Regina recently joined the School of Social Work faculty as an assistant professor-in-residence. She earned her MSW in 2008 from UConn and was a long-standing field instructor for the School. While a student, Regina studied casework with a focus on women and children in families. She is a former school social worker with nearly two decades of experience working in public, charter and independent school systems. This spring, Lester-Harriat is teaching Practice with Individuals, Groups and Families and advising students. In addition, she is slated to teach the Direct Practice in Schools course next year. With her rich practice experience, she will be able to integrate her real-life experiences into the classroom. “I’m happy to be returning to UConn where it all started for me,” said Lester-Harriat.
Lester-Harriat’s research Interests include the role of religion in building emotional resilience in women; building emotional resilience in children and adolescents; trauma-informed practice with children and adolescents; child and adolescent mental health disorders; child and adolescent substance abuse; teens and suicide; and the experience of African-American families in the foster care system.
Dr. Scott Harding has researched the movement to counter military recruitment programs in public high schools. “It’s a neglected issue that needs to be highlighted so that we can have a more informed discussion about what it means to allow recruiters into schools to convince 16- and 17- year olds to join the military” he says. “Many people are comfortable with it, many oppose it, but there’s also a large group who don’t know its happening.” He interviewed more than 70 counter-recruitment activists in 24 cities across the country, and his book, Counter-Recruitment and the Campaign to De-Militarize Public Schools (Palgrave Macmillan), co-authored with Seth Kershner of Northwestern Connecticut Community College, is a result of this work.
Working with staff and volunteers from the Connecticut Department of Children and Families, Dr. Megan Feely is developing a well-being assessment for children in foster care, designed for use by child advocates. The assessment will be based in part on two years of state data on more than 1,000 children in foster care in Missouri. “There are some existing child assessments, but they do not capture the family relationships specific to foster care, and we want to include those issues,” Dr. Feely says.