Congratulations to the Graduate School of Social Service faculty members who were promoted and tenured this year:
- Sameena Azhar: Tenured and Promoted to Associate Professor
- Lauri Goldkind: Promoted to Professor
- Elizabeth Matthews: Tenured and Promoted to Associate Professor
- Rahbel Rahman-Tahir: Tenured and Promoted to Associate Professor
These promotions were honored on September 17 at the Rose Hill campus. Congratulations!
Read More About These Faculty Members
Sameena Azhar
Sameena Azhar has nearly two decades of clinical and research experience in the fields of mental health, addiction, and HIV care, and is a licensed clinical social worker in California and Illinois. Guided by the lenses of critical race theory and postcolonial feminism, her research focuses on three main areas: gender, HIV, and sex work; race, health, and criminal legal involvement; and social work practice with communities impacted by intersectional marginalization. Azhar earned the Affilia Award for Distinguished Feminist Scholarship and Praxis in Social Work in 2021, and the Society for Social Work and Research Doctoral Fellows Award in 2018. Azhar received her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and her M.S.W. from the University of Pennsylvania.
Lauri Goldkind
Lauri Goldkind is the Editor in Chief of the Journal of Technology in Human Services. Goldkind’s current research has two strands: artificial intelligence and data ecosystems in nonprofits, and social justice and civic engagement in organizational life. Her network of community partners in New York City and internationally includes the International Federation of Settlement Houses, United Neighborhood Houses, and Caritas Macau. Goldkind was in residence at the United Nations University Institute, located in Macau, SAR, from June to August 2017. Goldkind received her Ph.D. from Yeshiva University and her M.S.W. from SUNY Stony Brook.
Elizabeth Matthews
Elizabeth Matthews’ present research focuses on improving the adoption of patient-centered practices in health and mental health services, particularly the use of technology to support the delivery of patient-centered care. Her work has been supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Center for Data Science, and the National Association of Social Workers. Prior to her academic career, Matthews worked as a clinical social worker in an integrated community health and mental health center. Her scholarly research as a faculty member draws heavily on these transformative experiences in the field. Matthews received her Ph.D. from Rutgers University and her M.S.W. from Columbia University.
Rahbel Rahman-Tahir
Rahbel Rahman-Tahir’s research focuses on organizational and provider-level factors influencing the Community Health Worker workforce across Pakistan, Brazil, and the United States—including providers who share similar lived experiences as the clients they serve—and the examination of structural, contextual, and provider-level factors that impact the provision of integrated services by the community-based provider workforce.
Rahman-Tahir has recently studied predictors of maternal mental health among the Pakistani community and how the COVID-19 pandemic has influenced racism and stigma in community-based providers and their clients’ lives. Across each of her research areas, she intentionally uses Community-Based Participatory Research to advance health equity and healthcare delivery systems. Rahman received her Ph.D. and M.S.W. from Columbia University.
