Hi! My name is Austin (pronouns he/they), and I’m your professor for Social Work Research I (SSW 751). I’m really looking forward to spending this semester with you.

I’m a pretty big research geek and believe that social workers should be trained in critical methodologies – inclusive of qualitative and quantitative methods – to confront interlocking systems of injustice. 

My entry into social work is a little queer. I received my BSc in Therapeutic Recreation from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia where I was born and raised. I’m a first generation college graduate, and the first in my family to get a master’s degree. I moved to St. Catherines, Ontario (near Niagara Falls, which are magnificent if you haven’t seen) to go to graduate school and received my MA in Applied Health Sciences from Brock University. After graduate school, I moved to NYC and worked at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital for four years as a group therapist on an inpatient psychiatry unit for older adults. I enjoyed my clinical work, but after a while I felt like I was only treating the symptoms of an unjust society. To effectuate real world change, I would have to think bigger, which brought me to social work research. I’m currently a Social Welfare PhD candidate and have an MPhil in Social Welfare from the Graduate Center. I also hold graduate certificates in qualitative research, demography, and critical theory. 

My dissertation research entitled “Queering” Age-Friendly NYC applies Participatory Action Research (PAR) principles to critically examine the “age-friendliness” of NYC alongside a coalition of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) older adults. 

I’m looking forward to getting to know you better and to our many thought provoking conversations over this semester. 

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