Intersectionality, Faith & Healing: Activism in Challenging Times

Using a Liberatory Consciousness framework, this event inspires group learning about methods of activism across various settings (e.g., classroom workplace, clinical setting, community, etc.) in an increasingly challenging political environment. 

Moderator: V. DuWayne Battle, Ph.D., D.Min., MSW, M.Div.

Panelists:

Rev. Dr. Micah L. McCreary
Rev. Dr. Micah L. McCreary, a native of Detroit, Michigan, has served as the 12th President of New Brunswick Theological Seminary since 2017. He holds a B.S. in Engineering from the University of Michigan, a Master of Divinity from the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Virginia Commonwealth University. A licensed psychologist and ordained minister, Dr. McCreary brings extensive experience in higher education leadership, having served for over two decades as a tenured professor at VCU, including roles as Assistant Vice Provost for Diversity and Co-Director of the Counseling Psychology Program. He is a recipient of prestigious fellowships, including the American Council on Education Presidential Fellowship. A respected scholar and preacher, he is the author of Trauma and Race: A Pathway to Wellbeing (Fortress Press, 2023) and frequently speaks on the intersections of faith, psychology, and wellbeing. Ordained in the Baptist tradition and received into the Reformed Church in America, he serves as a General Synod Professor of Theology in the RCA and continues to support the church through teaching, preaching, and board service.

Mary Beth Ali
Mary Beth Ali serves as an NTT Assistant Teaching Professor & Special Assistant to the Dean for Interprofessional Health Initiatives.  

As an NTT Assistant Teaching professor, she is responsibilities include teaching nine (9) three credit courses for calendar year (CY) appointments focusing on knowledge dissemination, service, supporting student wellbeing, and success to help advance the school's commitment to inclusion, intersectionality, diversity, equity, and advancement, and other duties as assigned, consistent with the SSW tenure track series. 

As the Special Assistant to the Dean for Interprofessional Health Initiatives, she collaborates with more than a dozen academic institutions across the NJ/PA region to develop interprofessional case curricula, ensuring space for the exploration of social determinants of health. In more than 30 interprofessional education events each semester, Rutgers School of Social Work students collaborate with their peers to create an inclusive biopsychosocial-spiritual care plan for the simulated case.  

Ali's practice and research, and areas of publication, span health and medical social work, with a specialty in HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus), to interprofessional health team collaboration and the integration of clinical services for Muslims. 

Before joining Rutgers' faculty, Ali served individuals, couples, families, and psychoeducational structured groups in the health and school social work arenas.

Char Mansfield
Char Mansfield, MDiv, MSW, LSW is beginning dual vocational paths as a therapist and minister in Seattle, WA. Their extensive experience working with young adults and adults experiencing homelessness shapes the bedrock of their trauma-informed worldview, seeking to be person-centered yet systems-aware. They are currently working on creating an urban monastic community for people in re-entry from prison.