Faculty Profiles

Wahiba Abu-Ras

Professor
Master's in Social Work Program at the Brooklyn Center, School of Social Work

Social Work Building
516.877.4318
abu-ras@adelphi.edu
http://​www.​muslimmentalhealth.​com/​

General Information

Diplomas/Degrees

Diplomas/Degrees

M.S.W., Social Work, The New Jersey State of Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ (2007)

Ph.D., Social Work, Columbia University, New York, NY (2000)

M.S., Public Administration, Kennedy School Of Government, Harvard University, MA (1991)

M.S., International Economic Community Development, Southern New Hampshire University, Manchester, NH (1990)

M.S., Sociology, Hebrew University, Jerusalem Israel (1989)

B.A., Sociology and Political Science, Haifa University, Haifa ,Israel (1983)

Personal Statement

Personal Statement

I have a multi-faceted and negotiated identity based on my ethnicity, religion, nationality and citizenship. Having such a diverse background has taught me tolerance, acceptance, and view of the individual holistically - emotionally, socially, intellectually, spiritually, and politically. I bring this multi-faceted worldview to my teaching, and it always motivates me to teach my students that to be a successful social worker, one needs to see others as unique and special individuals who are parts of complex systems composed of interrelated members and identities. As an educator and as a researcher, I always believe that teaching social work requires balancing the importance of training, scholarship, and creativity. I also believe that for social work students to successfully practice and apply the National Association of Social Work �Code of Ethics,� students must experience academic success, learn how to develop and provide culturally specific services, and develop a critical consciousness that inspires them to challenge the status quo.

In my teaching I strive to meet educational goals and principles by integrating themes of diversity and social justice. My major objectives to increase students' use of their critical thinking in understanding human behavior theories within the context of social work values; teach students about the relationship between human behavior theories and empirically-based knowledge and how these theories are applied in culturally responsive multi-dimensional assessments; help students understand the intersection of ethnicity, gender, race, class, disability, and sexual orientation, and how this intersectionality affects human development and behavior. My hope is that students will be able to learn and critically understand the diversity of human behavior, and appreciate the differences while highlighting the similarities among and between groups and sub-ethnic groups.

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