This document presents biographies of students who are currently enrolled in the Doctoral
Program at the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, Case Western Reserve University. It
illustrates the breadth of experience that our students bring to their studies, including
experience in research, teaching, social work practice, and administration.
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KATHLEEN ALMAN (Cohort '06) has worked in the HIV/AIDS field in Washington,
DC in several capacities for the past 10 years. Most recently, she worked as director of Behavioral
Health and Social Services at the Carl Vogel Center. Kathleen spent 2 years
increasing the department from 2 staff members to 9 staff members and M.S.W. field placement
students who provided case management and mental health services to low income HIV+ DC
residents. In addition, she spent over 3 years working in a 6-month residential treatment
program for triply diagnosed clients: substance abuse, mental health, and
HIV/AIDS. During this time, Kathleen completed certified addictions counselor
training. She received her Bachelor's degree in Sociology and Women's Studies (concentration
in politics and society) in 1991 from Smith College. In 1996, Kathleen received her
M.S.W. (concentration in administration and program evaluation) from Michigan State University, and
was awarded the Student Service Award for her work as member of Graduate Student Advisory
Committee, Student Field Instruction Advisory Committee, Diversity Task Force, and co-founder
Triangle Coalition. Her main areas of interests include substance abuse, domestic violence,
HIV/AIDS, and nonprofit organizations (program development and evaluation). |
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KELLY DAVIS (Cohort '06) received her BA in psychology in 1996, from
Elon University and her MSW from East Carolina University in 2001. She became a Licensed Clinical
Social Worker in North Carolina in 2004. Kelly has a wide range of experience working in the mental
health field in a variety of settings. She has worked in a community mental health center, for an
inpatient psychiatric program, and in private practice. She currently works as a clinician for
Carolina Psychological Health Services, a large private practice in Jacksonville, NC. Kelly
provides individual, family, and marital therapy to consumers who are dealing with a wide range of
issues and diagnoses. Jacksonville, NC is home to Camp Lejeune, a large military base, and the
majority of Kelly's caseload contains military families. She works often with active duty military
and military family members facing deployment-related issues. Kelly also enjoys working with adult
women who are dealing with depression, anxiety, personality disorders, and relationship issues. In
addition to her clinical practice, Kelly teaches Sociology part-time at a local community
college. |
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FELICIA DEMCHUK (Cohort '06) is currently the education coordinator for
Positive Education Program, greater Cleveland's fifth-largest nonprofit agency, serving children
with serious emotional disturbances and their families. She is responsible for ensuring
program adherence to all education-related compliance and accountability standards, such as the
Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement act and the No Child Left Behind act. In
addition, she is responsible for the development and implementation of innovative programming
designed to meet the academic and social-emotional needs of children who present with a wide
diversity of academic and mental health challenges; as well as the creation of staff development
activities in the areas of curriculum, assessment, specialized instruction, and materials selection
and adaptation. During the 3 years Felicia has been in this role, she has developed programs
responsible for bringing over $300,000 in foundation support to PEP, for adolescent reading
intervention and an intervention-based bibliotherapy program, which she designed. Felicia
graduated from Ashland College with a B.S. in Elementary Education, and from Kent State University
with a M.Ed. in Special Education. Her interest in Social Welfare comes as a result of living
in Russia for three months immersed in orphanage life, and the subsequent adoption of her two
children. She has done extensive research in the areas of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and
post-institutional behavior spectrum disorder, and has spoken locally and nationally on these
topics, including providing testimony at a Town Hall meeting in Washington D.C. to discuss the
challenges of raising a child with FASD. She has created programming and trained parents and
professionals to help them understand the needs of children who have been institutionalized or
prenatally exposed to alcohol. In addition to FASD and PIBS, her research interests include
studying the use of an ecological approach to increase successful outcomes for children who have
been internationally adopted. |
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ZANE JENNINGS (Cohort '06) decided on a career in social work following
undergraduate and graduate work in geography. Even as a geographer, he was involved in social
service by volunteering at the University of Oklahoma's crisis center. Zane received his
Master of Social Work from the University of Iowa, in 1993, and initially worked at The Benjamin
Rose Institute (BRI) in Cleveland. Zane provided case management and psychotherapy services to
independent-living elderly individuals with mental illness. This work with BRI was primarily
in Cleveland's urban neighborhoods. After several years, Zane became a behavioral health case
manager at QualChoice Health Plan. Working in managed care allowed him to see both the benefit
of a critical look at mental health practice and the problems of for-profit health care
provision. At the same time, Zane served on the board of the Links East, a consumer-run,
drop-in center for individuals with mental illness. Zane wrote the encyclopedia entry for
"Case Management" for the
Encyclopedia of Aging and Public Health, currently in press. Zane's research
interests include social theory, poverty, mental health diagnosis and treatment, and the
development of critical thinking among social workers. |
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DERRICK KRANKE (Cohort '06) earned his BA in Finance from Loyola Marymount
University in California. He decided on a career change, because he wanted to make a
big difference in society, and became an elementary school teacher. During his first year of
teaching, he enrolled in a Master's program in Education at LMU. He took courses that refined
his teaching skills and prepared him to work with students from disadvantaged backgrounds. He
has worked with bilingual students, special needs students, and students from diverse cultural
backgrounds. During the last year of his Master's program, an influential professor guided him
towards his true calling in life: to help the mentally ill by promoting recovery from severe mental
illnesses. In his own life, Derrick has battled with and overcome schizophrenia with the help
of medications and family support. He was awarded a "Reintegration Scholarship" from the Eli
Lilly Drug Company. Eli Lilly awards students with a mental illness who demonstrate the
potential to succeed while reintegrating into society. Schizophrenia Digest recently published
Derrick's life story to inspire patients with mental illnesses. He is motivated from his life
experience with schizophrenia to inspire patients to recover from severe mental illnesses. He
believes that every patient with a mental illness has the potential to recover, but to varying
degrees. |
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HEEHYUL MOON (Cohort '06) Heehyul recently worked as a program director
of the Korean American Community of Metropolitan Detroit and at the Korean American Cultural
Center. She implemented and evaluated community educational programs for Korean Americans, and
referred available health (breast cancer, bone density) and domestic violence prevention services
to Korean American older adults. She also implemented immigration services and low cost legal
services, published monthly newsletters to Korean Americans, and referred available housing
services to Korean American elders. While she was a student in the master's program at the
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, School of Social Work, she did her first internship at the
Michigan Office of Services to Aging, Lansing. She conducted research on caregiver, end of life
issues, on the baby boomer generation in Michigan. During her second internship, she assisted with
research activities on a project regarding productive activity and the level of depression and
physical capacity among the elderly population. She presented the findings at the 57
th Gerontological Society of America under the title: Racial Differences in Productive
Activities and Their Effect on the Mental Health of Urban Elders. After she received her BA
from Ewha Woman's University, Seoul, Korea, she worked as a coordinator for the Commission to help
North Korean Refugees in China (CNKR). She organized a volunteer program for college students
and implemented a survey project on the satisfaction of providing services/programs. She
volunteered several places, such as YMCA, Eunpeung senior centers, and Salvation Army. She
also evaluated programs, taught English, and assisted in activities for older adults. |
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DIWAKAR VADAPALLI(Cohort '06) received his Masters in Regional and Community
Planning from Kansas State University. He was introduced to the issues of planning and
development while conducting extensive surveys of Indian slums, and while working for a consulting
firm in Anchorage, Alaska. From '04 to '06 he worked as an Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA)
worker for the Native Village of Sleetmute, a federally recognized Alaskan Native tribe. In
addition to providing direct client services to children and families affected by child
abuse/neglect, a major part of his job required forging intra- and inter-community/agency
relations, streamlining a multitude of local government services, designing and implementing
comprehensive community strategies, and training the local work force in governance and
administration. He recognized and utilized the inherent strengths of community to fill the
void created by the fragmented and resource starved child welfare service delivery system in rural
Alaska. He is a member on the team for a state-wide pilot project of recruiting foster
families involving joint efforts of the state, regional, and local agencies through a memorandum of
agreement between all parties. He has a Bachelors degree in Architecture from Andhra
University, Visakhapatnam, India. |
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MIKE VIMONT (Cohort '06) has been involved in all levels of social work
practice since graduating from the University of Texas with an MSSW in 1984. He has worked in the
field of child welfare in Ohio, Texas, and California, as a direct practitioner, grant coordinator,
and supervisor. His interest in health care guided him to work as a social work manager, overseeing
a behavioral health team of a leading home health care agency in Northeast Ohio. Teaching has been
a part of his career endeavors since 1991, when he taught research at Southwest Texas State
University (now Texas State University). He has taught classes in social work and sociology at
three colleges in Ohio, and is presently an adjunct instructor at Malone College. Mr. Vimont is
also a Quality Improvement Coordinator for STEPS (alcohol/drug treatment) and Every Woman's House
(domestic violence program) located in Wooster, Ohio. In this position, Mike is engaged in carrying
out research endeavors, outcome performance activities and compliance work. Mike's research
interests include a comparative analysis on urban/rural community response to child protective
services, and historical analysis of domestic social policy initiatives as they relate to poverty.
Mike Vimont is licensed as an independent social worker in the State of Ohio and has been a member
of the Academy of Certified Social Workers since 1991. |
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