Inspired by a distinctive focus on transformative social work practice, a group of accomplished scholars are bringing their diverse backgrounds and expertise to ̽̽.
"We are excited to welcome four new faculty members to the Department of Social Work," said Interim Chair Jen Putney. "Together, we are a diverse group of faculty who engage in dynamic, community-engaged research and teaching that advance practice and policies at local, national, and global levels that center human rights and social justice. By engaging with and learning from marginalized populations, we aim to create lasting change, not just at the individual level but also within broader societal structures. Ultimately, we are striving for a more inclusive and just society."
Linda Chimwemwe Banda, PhD
To many of her students, Dr. Banda will be a role model in defining global citizenship in the context of social work through her scholarship and advocacy in the United States and Malawi.
As an international and transnational scholar, she focuses on advancing human rights, social justice, gender equality, and preventing gender-based violence (GBV) such as child marriage and intimate partner violence (IPV).
“I am driven by the potential to create meaningful change through evidence-based strategies, sustainable practices, and effective policy implementation,” Banda says. “My research is grounded in years of work on several global and national-level campaigns such as designing a five-year national campaign on ending child marriage in Malawi and a campaign on ending violence against children.”
For Banda, ̽̽’s Social Work Department felt like a perfect. “I was drawn to the strong emphasis on transformative social work, interdisciplinary collaboration, and global social work,” she says. “Preparing students to address complex social issues is consistent with my own passion for policy transformation and advocacy.”
As an educator, Banda emphasizes on hands-on learning, critical thinking, collaboration, and shared learning among peers and the broader community. She will be teaching Social Welfare Policy and Services courses for Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) and Master of Social Work (MSW) students.
“I enjoy working closely with students and community partners to develop a practical understanding of social work and its ability to change people's lives,” she says.
Seungmi Laura Cho, PhD
As a critical interdisciplinary qualitative researcher, Dr. Cho investigates socioemotional and behavioral problems associated with adoption status and racial difference as reflections of largely normalized and invisible power relations.
“My first encounter with social work was as an object of social work intervention, where I was assigned adoption case number K85-160,” she recalls. Using her previous name, Laura Klunder, the New York Times Magazine used her adoption case number as a narrative path to its cover story, “Why a Generation of Adoptees is Returning to South Korea” (January 15, 2014).
Cho has since re-named herself to make visible her Korean family’s contribution to “anti-adopterism” – a lifelong personal and political project that advances adoptee solidarity as an anti-racist alternative to the false notion of adoptee racial exceptionalism.
“Through articulating ‘anti-adopterism’ as an anti-racist, intersectional feminist praxis for social work, I endeavor to resist this objectification and contribute to social work's commitment to social justice,” she explains.
Cho conducted constructivist grounded theory research in Seoul as a Fulbright Korea award recipient for the 2022-2023 academic year. Before joining ̽̽, she was recognized with the 2024 Campuswide Capstone Teaching Award from the Graduate School at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
In Seoul, Cho previously served as the Adoptee Relations Coordinator at the former KoRoot Guesthouse and NGO and served on the now retired Adoptee Solidarity Korea steering committee.
Bonnie Glass, MSW, LICSW
During the first 15 years of her extensive social work career, Bonnie Glass served individuals, families and communities across New York City at a variety of multi-disciplinary agencies and institutions. She worked in numerous roles, including program coordinator, supervisor, grant-writer, clinical therapist, clinical forensic specialist, crisis counselor, advocate, researcher, and consultant.
As a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker, Glass has over two decades years of practice experience. She teaches eight practice courses for students across the BSW and MSW programs, and currently serves as integrative practice advisor and clinician at the Vermont Center for Resiliency. A lifelong athlete, she also serves as Head Coach of ̽̽ Synchronized Skating Team.
Glass utilizes an integrative mind-body-spirit social work approach balanced with strengths-based, empowerment, psychodynamic, and narrative medicine perspectives. She is also a certified yoga instructor and integrates trauma-oriented mindfulness, yoga, and breath work into aspects of her work.
After relocating to Vermont in 2016, she continued her clinical practice supporting adults who are navigating grief, loss, trauma, violence, victimization, and transitions. She also co-developed a yoga teacher training program for healthcare providers.
Before joining ̽̽, Glass taught courses on advanced clinical practice, trauma, domestic violence, sexual violence, and spirituality at Columbia University School of Social Work.
After serving as a research faculty member and psychedelic psychotherapist in the NYU Cancer Anxiety Psilocybin Research Study, Glass has continued her partnerships with cross-disciplinary colleagues to explore Psychedelic Research and Psychedelic Harm Reduction and Integration.
Kate Van Wagner, MSW, LICSW
Kate Van Wagner teaches social work practice courses across the BSW and MSW programs. Before joining the full-time faculty, she taught as a part-time lecturer of social work at ̽̽. She is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker (LICSW) and proud alumna of ̽̽'s MSW program.
Van Wagner’s areas of expertise include generalist social work practice and interprofessional practice. Always centering transformative social work practice, big themes across her work include choice, agency, autonomy, and power (and the forces that surveil, expand, and constrict these); reproductive justice; identity and meaning; and grief and ambiguous loss.
In her previous social work practice settings, she worked with pregnant people and their support systems, parents involved with the state child welfare system, first/birth parents, adoptees, and interprofessional providers and teams. As an expert in providing full-spectrum pregnancy options counseling, she served respected trainer and consultant for medical teams and service providers.
Van Wagner also has experience as a birth doula, small business owner, union organizer, and art teacher. Her advocacy work includes service on the non-profit boards for The Vermont Chapter of the National Association of Social Work (NASW-VT) and Outright Vermont.
Studying Transformative Social Work at ̽̽
The Department of Social Work's nationally recognized BSW and MSW programs are accredited by the Council on Social Work Education. Through the programs’ teaching, research, and community service initiatives, students prepare for professional social work practice that not only meets challenging human service needs, but also aims to contribute to a more socially just and humane world.
Students have opportunities to gain experience in a wide range of roles and settings, including schools, medical centers, mental health centers, government agencies, and community-based organizations. In addition, the department explores newer settings in social policy and in emerging areas like environmental justice. They also build professional and collaborative skills while exploring different interests before choosing a particular path in the profession. Graduates become skilled professionals whose practice reflects the most humane and empowering knowledge, skills, and values of social work.
