Affecting Change: Social Workers in the Political Arena

A pragmatic guide that outlines, step-by-step, how social workers can become agents of change. Offers practical self-help tools to help social workers influence public policy. Paper. Social workers - U.S. - Political activity.

Karen S. Haynes

Dr. Haynes has been the president of California State University San Marcos, since 2004. Prior to arriving in California, she was the president of the University of Houston-Victoria for nine years, and served as the dean of the University of Houston Graduate School of Social Work for ten years. She serves on several regional boards and is the Presidential Sponsor for Southern California American Council on Education's Network of Women in Higher Education.

She has authored articles on political social work and published other books including A Dream and a Plan: A Woman's Path to Leadership in Human Services (with Lorrie Greenhouse Gardella, 2004), Women Managers in Human Services (1989), and Invitation to Social Work (with Karen A. Holmes, 1994). She was the first chair of the Indiana Political Action Committee for Human Services (1978) and the co-creator of the first Students Day at the Texas Legislature (1992). As dean, she helped create the only graduate program in the nation with a political social work concentration.

 

She holds a PhD. from the University of Texas at Austin; an MSW from McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada; and an AB from Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland. Her admonition that "all social work is political" is heartfelt as is her argument during her tenure in two presidencies that she has not "left social work", but has brought social work values into the presidency.

James S. Mickelson

Mr. Mickelson is Director of ACE Scholars Services at California State University San Marcos a program that assists former foster youth in obtaining a college degree, where he has been since 2007. Prior to that, he was president and chief executive officer (and founder) of CHILDREN AT RISK, a children's (class) advocacy organization in Houston, Texas and on the faculty of Texas State University - San Marcos school of social work. He has served on many boards and committees that address the needs of children and has served as a political appointee on children welfare commissions.

 

He has authored many professional articles and contributed the section on advocacy to the Encyclopedia of Social Work, 19th edition. Mr. Mickelson has contributed numerous editorials to local newspapers and has written and lectured about liyouthism"-the discriminatory treatment of children-which he believes is a major factor contributing to the plight of today's children.

 

Mr. Mickelson received a B.S. from Colorado State University - Pueblo and an MSW from Wayne State University. His more than thirty years of social work practice in child welfare has been combined with political action to ensure social justice for children. He has been described by the Houston Chronicle as lithe most persistent child advocate in town," which he takes as a supreme compliment.