Director of Field Education and Assistant Professor Completes Requirements for PhD in Social Work
Takoma Park, MD (October 18, 2018) Washington Adventist University (WAU), Director of Field Education and Assistant Professor Melissa Buckley, has completed the requirements for her Doctor of Philosophy in Social Work from Morgan State University. Her dissertation exploring “Fatherless Woman Syndrome and Perceptions of Attachment in Jamaican Women” will soon be available on ProQuest. She is set to graduate in December of this year.
Buckley was awarded Social Work Educator of the Year in 2016 by the Washington DC Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) and has worked at WAU since January of 2014. She has coordinated the university’s participation in the annual “Social Work Day on the Hill” an event that celebrates the contributions that social workers have made in the federal government.
When asked what motivated her dissertation topic Buckley stated, “It is a topic that is underexplored, yet, one that needs attention. Father absence, particularly caused by absenteeism, results in a myriad of psychosocial challenges experienced by children, and the actual impact on black women has not been extensively explored.”
Her passion for educating emerging social workers convicts her to remain in academia. She intends to continue her research on fatherlessness and collaborate with other experts to discover ways of positively influencings those whose lives have been impacted.
Washington Adventist University is Montgomery County’s only four-year private college. Part of the Seventh-day Adventist system of higher education, Washington Adventist University has been educating college students since 1904 on a 19-acre campus in suburban Takoma Park, close to the nation’s capital. Approximately 1,100 students of all faiths participate in the university’s nine graduate and 42 undergraduate programs. The 2017 edition of U.S. News & World Report ranked Washington Adventist University among the best regional colleges in the north.
Media Contacts
Emeraude Victorin, 301-576-0193, news@wau.edu