Board of Directors

JUSTIN HODGE is a clinical assistant professor of social work at the University of Michigan. He is the co-lead for the Policy & Political Social Work Pathway and the director of the Online Certificate in Political Social Work. Hodge is committed to increasing the presence of social workers in policy and political spaces. He teaches courses that provide students with the tools to engage in politics and approach policy work from a social justice perspective.

Hodge was elected to the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners in November 2020. As a county commissioner, he brings his social work perspective to addressing the most pressing problems facing Washtenaw County. Hodge has a particular focus on addressing inequities in the county and promoting economic opportunity.

In 2021, Hodge was appointed by Governor Whitmer to the Commission on Community Action & Economic Opportunity, where he is able to lend his expertise at the state level. Nationally, Hodge serves as board president of the Congressional Research Institute for Social Work and Policy, which works to expand the participation of social workers in federal legislative and policy processes. He is also a founding board member of the Social Work Democracy Project, a charitable organization focused on providing resources to Schools of Social Work to advance knowledge of government and democracy.

EMILY HOPKINS, MSW graduated with her Masters of Social Work from the University of Michigan School of Social Work. She is passionate about people, social policy, and political social work. Emily knows the value of civic participation and hopes to always be an advocate for vulnerable populations.

Emily is a 2020 Presidential Management Fellowship Finalist and will be pursuing a career in the public sector, bridging her passions of advocating for children and social policy reform. Emily earned her Master of Social Work degree in Social Policy and Political Social Work at the University of Michigan.

DR. SHERYL BRISSETT-CHAPMAN, MSW, MA, EdD has served as Executive Director of the National Center for Children and Families (NCCF) since 1991. NCCF is a private nonprofit agency committed to serving vulnerable children, youth, and families. Under Dr. Chapman’s leadership, the organization has grown from a facility housing 60 children to a comprehensive regional center annually serving more than 4,000 children, families, survivors of domestic violence, and abused and neglected children and adolescents.

A leading expert in child and family welfare, Dr. Chapman joined NCCF after serving as Associate Director, Clinical Services, Research, and Administration, Division of Child Protection, Children’s National Medical Center, and as Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the George Washington University School of Medicine in Washington, DC. Dr. Chapman publishes and presents nationally on a wide range of topics including juvenile justice, systems reform in child and family welfare, poverty and homelessness, childhood trauma, domestic violence, cultural competency, and ethics.

Dr. Chapman received her B.A. degree at Brown University, where she now serves as Trustee Emerita. She obtained her M.S.W. degree from the University of Connecticut. She later completed a second Master’s degree and Doctorate in Education, Administration, Planning, and Social Policy at Harvard University.

ELIZABETH GILLETTE is a graduate student at the Columbia University School of Social Work and a Graduate Fellow of the Council of World Women Leaders at The Global Institute for Women’s Leadership, King’s College, London. She served as the 2020-2021 CSSW Senator in the Columbia University Senate and is presently a member of the Columbia University Presidential Advisory Committee on Sexual Assault, the Commission on the Status of Women, the Diversity Commission and chairs the Student Affairs Subcommittee on Anti-Racist Education. She was a graduate research assistant for both Columbia University’s Center on Poverty and Social Policy, as well as the Earth Institute, Center for Sustainable Development.

Elizabeth began work in philanthropy as a nonprofit and political fundraising executive in 2004, primarily for healthcare and social service organizations, with a focus on at-risk children and families. She served as chief development officer and board member to multiple nonprofits and was the campaign finance director for a Texas House Representative. During her development career, she guided $30 million in transactions that support education, civil rights, and criminal justice reform. As a first-generation college graduate, she completed her undergraduate studies in business administration and interdisciplinary studies at the University of Texas at Dallas.

A fervid advocate for Indigenous People’s rights, equality, and international social welfare, and racial and climate justice, she actively supports her local community as a board member on the Human Services and Housing Fund board for the City of Fort Collins in Colorado. When time permits, she models and enjoys writing, especially about the natural world. Recently, she became a double-certified Master Naturalist.

CHARLES E. LEWIS, JR., a political social worker, is the founder and director of the Congressional Research Institute for Social Work and Policy (CRISP), a nonprofit organization that works to engage social workers with the U.S. Congress. CRISP produces an annual Social Work Day on the Hill and Student Advocacy Day during March which is Social Work Month. He was recently inducted as a Fellow in the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare.

Dr. Lewis was Deputy Chief of Staff and Communications Director for former Congressman Ed Towns when he oversaw the creation of the Congressional Social Work Caucus. He is a member of the 12 Grand Challenges for Social Work Leadership Board, the Board of Directors of Influencing Social Policy, and a Commissioner with the Special Commission on Advancing Macro Social Work Practice. He earned his MSW degree in clinical counseling from Clark Atlanta University and a PhD in policy, planning, and policy analysis from Columbia University.

HEATHER WALTER-McCABE, MSW, JD is an associate professor with joint appointments at the Wayne State University School of Social Work and the Wayne State University School of Law. Professor Walter-McCabe began her career as a social worker at a high acuity pediatric tertiary care hospital in the Midwest, where she saw families significantly impacted by health policy. Following law school, she partnered her macro social work skills with her legal skills to work to impact health policy to improve health equity.

Professor Walter-McCabe’s research is conducted at the intersection of law, social work, and public health. Her research translates complex legal issues and social work research findings across multiple professions to make the information accessible for use by practitioners and advocates in improving population health. As a part of this work, she was a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Public Health Law Teaching Fellow from 2014-2016. Most recently she is leading research examining law and policy impacting LGBTQ health equity and well-being.

Walter-McCabe earned her BA from Indiana University Bloomington, her MSW from Indiana University School of Social Work, and her JD from Robert H McKinney Indiana University School of Law. She has published in traditional peer-reviewed academic journals and law reviews and has also been sought by media to explain core issues of public health policy. Professor Walter-McCabe serves on the Executive Board of the American Public Health Association.

JAMES CRAIGEN, SR., MSW is an Associate Professor Emeritus at Howard University School of Social Work who served on the faculty for nearly four decades. He most recently served as Chair of the Macro Practice Sequence where he was responsible for teaching community organization, social policy, and human services management courses. His area of specialization is family and child welfare. He has been Chair of the Baltimore City Commission on Social Service since 1997 and is the former Co-Chair of the Health Families/Thriving Communities Coalition of Washington, DC. He also was a founding member of the District of Columbia Health and Human Services Coalition.

Craigen holds memberships in several professional organizations including the Council on Social Work Education, the National Association of Black Social Workers, and the Association of Community Organizations and Social Administration (ACOSA). He has been the recipient of the Winning in Excellence Award in Teaching, the Alpha Phi Alpha Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Field of Teaching, and has served as a Public Member of the Foreign Service Selection Board, Department of State. James Craigen received his B.A. degree in Sociology from Morris Brown College and his M.S.W. degree from Atlanta University School of Social Work. He also did post-graduate study and served on the faculty at the University of Chicago.

SARAH CHRISTA BUTTS, LMSW is director of public policy at the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), headquarters office in Washington, D.C. NASW is the largest social work organization in the nation, representing the interests of over 700,000 social workers nationwide, with 55 local chapters in states and U.S. territories. Butts is responsible for leading the association’s public policy, political, and legislative affairs agenda, overseeing field organizing, working at both the national level and with NASW chapters, political candidates’ fundraising and endorsement efforts, as well as developing and advancing the association’s strategic goals and objectives related to influencing the legislative and executive branches of government.

Prior to joining NASW, Sarah served as the executive director of the Grand Challenges for Social Work, a national initiative modeled after a similar undertaking spearheaded by the National Academy of Engineering, whereby 12 science-supported challenges were advanced to tackle societies toughest social problems. Sarah is also the founding administrator of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare (AASWSW)—an honorific society for the social work profession and served as an assistant to the dean at the University of Maryland, School of Social Work. Butts has also held roles in state and local government, as well as nonprofits, having held positions in Maryland’s Department of Human Services, Social Services Administration and the Family League of Baltimore.

In 2018 she was the recipient of The Daily Record’s 40 under 40 VIP list award. She is a contributing author on the 2018 Oxford University Press book, Grand Challenges for Social Work and Society and a 2015 AASWSW paper titled, the Grand Challenge of Ending Homelessness.