Varsha Pandya, PhD, ACSW

Case Western Reserve University, Ph.D.; University of Bombay, India, MSW; University of Bombay, India, BS

Dr. Pandya has many years of practice experience in the field of family violence, primarily in Indian settings. She recently published a book titled, “Men Sharing Stories of Violence at Home” based on her dissertation research. Her practice in U.S. has been in the field of child abuse and neglect as a direct service provider as well as CASA. Dr. Pandya has extensive experience in teaching and guiding research projects and theses at both undergraduate and graduate levels. Her publications demonstrate integration of her interests in group work practice, family violence, and evidence-based social work practice. These also reflect her developing interest in the field of gerontology.

Dr. Pandya has presented widely over the years, including at conferences on teaching in higher education. She considers herself as a lifelong learner and looks to continuously reach higher standards as a research educator and practice-researcher. Her teaching interests include: methods, guidance and advising in research; qualitative methods; group work practice; family violence and child welfare; gerontology; human behavior in social environment: micro and mezzo levels; poverty and social work; human diversity and social work. Her research interests include: gerontology; effectiveness of group work practice; research on clinical practice and change processes in clients; child welfare and family violence.

Recent Scholarship, Publication and Presentations:

Kim, Y. M. & Pandya, V. (accepted Summer 2014). Educational Inequity. Encyclopedia of World Poverty,

SAGE Publications.

Pandya, V. & Kim, Y. M. (accepted, Summer 2014). Urban antipoverty programs. Encyclopedia of World

Poverty, SAGE Publications.

Pandya. V. & Weller, M. (accepted, Summer 2014). Street Children. Encyclopedia of World Poverty,

SAGE Publications.

Pandya, V. (January 20, 2014). Webinar: Children with Reactive Attachment Disorder: Building Hope for

the future.  NASW-Wisconsin Chapter.

Pandya, V. (October 7-9, 2013). Interviewing for relational dynamics: Forensic understanding for

sentencing offenders of intimate partner violence. 2^nd Annual Forensic Research Conference, Las Vegas,

Nevada.

Pandya, V. (Fall, 2012). Children with Reactive Attachment Disorder: Building hope for the future. NASW Specialty Practice Sections: Child Welfare section connection.

Pandya, V.  (June 14-17, 2012). Using mutual aid theory and task group processes in designing online collaborative assignments for social work education. 34^th Annual symposium of the International Association of the Advancement of Social Work with Groups. Long Island, NY

Pandya, V.  (June 14-17, 2012). Using mutual aid theory and task group processes in designing online collaborative assignments for social work education. 34^th Annual symposium of the International Association of the Advancement of Social Work with Groups. Long Island, NY.

Pandya, V. & Kyere, E(MSW student). (August 29-31, 2011). Fostering Connections for Post-secondary Educational Success for Youth with Foster Care Experience – Panel Discussion: Creating stability for emancipating youth leaving foster care. Child Welfare Evaluation Summit, Washington, DC.

Perlman, S. & Pandya, V. (June, 2011). Resiliency-promoting practice model for children who have experienced homelessness and/or chronic neglect before entering elementary school. One Child, Many Hands: A multidisciplinary Conference on Child Welfare, The Field Center for Children’s Policy, Practice & Research.

Pandya, V. (2010). An evidence base for group work with older adults living in the community.  Social Work with Groups, 33, 323-349. DOI: 10.1080/01609513.2010.487177.

Pandya, V. (2010). A study of change processes in domestically violent men in group therapy. Journal of Evidence-based Social Work: Advances in practice, programming, research, and policy, 6, 127-146. DOI: 10.1080/15433710802533348.

Pandya, V. (2010). Group Therapy Interventions for Male Batterers: A Microethnographic study. Health & Social Work, 27, 47-55.

Pandya, V. (June 3-5, 2010) Family Group Decision Making (FGDM) as a solution-focused Task Group.

32^nd Symposium on Social work with Groups, Montreal, Canada.

Pandya, V. (June 7-10, 2010) Family Group Decision Making (FGDM): Integrating Lessons From Family

Resiliency Literature To Strengthen The Practice. Facilitated Discussion. Pathways to Resilience II: The

Social Ecology of Resilience, Halifax, Canada.