co-editor of two books: For Indigenous Eyes Only: The Decolonization Handbook, 2005 (with Dr. Waziyatawin Angela Wilson) and Indigenous Social Work around the World: Towards Culturally Relevant Education and Practice, 2008 (with Drs. Mel Gray and John Coates).

My scholarship and activism focuses on: Indigenous Peoples' cultural, land, and political rights, principles of just war, peacemaking, critical and intuitive thinking, capacity building within tribal youth, families, and communities, native prisoners, spirituality, native men, mind-body medicine, colonialism and methods of decolonization, and applying mind-brain research paradigms to empower Indigenous communities.

Emeriti Faculty

Kathryn Corbett (1952-1980)

Ken Hallum (1968-1987)

Sara Turner (1976-1991)

Barbara Childers (1989-1996)

Ben Fairless (1968-1999)

Maria Bartlett (1999-2007)

John Gai (1975-2008)

Ken Nakamura (1991-2008)

Jane Holschuh (2004-2011)

Humboldt State University