Grand Challenges: Complicating the frame
Meredith Bagwell-Gray, PhD, LMSW, is an Associate Professor in the University of Kansas School of Social Welfare. Her research and scholarship promote post-traumatic growth and healing for survivors of intimate partner violence and sexual violence. Specifically, she design, evaluates, and implements trauma-informed interventions for survivors’ sexual and reproductive health. She is currently exploring the role of creative and expressive arts in supporting survivors’ sexual health empowerment and sexual autonomy. She also critically evaluates and advances more trauma-informed, survivor-centered systems, spanning legal, health, and social services.
Juliana Carlson is an Associate Professor and the BSW Program Director at the University of Kansas School of Social Welfare. Before joining the KU faculty in 2013, she practiced for more than 10 years in a variety of positions, including domestic violence advocate and community organizer, in Kansas City, Chicago, and St. Paul/Minneapolis. Driven by social work values, Dr. Carlson’s teaching and mentoring focus on developing students’ critical understanding the framing and impact of policy solutions and cultivating community organizing and policy advocacy skills, including collaborative community practice.
Michelle Mohr Carney, Ph.D., MSSA, is Dean and Professor in the School of Social Welfare at the University of Kansas and a nationally recognized scholar on intimate partner violence. She is an experienced academic leader who has led schools of social work within large public research universities for more than a decade, overseeing complex, multi-campus academic enterprises spanning education, research, and community engagement.
Logan (Kai) Shinkai Knight, PhD., MSW, comes to KU from The Ohio State University College of Social Work. Kai’s critical scholarship on human trafficking prioritizes survivor leadership and expertise. Through participatory and critical qualitative methodologies, her research aims to be a platform for these oppressed and vulnerable groups to be powerful authors of their own knowledge and agents of change within the academic and wider community. All her work is motivated by the conviction that the greatest progress in addressing trafficking and systems of oppression is achieved only when diverse survivors are the ones in charge of informing, directing, evaluating and applying research.
Ricka Mammah, Ph.D., joined KU from The University of Texas at Arlington School of Social Work. Mammah’s research investigates issues related to the intersection between gender-based violence and mental health among immigrants. She is also passionate about promoting culturally tailored interventions for immigrants and enhancing service delivery, to foster positive change and improve the well-being of diverse communities.
Claire Willey-Sthapit, (PhD, MSSW), is an Assistant Professor with the University of Kansas School of Social Welfare. Building on her family ties and professional experiences in Pokhara, Nepal, Dr. Willey-Sthapit's scholarship centers translations between domestic violence research, policy, and practice, both within the United States and in international development settings. She has also been involved in research examining community strategies to address domestic violence and men's gender equitable attitudes and behaviors.