Centers
The School of Social Work is home to a number of centers that generate leading research, provide technical assistance and training and often act as innovators creating new educational content for the University and community. Each center is summarized below with links to the center's homepage.
- Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare
(CASCW)
Director - Traci LaLiberte, Ph.D.
CASCW is the premier source of child welfare information and training in Minnesota. In close collaboration with the MN Department of Human Services and other public child welfare agencies, CASCW identifies, assesses and disseminates effective child welfare practice information. Through its Title IV-E program and Area Training Centers, CASCW coordinates child welfare training for M.S.W. and Ph.D. students and current child welfare workers and supervisors statewide. Its extensive network of students, alumni and practitioners allows CASCW to capture up-to-date child welfare practice information for integration into the School of Social Work curriculum. CASCW staff conduct and publish research on a broad range of child welfare topics., - Center for Restorative Justice & Peacemaking
(CRJP)
Director - Professor Mark Umbreit, Ph.D.
CRJP was established to provide technical assistance, training, and research to support restorative justice dialogue, practice and principles. Since its inception in 1994, CRJP programs have reached over 6,000 participants and its training materials and publications are in worldwide demand. Dr. Umbreit is currently assisting conflict resolution programs in Northern Ireland, Palestine/Israel and Latin America. - Gamble-Skogmo Land Grant Chair in
Child Welfare and Youth Policy
Chair - Professor Wendy Haight, Ph.D.
The mission of the Gamble-Skogmo Chair in Child Welfare & Youth Policy is to serve the children and families of Minnesota by understanding community needs, conducting nationally significant research responsive to these needs, providing technical assistance and consultation locally and nationally, and educating and training service providers, administrators, and policy makers in the field of child welfare and youth policy. - Institute on Domestic Violence in the
African American Community (IDVAAC)
Executive Director - Professor Oliver J. Williams, Ph.D.
IDVAAC serves as an interdisciplinary clearinghouse and forum for scholars, practitioners, and observers of family violence in the African American community. With support from the U.S. Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services, and collaborative assistance from a vast network of communities nationwide, the Institute studies the problem from the ground up, conducting community forums, reviewing service delivery and intervention mechanisms, and tabulating pioneering data, toward its goal of identifying appropriate and effective ways to prevent and reduce family violence in the African American community. - Minnesota Center Against Violence & Abuse (MINCAVA)
Director - Professor Jeffrey L. Edleson, Ph.D.
MINCAVA was established to support research, education, and access to violence related resources. Its programs include:- The Link Research Project, internationally recognized research on the link between child maltreatment and woman battering.
- MINCAVA Electronic Clearinghouse, one of the most comprehensive, widely-used resources about violence on the Internet today.
- Violence Against Women Online Resources, a website devoted to providing law, criminal justice, advocacy, and social service professional with up-to-date information on interventions to stop violence against women.
- Applied Research Forum of the National Electronic Network on Violence Against Women (VAWnet).