Faculty & Research

One of the College of Social Work’s unique qualities is that it is home base to two well-respected scholarly journals.  Both journals were founded and are currently edited by FSU College of Social Work faculty members. The Journal of Poetry Therapy is edited by Dean Nick Mazza and Research on Social Work Practiceis edited by Professor Bruce Thyer.  Both faculty members’  talents have served to create these resources that continue to enrich research and practice in social work and related disciplines.

CSW Associate Professor, Dr. Jean Munn has co-authored a chapter for the medical text, Primary Care Geriatrics, along with Dr. Ken Brummel-Smith and Debra Danforth of the FSU COM. The focus of the chapter, interdisciplinary collaboration on medical teams, has led to the development of a course available to students in medicine, nursing, and social work to be offered summer 2013. The course will model an interdisciplinary team format, posing case studies and comprising equal team membership for each discipline.

After almost thirty years, I am retiring from the FSU College of Social Work this summer.

The Florida State University College of Social Work is combining its expertise in providing professional social work skills with community resources in a first of a kind initiative using student-developed entrepreneurial business models to aid social services organizations and the Tallahassee community in identifying comprehensive solutions to local homelessness.

The Florida State University (FSU) College of Social Work (CSW) collaborated with FSU’s Center for Academic Retention and Enhancement (CARE), the FSU Art Education Department, the FSU Athletics Department, and the 

Dr. Karen Randolph, and coauthor Dr. Laura Myers’s book Basic Statistics in Multivariate Analysis was recently published by Oxford University Press.  The book introduces readers to three multivariate analytical methods (i.e., linear regression, analysis of variance and covariance, and path analysis) with a focus on the basic statistics that support these methods.

We are most fortunate to have two new assistant professors joining us this fall!

Lisa Schelbe, MSW, Ph.D. joins the College of Social Work faculty as an Assistant Professor, having most recently completed her Ph.D. at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Schelbe earned her MSW at Washington University, George Warren Brown School of Social Work. Lisa brings a wealth of experience relating to domestic violence and child welfare (particularly youth aging out of the child welfare system).

Faculty member Janet Berry retired at the end of this summer to begin a new chapter in her life.  On top of being an alumna of the FSU College of Social Work, Janet has been a long-time faculty member at the College, taking on various roles and responsibilities.  Included among these roles were the development of the online MSW degree program and the online Leadership in Executive and Administrative Development (LEAD) Certificate Program as well as coordinating and designing the Capstone Assignment for Field Seminars.

Elizabeth Koalska Piccard, better known as Betty, was a valued faculty member of the College of Social Work from 1965 until 1993, serving for many years as the Undergraduate Program Director. Recently, on August 29, 2013 she died peacefully in her sleep in Tallahassee, a place she called home since 1953.

Since July 1, 2012, the College of Social Work(CSW) has collaborated with the FSU College of Medicine (COM) and the FAMU College of Pharmacy on a unique program evaluation of the MEDS-AD Medication Therapy Management (MTM) program, implemented by the