Workshop Instructors

To request more information about any of these completed projects, please email vawc@ssw.rutgers.edu

Phyllis Adams, MA, MSW, DVS Workshop: Violence Against Women and Substance Abuse

Larissa Boianelli, MSW, LCSW Workshop: Understanding Perpetration of Violence Against Women

Elaine Edelman, LCSW Workshop: Treatment of Adult Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse

Kathleen Kelleher Furniss, APNC, DMH Workshop: Violence Against Women and the Healthcare Response

Melissa Higgins, MSW, LCSW Workshop: Violence Against Women and Mental Health

Nancy Kessler, Esq. Workshop: Legal Responses to Violence Against Women

Richard S. Kessler, Ph.D. Workshop: Special Topics: Working with Perpetrators of Domestic Violence

Ruth Anne Koenick, MA Workshops: Ethical Issues and Values in Violence Against Women Work, Violence Against Women and the College-Aged Population

Ruth Anne Koenick is the Director of the Department of Sexual Assault Services and Crime Victim Assistance at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. A graduate of The University of Maryland, she received her MA in College Student Development from George Washington University in 1976. Ms. Koenick has worked in the field of sexual victimization and violence against women for 38 years having co-founded the Women's Crisis Center at The University of Maryland, 38 years ago. The former coordinator of the Middlesex County (NJ) Rape Crisis Center, she is a founder and past president of the New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault. She served as chair of the Advisory Committee, charged by the New Jersey Commission on Higher Education to develop the Campus Sexual Assault Victim's Bill of Rights for all post-secondary institutions in New Jersey and to develop an implementation plan. Ms. Koenick co-chaired the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators conference entitled "Adjudicating Sexual Assault" in December 1997 and 1999. She is qualified as an expert in rape trauma syndrome before NJ Superior Court. In March of 2008, Ms. Koenick received the Wynona M. Lipman Leadership Award. Ms. Koenick is a 1996 recipient of the Rutgers University President's Award for Excellence in Administration and in 2007 she was the Recipient of the Rutgers University President's Award for Outstanding Service and Contributions to the University Community In April, 2000, she was honored as a "milestone of the 20th century" and received an award from the Feminist Majority Foundation for her "unique contribution to the historical struggle for women's equality and human rights". She was appointed to both Governor James E. McGreevey's Advisory Council Against Sexual Violence and the National Campus Advisory Board for the United States Department of Justice Grants to Reduce Violent Crimes Against Women on Campus and is a member of the Rutgers School of Social Work Center on Violence Against Women and Children Advisory Board. Ms. Koenick also teaches in the Women and Gender Studies department. Ms. Koenick was appointed to the first Middlesex County Commission on Women in 1986 and served as chair in 1990. Since 1995 she has been a member of the Board of Trustees of Hyacinth AIDS Foundation, New Jersey's oldest AIDS Service agency where she served as the Vice President for Development and chaired AIDSWALK New Jersey for 10 years. Ms. Koenick is currently president of her synagogue, B'nai Tikvah in North Brunswick. She has been married for 35 years to Paul A. Herman, a dean at Rutgers University. Her son Joshua and daughter-in-law Lisa live in California and her daughter Molly is a senior at the University of Maryland.

Robbin Loonan, MA, DVS, LPC Workshop: Impact of Domestic Violence on Children

Laura Luciano, M.A. Workshops: Understanding Violence Against Women, Violence Against Women and the College Population

Nicole Morella, M.A. Workshop: Violence Against Women: Techniques in Treatment, Assessment & Basic Interventions

Monique Pearlman, M.S.W., L.S.W Workshop: Violence Against Women in Middle and High School Populations

Sara Plummer, Ph.D., MSW Workshop: Financial Empowerment with Survivors

Ava Schlesinger, LCSW Workshop: Violence Against Women and PTSD

Lisa Smith, M.S., DVS Workshops: Understanding Violence Against Women, Violence Against Women in Diverse Populations

Cindy Southworth, MSW Workshop: Violence Against Women and Technology

Andrea Spencer-Linzie, MDiv, MPhil Workshop: Issues of Spirituality in Working with Survivors of Sexual Violence

Julie Roebuck, LCSW Workshop: Group Counseling with Survivors

Chrisula Tasiopoulos, MSW, LCSW Workshop: Confidentiality and Counseling Ethics

William Waldman, MSW Workshop: Legislative Advocacy

Education: Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA., BA Degree, 1965 - English; Rutgers - The State University of New Jersey - School of Social Work, New Brunswick, NJ, MSW Degree, 1972, Administration, Policy and Planning. Professional Experience: Mr. Waldman has served as a Visiting Professor and Lecturer and Executive in Residence at the Rutgers University School of Social Work since January, 2001. From July 1998 to December, 2000 he was the Executive Director of the American Public Human Services Association (APHSA) in Washington, DC. APHSA is a non-profit organization whose members include the health and human service agencies in the 50 states, as well as many agencies in counties, municipalities and US territories. Its purpose is to develop, promote and assist its members in the implementation of sound public human services policies. Mr. Waldman was employed by the State of New Jersey from July 1987 to June 1998 during which time he served as a Director of the Division of Youth and Family Services - the state's child welfare agency, as Deputy Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Human Services and as Commissioner of the Department and a member of the cabinet for three Governors of New Jersey. The Department of Human Services is the largest public agency in New Jersey and his responsibilities included administering a $7 billion budget, managing a workforce of 19,000 employees and serving over one million residents of the state. The Department encompassed seven (7) operating divisions which included the Medicaid program, services to the mentally ill and developmentally disabled, the child welfare program, all public welfare programs as well as services to the blind and visually impaired and the deaf and hard of hearing. He also had responsibility for eighteen (18) institutions including psychiatric hospitals, developmental centers, children's residential facilities and a residential program for the blind. From May of 1975 until July of 1987 Mr. Waldman directed the Middlesex County, New Jersey Department of Human Services. In this capacity he was responsible for the administration of numerous county- based human services programs, managed a staff of sixty-five (65) employees, and administered a budget in the amount of $8 million. Mr. Waldman was employed from October of 1965 to May of 1975 with the Essex County Welfare Board in Newark, New Jersey. He began as a caseworker and advanced through a series of progressively responsible supervisory and administrative positions including the administration of the County's food stamp and employment and training programs. Mr. Waldman has been the recipient of numerous awards throughout his career, serves on various boards of directors of community agencies, has made numerous presentations at professional conferences, the New Jersey Legislature, the US Congress, foundations and business and industry groups; and, consulted for both government and private agencies.

Dr. J.C. Williams, N.D. Workshop: Understanding Perpetration of Violence Against Women

Rosemary Walsh, RN, LPC Workshop: Working with Perpetrators of Domestic Violence

Jill Zinckgraf, MPA Workshops: Community Organizing and Ethics, Violence Against Women and PTSD