University of California |
School of Social Welfare |
Center for Social Services Research |
Berkeley, CA 90720 |
www.mackcenter.org
Sara Schwartz, Ph.D., Mark Samples, Mike Austin, Ph.D., Sara Kimberlin, MSW and Kristin Hennessey, support staff
Michael J. Austin is the Mack Professor of Nonprofit Management at the University of California School of Social Welfare, Berkeley (1992-present) and Director of the Mack Center on Nonprofit Management in the Human Services. He is the former dean of the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Work, and teaches graduate students in the area of agency administration and community planning. He received his doctorate in organizational research related to nonprofit human service organizations from the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work (1970). He holds two masters degrees, one in community organizing and social service administration from the University of California, Berkeley (1966) and the other in public health administration from the University of Pittsburgh (1969). He has taught at Florida State University (1970-76), the University of Washington ((1976-85), and the University of Pennsylvania (1985-1992). Prior to teaching, he served as a management consultant for the National Institute of Mental Health (Denver, CO) and as a planner for United Way Planning Agencies in California (Alameda and Santa Clara counties).
Over the past four decades he has served as a consultant to a variety of nonprofit communal organizations. His work with a diverse array of nonprofit communal organizations includes board development and management training, along with technical assistance in the areas of strategic planning, organizational restructuring, program evaluation, and marketing.
In addition to his work with nonprofit organizations in the U.S. and Israel, he has served as a management consultant to local, state, federal and international agencies and is the author and co-author of 17 books in the area of human service administration, over 80 articles, and 40 chapters and technical reports.
Sara L. Schwartz received her Ph.D. in Social Work and Social Research from Portland State University in 2007 and her MSW in 2001 from Virginia Commonwealth University. Dr. Schwartz's research and teaching interests include social service organizations, nonprofit management, workforce resilience and retention, work engagement, organizational theory and development, and community organizing. Her work experiences span over a decade of service to an array of social service organizations, including nonprofit mental health and substance abuse treatment organizations, public child welfare, and national advocacy organizations. In her position as Research Director for the Mack Center on Nonprofit Management, Dr. Schwartz will utilize her experiences as a practitioner, researcher, instructor, and community member to help build a knowledge base on nonprofit organizations that addresses the many strengths and challenges experienced by this community.
Mack Fellow Sara Kimberlin is currently a second-year MSW student in the combined MSW-PhD program. Her academic interests include the role and functioning of nonprofit organizations in the social services system, housing and homelessness, and family poverty policies. Prior to graduate school, Sara worked for several years in the administration and senior management of a mid-sized nonprofit organization that provides housing and supportive services for homeless families and single adults. She also has experience as an adult education teacher, in the United States and abroad, and as a marine science educator and travel guide writer.
Mark Samples is currently a second-year MSW student with a concentration in Management and Planning. He received his B.A. in Government at Claremont McKenna College in 1999 and was certified as a California teacher in social science from California State University, Dominguez Hills in 2004. Mark's post baccalaureate experience includes: three years as a law clerk and manager at a national class action law firm in New York and Los Angeles; formal and informal teaching opportunities with young children, adolescents and adults in school and after school settings; and over two years of service with the United States Peace Corps (2004-2006) in Panama, both as a volunteer in community economic development and contracted trainer. His current research interests focus on the notion of how service nonprofits, international NGOs and local community-based organizations balance the perceived need of community stakeholders with the performance demands of legitimizing and funding organizations.