Michele D. Hanna

Associate Professor Michele Hanna joined the faculty at GSSW in 2005. Dr. Hanna is the coordinator of the Child Welfare concentration. She also serves as the Principal Investigator for CLIMB@DU and CLIMB-OWEP, behavioral health workforce training grants funded by HRSA that provide stipends to students interested in pursuing career in Integrated Behavioral Health or OUD/SUD treatment or recovery services. Both programs seek to expand the behavioral healthcare workforce in Colorado and the Four Corners region, focusing primarily on medically underserved communities.

Dr. Hanna teaches courses in the MSW curriculum including Critical Race Theory Praxis & Social Work, Cultural & Linguistic Competency in Integrated Behavioral Health, Disproportionality & Disparities Across Systems, Power, Privilege & Oppression; and the Qualitative Research Sequence in the doctoral program.

Prior to pursuing her PhD at The University of Texas at Austin, her professional experience included working as an adoption birth parent counselor, a child protective service worker, child welfare adoption specialist, child welfare supervisor and program field representative for a statewide special needs adoption program.

Dr. Hanna's research focuses on child welfare, foster care and adoption, and issues related to racial disproportionality and disparities. From 2008-2014, she served as the evaluator for Denver's Village: Wrapping Families with Community Support. This City and County of Denver project was funded by the US Children's Bureau as part of the Diligent Recruitment of Families for Children in the Foster Care System grant cluster.