Online Master of Social Work Faculty

Christopher Ward, Instructor; Graduate Director; Online MSW Program Coordinator

Christopher J. Ward, "Chris", joined the faculty of Winthrop University's Department of Social Work in August 2017 and named the Department's Online Program Coordinator in July 2018.

While supervising online course development and maintenance, Chris oversees online program quality and consistency with CSWE standards. Working with Department faculty, he assists in online recruitment/admissions and leads hiring and training for adjunct online faculty as well as training for full time online faculty.  

Chris has extensive teaching experience in undergraduate and graduate social work education, including with hybrid online courses. His teaching is centered at the intersection of sound pedagogy supported by the literature, working collaboratively with colleagues to develop strong curriculum, and providing opportunities for improvement building upon the unique strengths of every student. These teaching experiences expanded Chris' interests that developed research veins where he publishes and presents scholarly work on 1) the decision-making process selecting appropriate tools for the online learning environment, 2) the acquisition and retention of research method knowledge by social work students, and 3) the strengths and challenges of macro social work education.

Chris received his BSW from the University of Kansas and MSW from the University of South Carolina. He spent almost seven years with the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control as a Health Planning Analyst working in the State's Certificate of Need program.

Chris is the 2017 recipient of the prestigious GADE Student Award for Teaching in Social Work.

Anthony J. Hill, Ph.D., Department Chair; Professor of Social Work

Dr. Anthony J. Hill is the Chair of the Department of Social Work, Graduate Program Director, and Associate Professor. A member of the Academy of Certified Social Workers (ACSW), Dr. Hill is also a Certified Financial Worker and Certified Clinical Trauma Professional.  Dr. Hill is an active member and leader of several professional associations, including the National Association of Social Workers. Dr. Hill's research interests include financial social work and adolescent risk and resilience.

Dr. Hill earned his Masters of Social Work and Ph.D. in Social Work degrees from Howard University.   He earned a graduate certificate in College and University Faculty Preparation also from Howard University.  His BA in Speech Communications is from the George Washington University.

Monique Constance-Huggins, Ph.D., Associate Professor; Undergraduate Program Director

Dr. Constance-Huggins is an Associate Professor and Undergraduate Program Director in the Department of Social Work. She received her PhD, MSW and MPIA from the University of Pittsburgh. Her research includes race and racial disparities; social capital among low-income women and families in rural context. She also engages in community needs assessment. Her research brings together empirical studies, theory, and social policy. Dr. Constance-Huggins teaches courses in research methods, social welfare policy, and macro systems.

Sara English, Ph.D., Assistant Professor

Sara English is an Assistant Professor of Social Work and the faculty advisor for the Gerontology Minor Program at Winthrop University. She is a Certified Gerontology Professional (CPG) and AGE-SW fellow, and has presented her research at local, national, and international venues, including at the University of Bath, the University of Iceland, and in South Africa. She serves as the NASW-SC representative to the Alzheimer’s Advisory Board for the SC Lieutenant Governor’s Office on Aging. Dr. English studies the power of non-familial relationships among staff and residents of institutional settings and is examining younger residents living in Long-Term Care . She is passionate about qualitative research and the depth of understanding it offers to studies of persons who live in the margins of society.

Ashley Garrick, Ph.D., Instructor; Associate Field Director

Ashley Garrick is the Associate Field Director and an Instructor in the Department of Social Work. She is an Alumni of Winthrop University where she earned both a Bachelor of Social Work Degree and Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology in 2011. She earned a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Michigan in 2013 where she focused on Community Organization with Children and Youth.

Ashley is a compassionate social worker who has devoted her career to empowering vulnerable and disadvantaged populations and continues to be involved with local task groups focused on improving outcomes of those experiencing poverty and homelessness. Prior to her role at Winthrop, Ashley served the community as the Social Services Coordinator for Pilgrims’ Inn where she managed three residential programs, provided case management, and assisted low income and homeless families with resources to develop financial stability.

Ashley enjoys seeing students learn, grow, and connect their coursework to real world experiences and strongly believes in active engagement and incorporating student voices and perspectives into their learning experiences. A personal philosophy that Ashley believes in is - It is up to you to make life what you want it to be.

Sarah Titman, M.S.W., Instructor

 Sarah Titman is an instructor in the Social Work Department at Winthrop University. She earned her BS in Human Development from Binghamton University and her Master's Degree in Social Work from Binghamton University in 2006. Ms. Titman is currently an LMSW in the state of NY with the hopes of being licensed in SC in the near future. Prior to coming to Winthrop, Ms. Titman taught at Binghamton University in the College of Community and Public Affairs, primarily in the Social Work Department, but also taking on class assignments in the Human Development and Student Affairs Programs. She has a decade worth of direct practice experience working as a medical social worker in hospice and home care, with the latter half being exclusively in bereavement counseling. Ms. Titman is very passionate about working with grief and loss and feels that it is something that society overlooks and believes in being a resource to community agencies and organizations as a support for loss and change. In social work education, Ms. Titman believes in developing the whole student.  Due to this belief, she incorporates self-care practices into the classroom, making sure students develop and engage in self- care practice prior to becoming practitioners. Through this incorporation, Ms. Titman hopes to help develop social workers whom are less apt to experience professional burnout.  

Kori Bloomquist, Ph.D., Associate Professor

Dr. Kori Bloomquist is an Associate Professor of Social Work and the academic advisor for the Child and Youth Well-being minor at Winthrop University.  She earned her BSW, MSW, and PhD in Social Work from Indiana University.  Prior to coming to Winthrop, Dr. Bloomquist taught for the Indiana University School of Social Work (IUSSW) on the Indianapolis campus.  She has over 10 years of direct practice experience in child welfare and additional practice experience in mental health, disability services, and gerontology.  Dr. Bloomquist's areas of scholarship include pre-adoptive placement disruption, adoption from foster care, state child welfare evaluation, Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), attitudes on poverty and social class, and social worker self-care and professional well-being.  Dr. Bloomquist served as research associate for the Title IV-E Waiver Evaluation Project with the IUSSW and Department of Pediatrics from 2012-2020 and as the Interim Director of Winthrop's MSW program in 2017-2018.  Dr. Bloomquist teaches at the BSW and MSW level.  Some of her areas of teaching expertise include generalist practice, leadership, and child welfare policy and practice.

Duane Neff, Ph.D., Associate Professor

Duane R. Neff is an associate professor who joined the Department of Social Work at Winthrop University in the fall of 2013. He received his PhD in social policy from the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University, an MSW and BS in political science from Arizona State University. His work focuses on assessing and addressing community needs through organizational capacity and evidence-based interventions. His research focuses on understanding social problems in context with an aim towards developing appropriate programmatic and public policy responses. He currently serves as a Co-Principal Investigator for research and evaluation of the Medication-Assisted Treatment program addressing the opioid crisis in York County funded by the US Bureau of Justice Administration and the SC Department of Drug and Other Drug Abuse Services. Additionally, Dr. Neff is the Principal Investigator for the program evaluation of the Healthy People, Healthy Carolinas grant for Impact York County funded by the Duke Endowment. Lastly, he is a Veteran of the US Army Reserves’ Military Police Corps.

Aubrey Sejuit, Ph.D., Associate Professor

Aubrey L. Sejuit, Ph.D., LISW-CP, LCAS, MEd, is a former tenured Assistant Professor of Social Work and a Counselor for the Sib Collins Counseling Center at Limestone University.  She is the current National Association of Social Work-South Carolina Chapter (NASW-SC) President and serves as Secretary for the NASW Committee of Chapter Presidents.  She is also the current Secretary of the South Carolina Counseling Association (SCCA).  

Before working at Limestone University, and now Winthrop  University, she served as an Assistant Professor of Counseling and as the Counseling Program Coordinator for Lenoir-Rhyne University’s Center for Graduate Studies of Columbia, SC and as a Counselor for Palmetto Place Children & Youth Services.  As Co-Founder of the South Carolina Career Development Association (SCCDA), in 2021, she co-authored and published Gaining Cultural Competence in Career Counseling (2nd edition) with Dr. Kathy Evans, her mentor from UofSC.  

Dr. Sejuit is an Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) veteran who served with the 203D MI BN in the 513th MI BDE (INSCOM) in Baghdad, Iraq as an Intelligence Analyst and earned the Joint Service Achievement Medal (JSAM) among other awards.  She is also a Co-Founder of the Veterans Alumni Council (VAC) at the University of South Carolina.  Dr. Sejuit is also Co-Founder and Secretary for the Friends of Fisher House-Columbia, SC at the WJB Dorn VA Hospital and is the Assistant Volunteer & Events Coordinator for the 9/11 Remembrance Foundation of South Carolina.  She is currently Vice Chair of the Transfer Committee in the Junior League of South Carolina (JLC) and served as Chair of the ABCs Committee for two years prior to that.

Dr. Sejuit is a 2018 graduate of Leadership Columbia (LC), a 2020/2021 graduate of Leadership Lexington County (LLC), and a 2023 graduate of Leadership Cherokee County (LCC).  Dr. Sejuit was a 2020 Midlands Woman of Distinction through the Girl Scouts of South Carolina—Mountain to Midlands and the 2019 recipient of the South Carolina Counseling Association’s Distinguished Professional Service Award. 

Alicia Tetteh, D.S.W., Instructor

Professor Tetteh has resided in Charlotte, NC since 2015 where she opened her group private practice, Building Endurance PLLC in 2016. Her practice has focused on individuals impacted by trauma. Her work with clinicians has focused on competency and anti-racist clinical supervision and clinical practice cultural proficiency. 

Joy (Marzieh) Yousefan, M.S.W., Field Support Specialist

Marzieh Joy Yousefian is a field support specialist in the Department of Social Work at Winthrop University.  She earned her A.B. degree from Oberlin College and her law degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Law.  In May of 2020, she earned her MSW degree from Winthrop University and became licensed in the state of South Carolina in July of that year.  Ms. Yousefian works with BSW and MSW students and community agencies to identify quality placement opportunities for social work students.  As a recent MSW graduate, she knows first-hand the value and importance of the social work field experience.  She is committed to assuring that social work students have the best opportunities available to apply and develop their social work skills in an appropriate, supportive learning environment.  Likewise, she strives to develop meaningful, reciprocal relationships with the field agencies, which is vital to the program's success.   

Shira Culbreath, Admissions/Recruitment Coordinator & Instructor

Shira S. Culbreath, is the new Recruitment/Admissions Coordinator and Instructor in the Department of Social Work. Mrs. Culbreath is a caring and compassionate social worker. She has spent her career advocating for balance and restorative justice for juveniles while making sure their mental health needs were addressed. Prior to her employment with Winthrop University, she served the community as an Intensive Supervision Officer where she provided intervention for juveniles and their families, managed cases that required documentation for parole reports and court hearings, and facilitated meetings with community workers and agencies to address resources needed for a successful rehabilitation process. Because of her passion with rehabilitating juveniles, she became an adjunct instructor at York Technical College and taught courses focused on juvenile justice in the Criminal Justice Department. She also served as the Field Supervisor for MSW level students from Winthrop University. Another passion for Mrs. Culbreath is mental health needs of children, which led to her employment with the S.C. Department of Mental Health. As a mental health therapist, she provided clinical assessments and individual and family therapy.

Mrs. Culbreath gives credit to her faith and mother, another social worker, for helping her understand the importance of social work in our society. Mrs. Culbreath is a Winthrop graduate and earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology with a Minor in Sociology. She continued her education by earning a Master’s Degree in Social Work from the University of South Carolina-Columbia. When she is not giving back to her community, Mrs. Culbreath enjoys spending time with her family, dancing, and connecting with her sorority sisters of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.

Julie Orme, Associate Professor

To learn more about studying with Winthrop’s respected faculty to earn an online M.S.W. degree, please contact a program manager toll-free at 833/257-1704 with any questions or request more information today.