University of California |
School of Social Welfare |
Center for Social Services Research |
Berkeley, CA 90720 |
www.mackcenter.org
Cathy Vu, Loren Farrar, Mike Austin, Sara Kimberlin, and Sara Schwartz
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.
Graduate Student Researcher-Catherine Vu is a doctoral student at the University of California, Berkeley's School of Social Welfare. She received her Masters of Public Administration from Cornell University and her Masters in Social Work from UC Berkeley. Her interests include organizational, management, and policy issues related to services for families living in poverty. She has a variety of broad experiences in different organizations ranging from assisting families obtain basic needs, national advocacy efforts for affordable housing, direct services to families at risk for child welfare involvement, clinical work for severely emotionally disturbed children, and evaluation of programs and program models within human services organizational settings.
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.
Loren Farrar is a Master's Fellow who is currently working towards her MSW with a concentration in Management and Planning. She holds her B.A. in Sociology from the University of California at Santa Cruz. Ms. Farrar has worked in the social services field as a case manager and advocate for substance-using parolees and low-income families, and as a family services manager for a non-profit contracted to provide the federal Head Start and Early Head Start programs in a diverse Bay Area county. Ms. Farrar's professional and research interests include social services/nonprofit planning and administration, inter-agency collaboration, service integration, school-based services, early intervention and family support services, cultural responsiveness and community capacity building.