Social Work Macro Practice

F. Ellen Netting is Professor and Samuel S. Wurtzel Endowed Faculty Chair in Social Work at VCU School of Social Work. She completed her PhD in Social Service Administration at The University of Chicago in 1982. For over 18 years, she has taught across social work programs at VCU, having previously taught 10 years at Arizona State University. Her practice experience includes directing a county office on aging and senior citizens center, directing a community-based Foster Grandparent Program, and serving as the evaluator and trainer in a 16-country area agency on aging. She helped develop the first long-term care ombudsman volunteer program in East Tennessee. She is the co-author or co-editor of 16 books and has published over 175 book chapters and refereed journal articles on subjects related to aging, volunteerism, faith-based human service organizations, and social work macro practice.



Peter M. Kettner is Professor Emeritus at Arizona State University School of Social Work. He is author or co-author of six books, four of which have been translated into multiple languages. He has also authored over 50 articles, monographs, and book chapters on the topics of purchase-of-service contracting, privatization, macro practice in social work, human services planning, and social work administration. Over his 30 year career in academia he served as consultant to five different state human service agencies and dozens of local nonprofit agencies on their purchase of service contracting practices and in the design and implementation of effectiveness-based planning systems. In retirement he has continued his writing and consultation with local government and nonprofit agencies.



Steven L. McMurtry is a professor in the Helen Bader School of Social Welfare at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He is a graduate of Texas Tech University and the University of Texas-Arlington, and he received his Ph.D. in Social Welfare from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Prior to assuming his current position he was a member of the faculty at Arizona State University and a Fulbright Research Fellow at the University of Calgary. Early in his career he served as a child welfare worker and evaluator. In addition to macro practice, his research and publications have examined issues such as prediction of successful exits from foster care and retention of staff in child welfare organizations. He currently chairs the Ph.D. program in his department and co-directs a federally funded training program for current and prospective child welfare workers.



M. Lori Thomas is an Assistant Professor of Social Work at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She completed her PhD in Social Work at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia in 2008. Her scholarship interests include organization, community, and policy practice in homelessness, particularly for older adults and those experiencing serious mental illness or co-occurring disorders. Lori is also interested in the intersection of religion and social welfare, completing national collaborative research on best practices in faith-based human services and dissertation research on faith-based advocacy organizations. Lori has over 10 years of work experience in affordable housing and homeless services. Most recently, she coordinated and directed the development of a permanent housing and comprehensive mental health program for homeless individuals in the Greater Richmond, Virginia area.