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Department: Social Work

Christian Itin

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Christian Itin, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Social Work at Metropolitan State University of Denver. Itin has over 30 years of experience working in the field as a senior counselor, clinical program director, substance abuse/mental health intervention specialist and various teaching positions. He has been teaching at MSU Denver since 2012 and was chair of the Department of Social Work 2012-15.

Itin has also been teaching at Humboldt State University as professor emeritus since 2012. He is the past president of the Association for Experiential Education. Itin co-wrote and funded several grants; and has been a keynote speaker and presented at many events around the world. He launched the online Master of Social Work program at Humboldt State and has been actively involved in the development of MSU Denver’s online Bachelor of Social Work and Master of Social Work program.

In addition, Itin has a long history of community service involvement. Currently, he is a member of the Strategic Action Planning Group on Aging, a member of the Association for Experiential Education, a member of Adventure Therapy International Committee and a committee member on the Institutional Review Board at MSU Denver. His research interests include group process, leadership, wilderness therapy, adventure therapy and experiential practice. Itin has published many articles over the years. His most recent publications are “Adventure Therapy: Nondeliberative Group Work in Action” for Social Work with Groups journal and “The nature and meaning of adventure therapy” for Connecting with the Essence of Adventure Therapy book.

Itin received his doctorate in social work and a master of social work from University of Denver in 1997 and 1987 respectively and a bachelor of social work from Cornell University in 1984.

Tony Hernandez

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Tony Hernandez, MSW, is an affiliate professor in the Department of Social Work at Metropolitan State University of Denver. His areas of expertise include housing and community, and economic development. He currently teaches graduate courses that include Social Policy Analysis, Advanced Integrative Practice: Clinical, and Advanced Policy and Advocacy.

Prior to joining MSU Denver, Hernandez worked on a presidential appointment as an administrator of Rural Housing Services for the United States Department of Agriculture. He was also the director of the Division of Local Government for the State of Colorado. Hernandez served five terms as a Colorado state representative. He is currently the president and CEO of Innovative Action Consulting on the Community, Housing and Economic Development team, where he provides consulting services in policy work, nonprofit training and more.

Hernandez has been recognized for his extensive community involvement and advocacy work. He has won the Excellence in Leadership Award from Rural Housing Services, the Housing and Urban Development Secretary’s Leadership Award, the HUD Secretary’s Customer Service Award and the Good Guys Award from the Colorado Women’s Political Caucus for his commitment to political, economic and judicial equality for women, among many others.

Hernandez received a master’s in Management and Public Policy from Carnegie-Mellon University Pittsburgh in 1981, a Master of Social Work from the University of Denver in 1975 and a bachelor’s in Social Work from Colorado State University in 1973. He is also a certified Housing Development Finance Professional, granted by the National Development Council in 2003.

Tanya Greathouse

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Tanya Greathouse, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Department of Social Work at Metropolitan State University of Denver.

In addition to teaching at MSU Denver, she also serves as a faculty field advisor and affiliate associate professor in the Department of Social Work at Smith College School and a private psychotherapy practitioner in the Denver/Boulder area. Her foundation of cultural competency is informed by her teaching curriculums and multicultural trainings. Greathouse holds certifications in Administrator and Interpreter for the Intercultural Developmental Inventory and QPR Gatekeeper Instruction. She has also completed the American Management Association Managers training and VISIONS Multicultural training.

Greathouse received her doctorate in clinical social work from Smith College, a Master of Social Work from University of Denver and a bachelor’s in sociology from University of Colorado, Boulder.

Elisa Fadum-Montoya

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Elisa Fadum-Montoya, MSW, is an affiliate professor in the Department of Social Work at Metropolitan State University of Denver. She has been a licensed clinical social worker for over 20 years and her areas of expertise include working in mental health, crisis interventions, family therapy and child welfare.

Fadum-Montoya has been teaching at MSU Denver since 2014, where she has taught a field experience seminar for graduate students. She has also taught graduate social work courses related to family therapy and undergraduate courses such as Privilege, Oppression and Power. In addition, she also works as a mobile crisis clinical evaluator for Denver Health and Hospitals, where she conducts mobile evaluations of individuals in the community experiencing psychiatric crisis.

Fadum-Montoya was also the clinical director and owner of Bridges Family Services Inc., where she provided clinical supervision and training to a team of clinicians and case managers. She also oversaw service delivery including assessment and interventions, multi-family therapy education classes and parenting/visitation sessions.

Prior, she has worked as a bariatric social worker for Presbyterian/St. Luke’s Medical Center. She performed psychological evaluations for potential bariatric surgery candidates, provided follow up therapy support and facilitated support groups. Fadum-Montoya also worked as a LCSW for Centennial Peaks Hospital, where she performed assessments for people struggling with mental health instability and substance abuse.

Fadum-Montoya received her master of social work from the University of Denver in 1997, and a bachelor’s in human services from the University of Massachusetts in 1991. She also received a certificate in marriage and family therapy from the Denver Family Institute in 2000.

Larry Curry

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Larry Curry, Ph.D., LCSW, CAC III is a licensed Clinical Social Worker, and a former professor in the Department of Social Work at Metropolitan State University Denver. He is a national and international speaker trainer and presenter in the areas of child welfare, family preservation service and addictive behaviors. He also specializes in domestic and internal adoptions, and cross cultural adoptions.

He is also the Founder/CEO and Clinical Director for The Curry Center, LLC located in Aurora Colorado. This agency operates as a private outpatient mental health clinic, offering in home services to some of the most troubled families and children within the Denver/ Aurora communities.

Perri Corvino

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Perri Corvino, Ph.D., LCSW, LAC is a lecturer in the Department of Social Work at Metropolitan State University of Denver. With over 20 years of experience in the field of mental health, their experience in social work ranges from residential treatment to private practice. Corvino’s expertise includes experiencing and recovering from traumatic events, addiction recovery, supporting and advocating for the LGBTQIA and neurodivergent communities and promoting self-care to counter indirect trauma. Their academic pursuits focus on creating trauma-informed college and university classrooms to counter the oppression and distress faced by students, developing Open Educational Resources, illuminating the lived experience of neurodivergence, and developing an anti-oppressive, trauma-informed approach to social work supervision.

Prior to joining MSU Denver, Corvino volunteered for a crisis hotline and served as a victim’s advocate for people escaping intimate partner violence during their undergraduate studies. Additionally, after completing their master’s degree, Corvino worked in residential, jail, community, and outpatient settings. They owned a private psychotherapy practice until 2018 when they joined the social work program as a full-time lecturer.

Corvino earn a doctorate in social work from Smith College School for Social Work, as well as a master’s in social work and women’s studies from Loyola University Chicago. They completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from the State University of New York at Potsdam

Jo Daugherty Bailey

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Jo Daugherty Bailey, Ph.D., is a professor and program director of Master of Social Work program in the Department of Social Work at Metropolitan State University of Denver.

She joined MSU Denver in January 2013, after teaching as a faculty member at University of Houston-Downtown for over 10 years. Bailey has social work practice experience in adoption, clinical program research and grants management.

Her current research projects include analyses of policy and services for children without parental care in Eastern Europe, models of supervision, and undocumented migrants’ experiences. She has co-written journal articles, including most recently “The Threatening Troika of Populism, Nationalism, and Neoliberalism” in 2018 and “Sobresalir: The Undocumented Experience” in 2016.

Bailey received her doctorate and Master of Social Work from University of Houston and a master’s in sociology from University of Houston-Clear Lake.

Kristen Atkinson

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Kristen Atkinson, Ph.D., is a lecturer in the Department of Social Work at Metropolitan State University of Denver. Her areas of expertise include positive youth development, community youth development, youth civic engagement, youth leadership development and participatory research. She teaches in the undergraduate and graduate programs, mostly overseeing clinical work.

Prior to teaching at MSU Denver, Atkinson taught a social research course to incoming graduate social work students at DePaul University. She was also a technical assistant in the College of Social Work at the University of Illinois at Chicago for a project called “Permanency Enhancement Project: A Community Initiative to Address Racial Disproportionality in Child Welfare.” Atkinson was also a graduate research assistant in the same department for nearly five years. She still works there as a visiting assistant professor teaching graduate courses mainly in Youth Development Theory, Participatory Action Research, and Program Development. In fall 2012, Atkinson coordinated the annual Youth Development Summit, a one-day conference for youth development professionals. She has served as a member of the Board of Directors at the Chicago Freedom School. Atkinson is currently a member of The Council on Social Work Education, The Association for Community Organization and Social Administration, and the Society for Research on Adolescence.

She has published her work titled “Trauma-Informed Care and Youth Development.” Her most recent research was a participatory research study at the Chicago Freedom School. It explores youth participation in a liberatory education program and the development of activism around social justice issues.

Atkinson received her doctorate in Social Work from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2012, a Master of Social Work from San Francisco State University in 2003 and a bachelor’s in Social Work from Eastern Michigan University in 2000.

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