School of Social Work Experts


Elisa V Borah

Elisa V Borah

Research Associate Professor, Office of the Associate Dean for Research
elisa.borah@austin.utexas.edu

Expertise: Military social work, mental health, treatment for PTSD, behavioral health, evidence-based interventions.

Noel B Busch-Armendariz

Noel B Busch-Armendariz

Professor, School of Social Work
nbusch@austin.utexas.edu

Expertise: sexual assault, interpersonal violence, domestic violence, prostitution, human trafficking, refugees and asylum seekers, adult entertainment industry, restorative justice.

Esther  Calzada

Esther Calzada

Director of the Texas Center for Equity Promotion, School of Social Work
esther.calzada@austin.utexas.edu
Spanish Speaker

Expertise: Latino children, parenting, academic achievement, mental health, immigration, acculturation

Namkee  Choi

Namkee Choi

Professor, School of Social Work
nchoi@austin.utexas.edu
+1 512 232 9590

Expertise: Geriatric mental health, depression treatment in aging services, social policy for older adults.

Kasey Claborn

Assistant Professor, School of Social Work
kasey.claborn@austin.utexas.edu

Expertise: Kasey Claborn is a licensed clinical psychologist and assistant professor of Social Work and Psychiatry at The University of Texas at Austin. She is the Steve Hicks Fellow of Addiction and Recovery Services and Director for the Addictions Research Institute. Claborn is the Principal Investigator for several projects funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and the Health Resources and Services Administration. Claborn’s research focuses on improving the addiction system of care through community based participatory research methods and system science. She has expertise in drug policy, designing and building digital technologies to improve care coordination and community overdose prevention efforts. In 2021, Claborn received an international award from Google for her work in building innovative technologies for social impact. Claborn’s current work seeks to use innovative methods to combine traditional and non-traditional overdose surveillance methods to inform data-driven community response. https://ari.socialwork.utexas.edu/dr-kasey-claborn/

Catherine  Cubbin

Catherine Cubbin

Associate Dean for Research, School of Social Work
ccubbin@austin.utexas.edu
+1 512 232 0625

Expertise: Social epidemiology; social inequalities in health; neighborhood environments and health; public health

Diana M Dinitto

Diana M Dinitto

Professor, School of Social Work
ddinitto@mail.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 9227

Expertise: Alcohol use, drug use, social welfare, social policy, social work

Monica Faulkner

Monica Faulkner

Research Associate Professor, School of Social Work
mfaulkner@mail.utexas.edu

Expertise: Child welfare, child and family policy, foster care, teen pregnancy prevention, Latino families

Cynthia G Franklin

Cynthia G Franklin

Professor, School of Social Work
cfranklin@austin.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 0533

Expertise: School mental health, Solution-focused Brief Therapy, dropout prevention, at-risk youth, research on how to design schools that promote achievement and a safe, respectful and violent free culture.

Molly A Lopez

Molly A Lopez

Research Associate Professor, Office of the Associate Dean for Research
mlopez@austin.utexas.edu
+1 512 232 0614

Expertise: mental health services, evidence-based practice, trauma-informed care, cognitive behavioral therapies, workforce competency, systems of care.

Elizabeth  Mueller

Elizabeth Mueller

Professor, School of Architecture
ejmueller@austin.utexas.edu
+1 512 471 1151

Expertise: Architecture, urban planning, social equity, affordable housing, community development, urban politics and research design.

Stephen M Sonnenberg

Professor of Instruction, School of Social Work
ssonnenberg@utexas.edu
+1 512 762 4783

Mary M Velasquez

Mary M Velasquez

Professor, School of Social Work
velasquez@mail.utexas.edu

Expertise: Motivational Interviewing, evidence-based interventions, integrated behavioral health, smoking cessation, alcohol abuse, prenatal health.

Kari L White

Kari L White

Principal Investigator, Texas Policy Evaluation Project
klwhite@prc.utexas.edu
+1 512 232 1791

Expertise: Dr. White studies reproductive health and policy, with a specialty on family planning and abortion policy in Texas and the southeastern region of the United States. Much of her research is conducted as part of The Texas Policy Evaluation Project, a collaborative group of researchers who evaluate the impact of legislation in Texas related to women’s reproductive health. She has been interviewed as an expert for news outlets such as the Los Angeles Times and National Public Radio and has been featured as an op-ed contributor in the Washington Post, The Hill, the Austin-American-Statesman, and more. Expertise: women’s health policy; reproductive health, family planning legislation; contraception; abortion; Texas state policy on women’s health; Title X; vasectomy; abortion and family planning policy in the southeastern United States

Nina Zuna

Nina Zuna

Associate Director, School of Social Work
nzuna@austin.utexas.edu
+1 512 232 0758