4101 15th Avenue NE
Seattle, WA 98105-6299
Organization URL: Website
Main Phone: 206-543-5640
Fax: 206-543-1228
Lara Thompson graduated from Washington State University in 1992 with a bachelor's of arts degree in child, consumer and family studies and a minor in sociology. She began her employment with a private agency as a school-based case manager for homeless families whose children attended Seattle public schools.
Tanya Ranchigoda is a first generation Sri Lankan, Canadian, American. Tanya has been a faculty lecturer at the graduate School of Social Work at the University of Washington since 2010 and has also taught at the newly emerging Seattle University MSW program. In addition, she maintains a private mental health practice where she focuses on supporting individuals and families with adjustment to chronic/terminal illness, significant life transitions, grief and loss, and crisis intervention. She provides individual and group MSW supervision with a focus on BIPOC communities.
Associate Professor Jean Kruzich, who began teaching at the School in 1991, is retiring at the end of the 2018–19 academic year. During the past 28 years, Dr. Kruzich made significant contributions in research, scholarship and teaching, and with her deep understanding of organizations and administration, she has been a tireless champion of School staff.
Associate Professor Emiko A. Tajima’s scholarship focuses on the problem of interpersonal violence, seeking to identify points of intersection, cross-systems issues and to build knowledge regarding specialized populations to improve policies and service provision for victims and their children. Dr. Tajima is the executive director of Partners for Our Children.
Professor Jennie Romich teaches social welfare policy and policy practice classes.
Associate Professor Jennifer Stuber’s research interests focus on forms of oppression including stigma and discrimination, health disparities, mental health and policy-making processes. She has studied different forms of oppression for families, using means-tested government programs for tobacco users and people living with mental illnesses.
Dr. Margaret L. Spearmon is a senior lecturer emerita and director for community engagement at the UW School of Social Work. She is the co-founder of Inclusive Engagements, LLC. In social work education, Dr.
Associate Professor Melissa Martinson's research focuses on inequities in health and wellbeing throughout the life span, both in the United States and internationally. In particular, her work examines the wide health divide between the United States and other wealthy, developed nations. Within that comparative context, Dr. Martinson's research aims to understand and alleviate health disparities by race and ethnicity, socioeconomic status and immigrant status.