The School of Social Work continues to expand its faculty with the addition of four new clinical assistant professors for the 2022-2023 academic year.
Alicia Bowles, MSW, and Jenny Smith, EdS, MSW, BSW, will bring a combined 45 years of social work experience to the 3-year Winston-Salem MSW program this fall.
Bowles has worked in the areas of substance abuse and mental health, as well as in public and private child welfare systems in North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland. For the past 16 years, she has worked in a variety of capacities for the Children’s Home Society of North Carolina, the state’s largest private foster care and adoption agency. Among her previous responsibilities included the oversight of 25 counties in Central and Western North Carolina. Bowles also has extensive training experience and recently served as a field instructor for the Winston-Salem program.
Smith’s work has focused on juvenile justice, child welfare, intensive in-home services, and post adoptions. In addition, she has experience in private practice and higher education, including counseling and wellness services. For the past 15 years, she has served as the associate dean of students and director of counseling services at Lenoir-Rhyne University. During her time there, she established an integrative health and wellness center for students that includes counseling, disability, and student health services. Smith brings in-person and online teaching experience to the program and has served as a field instructor for students from the Winston-Salem program.
“I’m delighted to welcome Alicia and Jenny as faculty to the Winston-Salem Program,” said program director Theresa Palmer. “They both bring a wealth of wonderful social work experience.”
Mauricio Yabar, MSW, M.Ed, and Alyssa Draffin, MSW, are joining the School’s full-time faculty and will be teaching in the direct practice concentration.
Yabar has 10 years of experience, including in agency and private practice settings. He has worked with adults and teens who are struggling with substance use, trauma, sexual offending and compulsive sexual behaviors. He has also conducted research on issues related to LGBTQ+ mental health and homophobic bullying. Yabar, who earned an M.Ed in Human Sexuality Education, is currently a doctoral candidate in social work at Virginia Commonwealth University. He has served as an adjunct faculty member at VCU, University of Denver and Simmons College. Yabar draws on social constructivism and narrative theory to inform his clinical work, research, and teaching and has authored eight articles in peer-reviewed publications.
Draffin has nine years of experience working as a clinical social worker in mental health and integrated care settings, including at the Infectious Diseases Clinic and Care Management at UNC Hospital. She has provided treatment and care management to clients who are struggling with mental health issues, HIV, trauma, complex medical conditions and substance use issues. She is a certified clinical trauma professional. Draffin recently developed and facilitated diversity, equity and inclusion training in the UNC Care Management program. An MSW graduate from George Mason University, Draffin served as an adjunct faculty member in UNC’s MSW program in 2021.
“I’m really excited about the caliber of experience each of these new faculty members will bring to our School,” said Dean Ramona Denby-Brinson
