DEBBIE BLACK is Office Manager at the National Resource Center for Family Centered Practice. Ms. Black has been at the Resource Center for 19 years and works on a wide range of projects, in addition to managing office staff and serving as fiscal manager for the Center. She also edits and produces The Prevention Report, maintains the website, and formats and publishes Center reports, documents and curricula. Her duties include the submission of financial and human resource data, and management of training materials.

E-mail: debbie-black@uiowa.edu
Phone:  319-335-4965

LISA D'AUNNO, J.D., is Director of Training for the National Resource Center for Family Centered Practice and Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Iowa School of Social Work. Lisa develops and oversees educational programs for social service and non-profit organizations throughout the United States. Lisa has 25 years of child welfare experience as an attorney, clinical professor of law, trainer, and program administrator in Iowa, Michigan and Illinois. As Director of Best Practice for the Office of the Inspector General, Illinois Department of Children and Family Services in Chicago, she managed the implementation of a number of interdisciplinary field tests to improve practice with families. Lisa has taught law and social work at the University of Chicago School of Social Services Administration as well as child advocacy at the University of Michigan Law School. As an attorney, she represented parents and children and prosecuted a number of complex termination of parental rights cases. Over the years, Lisa has trained over 8,000 social workers, lawyers, and judges in subjects including ethics, management skills, legal aspects of child maltreatment, courtroom skills, liability in human services, and interdisciplinary decision-making.

E-mail: lisa-daunno@uiowa.edu
Phone:  319-335-4932

MIRIAM LANDSMAN, M.S.W., Ph.D., is Executive Director of the National Resource Center for Family Centered Practice and Associate Professor of Social Work at the University of Iowa. Dr. Landsman has worked for the Center as a researcher, program evaluator, and technical assistance consultant for more than fifteen years. Her areas of expertise include child welfare services from family preservation through permanency planning, developing outcomes for family centered programs, and organizational commitment and staff turnover. Dr. Landsman has directed multistate research projects in child welfare services, statewide evaluations of family preservation and support, early intervention and pregnancy prevention, and community based programs and interagency collaboratives across a variety of service systems including child welfare, education, substance abuse, community action, and maternal and child health. Recent publications include "Attributing responsibility for child maltreatment when domestic violence is present" which was co-authored with Carolyn Copps Hartley and published in Child Abuse & Neglect, 31, 445-461 (2007) and “Pathways to Organizational Commitment,” which was selected as the outstanding article in Administration in Social Work in 2008.

E-mail: miriam-landsman@uiowa.edu

Phone:  319-335-4934

JULIA NEFF is a recent addition to the NRC staff. As a graduate of the University of Iowa, Julia holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology, with a concentration in English literature and writing. After 15 years as an Administrative Assistant in a University of Iowa research department, Julia joined the NRC as a project assistant. Julia supports training and project staff by assisting in office operations, in the editing and production of training materials, and in the administration, tracking and certification processes of trainings.

E-mail:  julia-neff@uiowa.edu

Phone:  319-335-4933

KELLEE THORBURN McCRORY, MPH, is Project Manager for the Iowa Center for Evaluation Research, the NRC's public health research and evaluation center. Ms. McCrory received her MPH from the University of Iowa College of Public Health. Ms. McCrory earned her undergraduate degree in counseling and human services at California State University, Fullerton.   Kellee has worked for the University of Iowa for six years and conducts research and evaluation in a wide variety of areas including rural and environmental health, comprehensive cancer control, nutrition, early childhood and child welfare, mental health care and access, development and delay and substance abuse. She also provides technical assistance in evaluation methods, planning and constructing logic models to improve organizational effectiveness and implementation of qualitative and focus group methods.

E-mail: kellee-mccrory@uiowa.edu
Phone:  319-335-4931

BRAD RICHARDSON, Ph.D., is Research Director at the National Resource Center for Family Centered Practice and Adjunct Associate Professor at The University of Iowa School of Social Work. Dr. Richardson is also Iowa DMC Coordinator for the DMC Resource Center and Minority Youth and Families Initiative where he directs statewide efforts to reduce disparities in the child welfare, juvenile justice, education and health systems. Dr. Richardson was elected national DMC representative for the Executive Board of the Center for Juvenile Justice in 2008.   Dr. Richardson earned his doctorate in applied sociology with specialization in social psychology, methodology and law, deviance and control from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. Prior to coming to Iowa he served as Director of Contract Research at Yale University and Director of Research at the Institute for Social and Economic Development. He has served as project director on numerous applied research and evaluation projects using both quantitative and qualitative methods. In addition to research and evaluation of programs he provides technical assistance on strengths-based and family centered practice, training and technical assistance on data management, outcome measures research and evaluation and he has trained staff of provider and government agencies on how to monitor and improve outcomes in their work with families throughout the U.S. Some of his most recent publications focus on utilizing the results of evaluations to promote and demonstrate program effectiveness, incorporating results into program improvement strategies, effective DMC technical assistance, and the use of social network analysis in improving community collaboration. Additionally, Dr. Richardson serves as director of the Iowa Center for Evaluation Research which conducts research and evaluation on community and behavioral health programs.

E-mail: brad-richardson@uiowa.edu

The University of Iowa School of Social Work
National Resource Center for Family Centered Practice
University Research Park
100 Oakdale Hall #M222
Iowa City, IA 52242-5000
Phone: 319.335.4924

The University of Iowa School of Social Work
John and Mary Pappajohn Education Center
1200 Grand Ave., Suite 120
Des Moines, IA 50309
Phone: 515.235.4661
Mobile: 515-771-3589

TASHA WELLS is Program Assistant at the National Resource Center for Family Centered Practice. She is based in the NRC's Des Moines office of The University of Iowa School of Social Work where she works on a variety of projects for the NRC research division, DMC Resource Center, Minority Youth and Families Initiative, and the Iowa Center for Evaluation Research. She performs a variety of quantitative and qualitative research and evaluation duties including interpretation and translation. Prior to working at the NRC she worked for Creighton University and Wells Fargo.

Email: tasha-wells@uiowa.edu

Des Moines Office: 515-235-4661

Julia Kleinschmit, MSW is Clinical Assistant Professor for the University of Iowa School of Social Work. Ms. Kleinschmit has a wide range of work experience including community organizing with students, farmers, and faith-based organizations, serving as director of a homeless shelter, organizing a political campaign in the western US, and serving as an NGO’s media director.  Julia consults with organizations on grant writing, program development and evaluation. Most recently she has served as technical assistant to the Iowa DMC Resource Center’s Minority Youth and Families Initiative (MYFI) facilitating planning, implementation and evaluation of the Woodbury County MYFI project to reduce the over-representation of Native American children in the child welfare system.  Other interests include sustainable agriculture and the diversion of people with co-occurring disorders from rural justice systems.

E-mail:  julia-kleinschmit@uiowa.edu

CAROLYN COPPS HARTLEY, PhD is an Associate Professor and Undergraduate Program Coordinator at the University of Iowa, School of Social Work. Her research encompasses a focus on system responses to two areas of family violence: child maltreatment and domestic violence. She uses the lens of therapeutic jurisprudence, which posits that legal rules and procedures, and agents of the legal system (advocates, lawyers, judges, etc.) act as social forces that can produce positive, therapeutic effects, or negative, anti-therapeutic effects for the mental health and psychological functioning of the non-agents (victims, defendants, witnesses) participating in the system. Her domestic violence research studies, both funded by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), have examined prosecution and defense strategies used in domestic violence-related felony trials and evaluated the effectiveness of a specialized domestic violence prosecution program in Chicago, Illinois. Her child maltreatment research has focused on the co-occurrence of domestic violence and child maltreatment. She has also published articles on therapeutic jurisprudence approaches to the prosecution of domestic violence, cultural competency training for lawyers, and the criminal justice system’s response to battered immigrant women. Prior to her faculty position at Iowa, Dr. Hartley did clinical work with sex offenders and adult and child victims of sexual abuse.

E-mail:  carolyn-hartley@uiowa.edu

JEONG WOONG CHEON, Ph.D., is a Research Fellow at the National Resource Center for Family Centered Practice and Research Fellow of the Korean Institute of Youth Development. He is also Lecturer at ChungAng University in Seoul. At the Korean Institute of Youth Development, Dr. Cheon has served as Director of the Division of Planning and Coordination. He has also served as Secretary General of the Korean Youth Research Association. Dr. Cheon has written numerous publications on Youth Development, including Youth and Community (1995), and Introduction to Youth Services (1999). His research deals with the characteristics of newly-emerging youth problems and the formation process of youth service in view of socio-political environment changes, legal establishments and practical sides of youth services by comparing youth service developmental process in America.       
     
E-mail: jwcheon@ku.edu

ED SAUNDERS, MSW, PhD, is the Director of the School of Social Work at The University of Iowa.  He earned his MSW degree from St. Louis University, and he earned his MPH and PhD at the University of Pittsburgh.  Dr. Saunders joined the UI Social Work faculty in 1985.  During the past 24 years, he has been active in teaching in the multiple distance education sites of the School, including his first 12 years at the Des Moines Center.  He has taught in the BASW, MSW and PhD programs of the School.  He has long been involved in research on adolescent pregnancy and other factors that put youth at risk (including substance abuse and school dropout).  In addition, Ed has increasingly focused attention on the globalization of social work education as a result of his semester-long teaching assignment at Wuhan University in the People’s Republic of China in 2005.  Ed enjoys the distinction of teaching the first semester-long course developed to Public Health Social Work in the People’s Republic of China.  In recognition of his long commitment to public health social work, Ed was named the 2008 “Public Health Social Worker of the Year” by the American Public Health Assn.   Ed has been associated with the NRCFCP since 1988.  He has collaborated with NRC faculty and staff on research related to child welfare (specifically child neglect) and adolescent pregnancy prevention.

E-mail:  edward-saunders@uiowa.edu

RAYGENA A. CURRY, MSW, LISW, is a therapist with
Counseling Center of Central Iowa and does private work with Counseling for Growth and Change. Raygena has worked in mental health and child welfare settings for 17 years, including social work in a chemical dependency program, foster care worker with local and unaccompanied refugee minor children and with a local designated trauma center for adults and their children. Her areas of interest are broad and encompass women's issues, substance abuse and recovery, depression, anxiety, race and diversity issues, and trauma as it relates to foster care and adoption. She is an experienced trainer, consultant and teacher and is an adjunct instructor for the University of Iowa Graduate School of Social Work.  Raygena currently trains for the NRC in the area of cultural competence.

PHILIP EWOLDSEN, MDiv, MA, has been a national trainer for the National Resource Center for Family Centered Practice for many years.  He is a clinical therapist with Hamilton Center, Inc. located in Indiana, working with a broad range of clients (children, adolescents, adults, couples and families).  Previously Phil worked for the Charter Hospital of Terre Haute, Indiana, and for Four Oaks, Inc. in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. In addition to clinical work, he has extensive experience in staff consultation, supervision and training, and advocacy/public education services with direct service and management personnel.  Phil received his Master's degree in Counseling and Human Development from The University of Iowa and also holds a Master of Divinity degree from Drake University. 

SUDIE JONES is a pastor in Milwaukee, Wisconsin as well as a Family Development Specialist trainer for the NRC.  Previously, Sudie was the Project Director of the HIV/AIDS and Human Sexuality Program with The Center for Child and Family Services of Milwaukee; she has also worked and provided expertise in Human Sexuality Programs at the Urban League; the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee; the YWCA; Milwaukee Public School District; the Next Door Foundation; and the HeadStart Program; all of Milwaukee.  She continues to serve as a program developer, facilitator, and trainer for many businesses, churches, schools, and community agencies with workshops and conferences of various career and human developmental programs across the United States.  Sudie did undergraduate studies at the University of Wisconsin and Lakeland College and graduated from Concordia University, Mequon, Wisconsin, receiving BA degrees in Criminal Justice and Business Management.

BONNIE MIKELSON , ACSW/ LISW, Senior Training Consultant, is an experienced consultant, trainer, and therapist, currently in practice with Mercy Behavioral Health Clinic in Des Moines, Iowa.  Along with being a national trainer for NRC since 1984,  her professional experiences includes  providing family therapy in juvenile justice and state human services settings,  mental health center work as a therapist,  supervisor and director, and teaching  undergraduate social work practicum and classes.   Her areas of expertise include supervision and administration, family systems, family development and support, strengths and resilience frameworks, worker development, adult mental health and trauma, and trainer curriculums.  A specialist in mental health and trauma, Ms. Mikelson is a Certified EMDR Therapist and Consultant. Her work for NRC includes administrative assistance and  curriculum development ,   along with trainings and presentations at the state and national level.

PATRICIA PARKER, C.S.W., has over twenty-seven years of experience working in human and social services, family and individual therapy and church ministry. She has been conducting workshops and seminars for national audiences since 1986.  An ordained minister, she brings a refreshing and energized spirituality to her presentations.  Ms. Parker is a popular presenter of the NRCFCP’s training A Strength-Based Culturally Competent Approach to Reducing Disproportionate Minority Confinement as well as a number of other trainings..  Ms. Parker is employed by the University Wisconsin-Milwaukee and has been affiliated with the NRC/FCP since 1990. Ms. Parker received her degree in social work from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a master’s certificate in Community Mental Health from Trinity College of Vermont.

VIIVI SHIRLEY, M.S., has been a consultant with the National Resource Center for Family Centered Practice at the University of Iowa since 1985.  She has trained extensively in the United States in the areas of Family Development, family-centered supervision, therapy, case management, neglect, foster care and the training of trainers (TOT) program.  Ms. Shirley taught secondary social studies for five years and practiced as a marriage and family therapist from 1985 until her retirement in 2001.  She also served as clinical and staff supervisor for a small non-profit family service agency.  Ms. Shirley is a World War II refugee from Estonia and an immigrant from Sweden in 1955.  She has been a United States citizen since 1960.