Board Members

NOFSW Board 2024-2025

President

                     David McLeod, PhD, MSW has spent the past two decades working to actively reduce violence, particularly                           that directed at people and communities with diminished capacities for self-protection. In addition to being                           an Associate Professor in the SSW he holds affiliate faculty status with the OU Department of Women’s and                             Gender Studies and the OU Center for Social Justice, and is the Director of the OU Knee Center for Strong                           Families. A former police detective who transitioned to become a forensic social worker, David has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in programs of social work, criminal justice, and preparing future faculty. His research is focused on the intersection of criminal behavior development, gender, and trauma. Some of David's current professional activities include investigations of forensic psychopathology and differential criminal behavior development, female sexual offending, female incarceration, child sexual abuse, forensic social work, intra-professional and multidisciplinary collaboration, domestic and relational violence, and social work education. David is a board member of the National Organization of Forensic Social Work, the Co-Chair of the Oklahoma Children of Incarcerated Parents Advisory Committee to the Legislature and is currently working on multiple funded research projects. His most recent publications include works on female sexual offending, trauma, domestic violence, and social work education. He has won numerous teaching, service, and research honors and is a four-time recipient of the Ann and Henry Zarrow School of Social Work "Professor of the Year" award.

 

President Elect                       

                       John P. Cocco, MSW LCSW is a mitigation specialist for the federal defender of the Southern District in                                   Indianapolis, Indiana. John received his undergraduate degree from Wittenberg University, his Master of                               Social Work degree from the Indiana University School of Social Work,and is currently a doctoral candidate                             with the Indiana University School of Social Work.  Prior to his work in the federal court system, John was the                         director of a reentry program at a non-profit agency in Indianapolis for four years. He has worked in mental health and substance use disorder treatment in various roles since 2007. John has been on the board of the NOFSW since 2016. 

Past President

                    Dana E. Prescott, PhD, JD, MSW has been licensed to practice in Maine and Massachusetts since 1983, is a                            partner with Prescott Jamieson Murphy Law Group LLC, Saco, Maine, and holds an LMSW in Maine. Dana is a                        trial lawyer with substantial experience in family law and alternative dispute resolution. He is a Fellow of the                            International Academy of Family Lawyers and the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, and was                                    awarded an MSW from the Boston College School of Social Work, and PhD in social work from Simmons University. Dana is adjunct faculty in policy at the Boston College School of Social Work, and a consultant,
writer, and speaker on professional ethics, expert and forensic roles, family dynamics, and the rights of children. He is a rostered guardian ad litem in Maine.

 

Treasurer

                      Dr. Anjali Buehler, PhD, MSW, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Social Work at Governors State                          University. Anjali primarily teaches courses in social policy, along with research, program evaluation, and                                forensic social work. Her previous research has looked at law enforcement response to intimate partner                                  violence and she is interested in expanding this work to look at how police social work and victim’s services                            augment the response. Anjali is interested in collaborative research that can inform both policy and social work practice.

 

Secretary

                        Emily Reeder Abili, PhD, MSW is a Mitigation Specialist at the Clark County Public Defender in Las Vegas,                              Nevada.  In that capacity, she has been responsible for the investigation of mitigation evidence in capital                                and non-capital murder cases since 2003.  During her tenure at the Public Defender, Dr. Reeder Abili has                                been responsible for uncovering mitigation evidence in death penalty cases and has extensive experience                              investigating Atkins claims, assisting with the presentation of mitigation in jury trials, and working with nationally renowned experts as a part of the criminal defense team.  She earned her BSW, MSW, and PhD (Public Affairs) from the University of Nevada Las Vegas and previously taught undergraduate courses in quantitative methods and criminology.  Professional honors have included Excellence in Legal Defense (Clark County Public Defender), Legal Advocate Award (Nevada Disability Advocacy and Law Center), and Value in Performance Award (Clark County).

 

President Emeritus

                        Viola Vaughan-Eden PhD, MJ, LCSW is a Professor and the PhD Program Director with the Ethelyn R. Strong                          School of Social Work at Norfolk State University in Southeastern Virginia.  She is also the President and                                  CEO of UP For Champions, a non-profit in partnership with The UP Institute, a think tank for upstream child                            abuse solutions.  As a forensic and licensed clinical social worker, she serves as a consultant and expert                                    witness in child maltreatment cases – principally sexual abuse.  She has evaluated and/or consulted on more                          than an 3000 child abuse cases and provided expert testimony more than 700 times. She is also a Child Welfare Advisor to the National Family Violence Law Center at George Washington University.  Dr. Vaughan-Eden is President Emerita of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children, President Emerita of the National Partnership to End Interpersonal Violence, and Past-President of the National Organization of Forensic Social Work. She lectures nationally and internationally on child and family welfare to multidisciplinary groups of professionals.  She is co-editor of the 2012 and 2023 APSAC Practice Guidelines on Forensic Interviewing Children and is one of the editors-in-chief of the six-volume 2022 NPEIV Handbook on Interpersonal Violence. Dr. Vaughan-Eden is the recipient of several honors including the 2023 Outstanding Individual in Academia from the Congressional Research Institute for Social Work and Policy, the 2020 NOFSW Sol Gothard Lifetime Achievement Award, and the 2012 National Association of Social Workers-Virginia Chapter Lifetime Achievement Award.  See www.violavaughaneden.com.

 

Councilor

                      Shuei Kozu, PhD, LICSW joined the Department of Social Work at Southern Connecticut State University in                            2019, bringing more than 20 years of experience as a clinical social worker, primarily in the health care field,                            working with children and families.  Dr. Kozu imparts knowledge across bachelor's, master's, and doctoral                              levels, influencing future generations of social workers. Currently, Dr. Kozu serves as a Faculty Development                            Co-Director. As part of the Faculty Development, she is interested in faculty engagement, compassion, and empathy for each other, while promoting social emotional learning for students. Dr. Kozu has been conducting research studies to investigate the racially motivated offense against Asians and Asian Americans during the last few years. She has been successful in creating a disaster mental health certification program for graduate students, with the hope to incorporate study abroad program so that students can visit countries that are prone to have natural disasters and learn how people cope and show resilience. Dr. Kozu strives to make meaningful contributions to the field of social work and society at large.

 

Councilor

                        Sandra Joy, PhD, LCSW is a Sociology Professor who has been on the faculty at Rowan since 2002,                                          teaching courses such as Race & Crime, Race & Social Justice, and The Sociology of Death,                                     Dying, ;Bereavement.  In 2002, she received her Ph.D. in Sociology from Temple University and in 1990 she                            received her M.S.W. from Norfolk State University. Dr. Joy is also a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with a                                dozen years of experience as a mental health and substance abuse therapist. For several decades, whether Dr. Joy was working in the mental health field or within academia, she has maintained her work as a communityactivist. She has been an abolitionist in the anti-death penalty movement throughout this time andserved for many years on the Board of the Campaign to End the Death Penalty (CEDP). She is a memberof the Philadelphia Coalition Against Death by Incarceration (CADBI). She serves as a member on theBoard of the Kalief Browder Foundation and is an Advisory Board member for the Petey GreeneProgram. Dr. Joy is the author of Coalition Building in the Anti-Death Penalty Movement: PrivilegedMorality, Race Realities (2010) and Grief, Loss, & Treatment for Death Row Families: Forgotten No More(2014). She is a co-author for the recent book publication (2022), titled Life Without Parole: Worse thanDeath? She serves as the coordinator of the Rowan Youth Empowerment Program, a group that offersmentoring to Rowan students who have experienced the incarceration of one or more parents. She isalso an active member of the Africana Studies Council and she is on the advisory board of the RowanOffice of Social Justice, Inclusion, and Conflict Resolution.

 

Councilor

                         Susan McCarter, PhD, MS, MSW, is the Bonnie E. Cone Professor in Civic Engagement and Professor of                                    Social Work at UNC Charlotte. Dr. McCarter’s career began as a juvenile probation officer, inner-city mental                            health counselor, and policy analyst and advocate in Virginia where she earned her MSW (Clinical) and her                              PhD (Social Policy and Social Work). For over 25 years she has conducted research as a Disproportionate                                Minority Contact (DMC) Scholar (now Racial and Ethnic Disparities (RED)) and forensic practitioner. Nationally, Dr. McCarter moderates the Society of Social Work and Research’s Criminal and Juvenile Justice Special Interest Group. Regionally, she serves on both the NC RED in Juvenile Justice Subcommittee, the Charlotte Racial Justice Consortium (Central Piedmont CC, Johnson C. Smith, Johnson and Wales - Charlotte, Queens University - Charlotte, and UNC Charlotte), and on the leadership team for Race Matters for Juvenile Justice (Data Chair). With RMJJ, Dr. McCarter conducted Charlotte-Mecklenburg’s First Racial Equity Impact Analysis and she currently leads multiple funded research studies examining the School-to-Prison Pipeline (STPP), DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) training, and Racial Justice, and she explores and trains nationally and internationally on these topics.

 

Councilor

                      Shawna Paris-Hoyte ONS, KC MSW RSW has practiced law in Nova Scotia for 27 years. Her areas of practice                          are criminal law/youth, human rights, child protection, family law, and poverty law. As defence counsel, her                              advocacy has taken her to all levels of the court system and tribunals in Canada, including to the Supreme                              Court of Canada when she successfully argued R. v. LTH in 2008 which is still the leading case on admissibility                        of statements to police authorities (by youth) under the YCJA. Shawna has been involved in many exciting                              and innovative legal cases and initiatives over the years. She recently concluded her work as legal counsel for a participant (group) of the Nova Scotia Mass Casualty Commission Public Inquiry. Shawna is an innovative dual-professional and trailblazer. As an educator, she continues to teach at the university level in law and social work. As the founding director of the National Institute of Forensic Social Work (NIFSW -2016), Shawna provides expert consultation and training to grassroots community organizations, NGOs, and federal and provincial governments on a variety of integrated social/legal issues. She designs, develops, and implements course curriculums and professional development training programs for lawyers, social workers, social service workers and others. Additionally, Shawna recently completed the development of a trauma-informed certificate program for lawyers specific to advising victims/survivors of sexual assault. In October 2022, Shawna provided forensic social work training to legal professionals in the Caribbean specific to strengthening the child welfare system and building professional capacity for lawyers, judges, social workers, and justice administrators. Shawna has been instructing, supervising, and mentoring lawyers and law students, social work students and psychology students from numerous universities across Canada including the University of Calgary, University of Manitoba, Yorkville University, Saint Mary’s University and Dalhousie University for many years

 

Councilor

                        Sherece Shavel, PhD, LMSW is a licensed social worker with a career exceeding 20 years in areas of                                          counseling, case management, teaching, program development and administrative leadership. Currently,                              she is a MSW Program Contributing Faculty member in the Barbara Solomon School of Social Work at                                    Walden University, Co-Founder and Inaugural President of the Central Texas Association of Black Social                                  Workers, Interim Chair of the McLennan County Fatherhood Coalition, as well as the Founder and Chair of                            the Annual Social Work and Law Symposium. She is a Board of Trustees member for STARRY which exists to nurture children, strengthen families, and restore hope through counseling, fatherhood, foster care, and family preservation services. She is the creator and host of a new social work inspired podcast Sundays with Shavel focused on uncovering issues of lived experience and journeys to greatness relevant to social work practice. As an educator, she strives to instill hope and passion for the critical causes grounding the social work profession in the hearts and minds of every student, advancing both social justice and social change. As a social worker, her professional initiative, in part, is to sensitize the social consciousness of others to the parenting challenges being confronted by formerly incarcerated fathers as well as advancing their social position within the family unit and the broader community. Dr. Shavel’s current research interest is focused on exploring the paternal experiences of formerly incarcerated African American men, post-traumatic growth among formerly incarcerated individuals, as well as the intersection of mental health, culture, and spirituality. In addition, research interests related to social work education and teaching forensic social work are pursued. She has successfully published in several venues and presented at both national and international professional conferences.

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Councilor

                         Ali Winters, DSW, MSW is an Associate Professor of Practice in the College of Social Work at the University                             of Tennessee. She earned her DSW from the University of Tennessee in 2015, her MSW from the University                             of Alabama in 1996, and her BSSW from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 1992. With over 30                                   years of direct social work practice experience, Dr. Winters’ primary areas of social work practice have been                           forensic social work in corrections and juvenile justice, direct trauma-based service delivery, program development and evaluation, and behavioral health in healthcare settings. Dr. Winters has also been active in providing clinical supervision and leadership since earning her LCSW in 2005. Her areas of research interest include mental health and solitary confinement, forensic social work ethics, trauma-informed care, and secondary traumatic stress.