Our Faculty - Social Work

Kathy Bailey, PhD, MSW is a full-time Associate Professor who has been on the faculty of Bridgewater State University since 2009. Dr. Bailey’s academic degrees include a PhD in Social Work from Arizona State University School of Social Work; an MSW from Arizona State University School of Social Work and a Bachelor’s in Psychology from Frostburg State University. Her teaching is concentrated in the areas of direct practice, policy, grief and bereavement, and macro social work in both the Master of Social Work and Bachelors of Social Work programs. Dr. Bailey has twenty-five years of social work practice experience that includes case management, elder care, crisis intervention, medical social work and quality improvement. Dr. Bailey has published book chapters as well as presented at international, national and regional conferences. Her research interests include strategies of teaching and learning, mentorship, and most recently, college student bereavement. 

Mark J. Brenner, PhD, ASCW, LISCW joined the social work faculty in 2003. He serves as the Coordinator of the MSW program in addition to working with students and teaching courses in the MSW program. Prior to his appointment at Bridgewater State University, Dr. Brenner was a Project Director and Instructor of Psychiatry at the Commonwealth Research Center at Harvard Medical School where he directed studies in the areas of schizophrenia, suicide and substance abuse. Dr. Brenner was trained as a family therapist and has over 20 years of experience providing psychotherapy for children, adolescents and adults in both out-patient and in-patient settings.

During the 2010-2011 academic year, Dr. Brenner was invited to Hong Kong to collaborate with faculty at the Center for Behavioral Health, University of Hong Kong on integrative body-mind-spirit social work. He has published in the area of mental illness as well as Buddhist meditation and serves as a consulting editor and member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services. His current research interests are in the areas of contemplative practices, Buddhism, and the integration of Eastern philosophies into Western psychotherapeutic models. In addition to presenting his work locally, Dr. Brenner has presented at national social work conferences as well as internationally in China and Japan.

The primary focus of Jonghyun Lee's scholarship is to examine the psychological ramifications of immigration experiences using a culturally specific psychiatric illness.  By drawing on theoretical insights from the fields of medical anthropology, sociology, and psychology, he conceptualizes mental illness as a cultural construct that is created by the dialectic interactions between individuals and their social world.  His research interest in the narrowing mental health disparities among culturally and ethnically diverse immigrant groups drew the attention of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) which awarded him a fellowship to participate in a 2010 Global Mental Health Research Careers Forum.

He has published and presented papers related to older adults, women, LGBT community, and culture-bound syndromes.  In spring 2012, he was invited to teach in China and provided undergraduate seminars on social welfare policy and social work practice theories in the United States.  Currently, Dr. Lee serves as a lead person for the Human Behavior and the Social Environment and undergraduate Social Welfare Policy courses.

Leslie J. Sattler, PhD, LICSW joins the School of Social Work after 24 years of practice with adolescents involved in the juvenile justice system and 8 years of teaching practice, theory, and research in the BSU graduate and undergraduate social work programs.  Her research focuses on gene by environment interactions predicting youth violence, and she has presented both nationally and internationally on issues of trauma and treatment of youth who have committed sexual offenses.  Additional areas of expertise include supervising candidates for licensure and program development.  In her spare time, Leslie enjoys walking her dogs, cooking, snowboarding, and hiking in the White Mountains.

Pam Szczygiel received her MSW degree from the University of Georgia in 2003 and her doctorate in clinical social work (DSW) from the University of Pennsylvania in 2015.  She is delighted to join the School of Social Work to teach across the curriculum in the MSW program.  Her scholarship interests include trauma-informed social work practice, relationally-informed social work practice and teaching, and combining Eastern and Western practice approaches.  She is a LICSW in the state of Massachusetts and currently serves as a Disaster Mental Health and Resiliency Volunteer with the American Red Cross.  She has published her scholarship in peer-reviewed journals and has presented at local, state and national conferences.  In her spare time, she enjoys playing outside with her dogs, cooking, and gardening.