Faculty/Staff Directory

Dr. Kelisa Underwood - LCSW, PhD

Locations:	Macon - TEB - 312 Phone: 4787572665
Biography:	Hello! My name is Kelisa Underwood and I am so excited to be a faculty member with the Middle GA Social Work department! I hope that we will all get to know each other throughout the semester and my career. For now, I’ll tell you a little of the basics about me. I began my teaching career in Macon in 2018 at Mercer University- but no worries, I will be a loyal Knight! Before finding that teaching was truly my passion, I had many career opportunities in the field of Social Work. As a military spouse, we traveled the country and had to move frequently, meaning that I had to find new jobs frequently. As a result, I have worked in a number of settings including private practice, child welfare, forensic social work, non-profits, and hospitals to name a few. As a Macon native, I graduated from Central High (Go Chargers!), then left Georgia to attend Western Carolina University, a small college nestled in the mountains of North Carolina. I earned my Bachelor’s in Psychology from Western where I received the best advice I have ever gotten- to transition from Psychology to Social Work. My advisor saw that I didn’t want to just study people, I wanted to “do the work.” So I went to a HUGE school, the University of Southern California, for my MSW. There, I specialized in military trauma and community organization. After a while of working with people and communities, I felt the need to figure out what was causing the massive disadvantages that I was seeing every day. I decided to go back to school….again, for my PhD in Social Psychology, until I finished my dissertation on systemic inequality of marginalized populations. My interests at this stage encompass everything that I have seen as large social challenges throughout my career. I love looking at how communities interact, how social policy impacts one’s access to opportunity, how people internalize oppression, and how to overcome these things to create a more just, humane, and equitable society.
Courses:	SOCW 2400: Critical Thinking and Writing SOCW 3000: Cultural Competency SOCW 3005: Forensic Social Work SOCW 3100: Human Behavior in the Social Environment SOCW 3250: Mental Health SOCW 3300: Practice with Groups SOCW 3500: Social Work Practice with Communities and Organizations SOCW 3700: Social Welfare and Policy Practice SOCW 4000: Direct Practice SOCW/CRJU 4220: Family Violence & Abuse SOCW 4300: Field Seminar I SOCW 4500: Change in Organizations and Communities SOCW 4600: Field Seminar II
Education:	Bachelors of Science in Psychology (BS)- Western Carolina University Masters of Social Work (MSW)- University of Southern California Doctorate of Philosophy in Psychology (PhD)- Saybrook University

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