Policy Practice for Social Workers: New Strategies for a New Era

Introduction to Policy Practice teaches students how to actively influence policy-making through lobying, coalition building and running campaigns and how to master social problem analysis and policy analysis. The text uses theoretical and empirical knowledge and the application of policy practice techniques.

Linda Cummins earned her MSW and PhD from the Ohio State University, College of Social Work and has been a social work educator for 21 years. She has served as Associate Professor in the School of Social Work at Barry University in Miami Shores, Florida; and Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work at Indiana University, and Illinois State University. Currently. She is a part-time faculty member for School of Public Service Leadership at Capella University. Active in promoting the use of technology in social work education, Linda served as the chair of many technology committees during her career, an advisor to university deans and presidents, and consultant to universities. She presents at national conferences on the Ethic of Care policy analysis approach; diversity in social work practice; teaching diversity in social work; and the use of technology in social work education. Linda is co-author of the book and interactive website, Policy practice for social workers: New strategies for a new era (Allyn & Bacon, 2011); and major contributor to Diana DiNitto’s 6^th ed. of Social welfare: Politics and public policy (Allyn & Bacon, 2005). Her research background includes various homeless populations, community partnerships among social service agencies, and technology in social work education. She currently lives on a 22 acre farm on the South Coast of Oregon where she engages in organic and sustainable living, education, and community development, and maintains a spiritual coaching private practice.

Katharine V. Byers, Ph.D. is Associate Professor and Director of the BSW Program, Indiana University School of Social Work in Bloomington. She also is chair of Influencing State Policy, an organization of social work educators helping students to learn how to influence state level policy processes. With an undergraduate degree from Wellesley College and MSW from the Heller School at Brandeis University, she had 10 years of practice experience, primarily with children with disabilities and their families, before returning for her Ph.D. from Indiana University. She has taught undergraduates for over twenty-five years, primarily in social policy and macro practice. Her research includes studies of the impact of welfare reform in Indiana, the human services work of the Indiana Township Trustees, and student activism. In 2004, she received the NASW Indiana Distinguished Chapter Service Award for her leadership in creating the first Legislative Education and Advocacy Day (LEAD) for social work students, faculty, and practitioners.

Laura Pedrick is the Special Assistant to the Provost at the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee, where she oversees the University’s online and blended programs. She serves as co-chair of the University’s Online Program Council, directs the seed funding program for new online programs, and is project manager of UWM’s Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Next Generation Learning Challenge grant. She is also a co-principal investigator on a large-scale Institute of Education Sciences-funded study of self-paced online learning. Laura is a co-author of Policy Practice for Social Workers: New Strategies for a New Era published by Pearson/Allyn & Bacon. Her background is in mass communication, and she holds a master's degree in journalism from the University of Minnesota.