New Faculty and Staff Six new staff members have joined the Steve Hicks School of Social Work’s community in the last few months. Marie Cloutier serves as Executive Director of Development and Constituent Relations. Her charge includes growing a base of donors and friends who help SHS meet its mission through financial support. She has […]
Summer 2023
Summer 2023 Class Notes
Dorothy Z. Garza, LCSW-S, MSSW ‘91, is the Senior Director of Mental Health Services with Communi- ties In Schools of Central Texas. She was recognized as Field Instructor of the Year in 2001. Amy Trussell, MSSW ‘99, is Senior Clinical Director of Behavioral Health at Centene Corporation. “I was just promoted and now oversee three […]
Spotlight on Micaela Jones, SHS MSSW, 2023
Micaela Jones was a senior in high school when she first encountered social work. While serving as a teacher’s assistant in a sixth grade math class, Jones noticed that regardless of how engaging the lesson was, the students who were having difficulties at home were bringing those struggles into the classroom. It was then that […]
Center for Societal Impact Debuts with $12M to Improve Texas’s Foster Care System
The Center for Societal Impact (CSI), the newest research and scholarly center within the Steve Hicks School of Social Work (SHS), has received funding to connect more children to families for adoption. Funding the Center and its mission was a legislative priority for the 88th Texas Legislative Session, which recently approved $12 million as part […]
Rubén Parra-Cardona: Expanding Our Reach with New Global Engagement Office
Rubén Parra-Cardona, Ph.D., knows first-hand the value of a global education. Born in Chihuahua, Mexico, Dr. Parra-Cardona obtained his undergraduate psychology degree in Central Mexico, then moved to New York to earn a masters at Syracuse University and later a Ph.D. at Texas Tech University. Early in his career, Dr. Parra-Cardona worked as a community […]
Sandy Magaña: Supporting Families of Individuals with Disabilities
More than seven million people in the U.S. and 475,000 Texans have intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Sandy Magaña, Ph.D., MSW, serves as the Professor in Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disabilities at the Steve Hicks School of Social Work (SHS) and Executive Director of The Texas Center for Disability Studies – and she has long focused […]
Thea Posel: Law and Social Work Converge in Mitigation Services
Thea Posel, J.D., was fascinated by crime from a young age. Growing up in the state of Washington, she cut out photos and stories about crimes from magazines and pasted them into notebooks. After high school, she worked at a public defender’s office while taking community college classes in criminal justice. Following college, she briefly […]
New Video Series, Telling Our Stories, Puts Faculty in the Spotlight
High-ranking academic programs, renowned research, and an interdisciplinary approach to solving some of humanity’s greatest challenges already has placed the Steve Hicks School of Social Work (SHS) in the spotlight. With the recent launch of Telling Our Stories, a video series created by filmmaker Vanessa Reiser, SHS is shining a light on our outstanding faculty. […]
SHS is on the Move
The Steve Hicks School (SHS) is getting a new home in May 2024. After 30 years in its current building, SHS has grown significantly. With 10 research institutes and centers, as well as increasing numbers of faculty, staff, and students, SHS’s current facility no longer meets the School’s needs. With the opportunity to relocate, the […]
