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Topic: Child Welfare

Eileen Starr

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Eileen Starr, PhD, is a Professor of Social Work at the Metropolitan State University of Denver. Starr was born and raised in Newark, Delaware and is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (Delaware; Maryland; Colorado). She received her PhD and Master’s Degree in clinical social work from Widener University in Chester, Pennsylvania, and did her dissertation research in Northern Ireland. While in Northern Ireland, Eileen also facilitated seminars dealing with challenging families and children/adolescents in the Social Work Department at Queen’s University, Belfast, NI.

Eileen has been a community social work practitioner most of her career at Upper Bay Counseling and Support Services Inc. (UBCSS), a private, non-profit agency in Cecil and Harford Counties in Maryland. At UBCSS, Eileen developed and was the supervisor of the School Based Mental Health Program (SBMH). She continues her private practice through tele-psychiatry with Mid-Atlantic Behavioral Health (Delaware) on a part-time basis. Eileen has been an adjunct professor since 2000 teaching undergraduate and graduate social work classes at Widener University, Chester, Pa, Salisbury University, Md. and the University of Delaware in the sociology and criminal justice departments.

Eileen is behavioral in her teaching style and clinical work, describing her style as “very interactive in partnership with her students, clients & families to help them meet their goals established in the classroom and in the therapeutic process.” She believes a reciprocal therapeutic relationship cultivates the best possible outcomes in her students as well as her clients.

In her “off time,” Eileen enjoys outdoor recreation and has coached and officiated girls’ basketball at the Middle and High School levels, taking her High School teams as an assistant and head coach to regional and state championship games. She is hoping to coach again in the Denver area.

Andrew Mrkvicka

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Andrew Mrkvicka, M.S.W., is an affiliate faculty in the Department of Social Work at Metropolitan State University of Denver.

Lisa Kindleberger Hagan

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Research focus on pedogogy within higher education, constructivism, and children’s risk taking.

Bethany Fleck Dillen

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Bethany Fleck Dillen is a professor at Metropolitan State University of Denver teaching courses in human development and psychology. Her teaching experience includes Introduction to Psychology, Developmental Educational Psychology, Statistics, Research Methods, Child Development, Developmental Research Methods, and Cognitive Growth and Development. In her courses, Fleck Dillen is committed to an active, learner-centered approach to teaching.

Her research centers on cognitive and social development in classroom contexts. Two distinct areas of work focus on issues in early childhood education and university classrooms. Both lines of research draw on developmental theory with the overall goal of enhancing the learning environment for students of all levels. Recently, she has been working on linking Documentation, an ECE teaching approach, with maternal reminiscing style. In the classroom, her research as of late focuses on the effects of service learning, flipped classrooms and integrating Social Media into teaching.

Fleck Dillen is also the director of regional conference programming for the Society for the Teaching of Psychology.

Elisa Fadum-Montoya

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Elisa Fadum-Montoya, MSW, is an affiliate faculty in the Department of Social Work at Metropolitan State University of Denver.

Lisa Badanes

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Lisa Badanes, Ph.D., is a professor and the chair of the Department of Psychological Sciences at Metropolitan State University of Denver.

Badanes has been teaching since 2010. She previously worked as an instructor at Colorado State University and University of Denver. In addition, Badanes worked as a research associate at DU and a postdoctoral fellow at Developmental Psychobiology Research Group before joining MSU Denver. She is chair of the Institutional Review Board at MSU Denver.

Badanes has published many co-authored articles on her research including most recently for Early Childhood Research Quarterly titled “Evidence for a physiologic home-school gap in children of Latina immigrants.” Her research addresses the ways in which the experience of early life stress influences current life stress, depression/anxiety and academic success in college students. She has given many presentations on her research and areas of expertise both nationally and internationally.

Badanes received her doctorate and masters in developmental psychology from University of Denver in 2009 and 2006 respectively and a bachelor’s in psychology from University of Vermont, Burlington in 2001.

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