Special Lecturers
Our Special Lecturers are seasoned community practitioners who bring specialized knowledge and experience to the special topics courses that they teach.
LeeAnn Byrne, MSW, received her Master’s in Social Work, with a focus in
policy and administration, from Rhode Island College and her Bachelors in
Social Work from Providence College. She is currently the Food Access
Project Outreach Coordinator at the Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless,
focusing on issues of hunger and access to nutritious food options for
low-income people. LeeAnn is also highly engaged in the community, serving
as the chair of the Planned Parenthood Votes! Rhode Island PAC and as a
Board-at-Large member of the National Association of Social Workers-RI Chapter.
She was the Volunteer Manager for a fellow social worker, Maria Cimini,
in her successful campaign for State Representative in 2010. LeeAnn serves
regularly as a trainer on campaign volunteer management and has presented to
Providence College Social Work and Public & Community Service Studies
classes on macro social work practice. Ms. Byrne is a Special Lecturer
teaching SWK 101: 21st Century Social Work and SWK 366: Community and
Political Practice.
Jennifer Dalen, MSW, LICSWJennifer Dalen graduated from Providence College with a baccalaureate in Social Work in 2002. For her junior and senior year field practicum placements, Ms. Dalen interned at the Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF). In 2003, she earned her MSW from New York University, Advanced Standing. Immediately following her graduate studies, Ms. Dalen provided therapeutic services to adolescents in state residential custody for the Network Program of Child and Family Services. Ms. Dalen then worked as a clinician in the Acute Residential Treatment Services (ARTS) at Gateway Healthcare. Currently, she is the Manager of Program Development at Beacon Health Strategies, the behavioral health partner of Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island. Ms. Dalen has served on the Department of Social Work's Community Advisory Board since 2004 and since 2010, has been a Special Lecturer teaching SWK 220: Culture and Diversity and SWK 451: Social Work Practicum Seminar III.
Tonya Glantz received her MSW from
Rhode Island College. Ms. Glantz is also completing doctoral studies in
Education and is engaged in research related to promoting school success for
students in foster care. Her major practice experiences include over 21 years
of work in the public child welfare system. She is currently employed as
Director for the RI Child Welfare Institute (CWI). Ms. Glantz has served
on the Department of Social Work's Community Advisory Board since 2001.
In 2005, Ms. Glantz was awarded Social Worker of the Year in Children and
Families by the Rhode Island chapter of the National Association of Social
Workers (NASW). She served as the lead investigator for the Child Welfare
Institute's Child Welfare Fatherhood and Education Collaborative Projects,
which involved research related to vulnerable populations of clients and
professionals in the children welfare system. Since 2003, Ms. Glantz has been a
Special Lecturer for the Department of Social Work teaching SWK 366: Community
and Political Practice and SWK 302: Current Issues in Social Work (Problems and
Practices with At-Risk Children and Families).
Marianne Raimondo, PhD, MSW, LCSWMarianne Raimondo received her Ph. D. in Health Policy & Management from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst and her MSW from Rhode Island College. She is currently counseling individuals and families at St Philip parish in Smithfield, where she is integrating spirituality into the healing process. Dr. Raimondo is a member of the Board of Blackstone Valley Children's Shelter in Pawtucket, RI and is involved in the research project at LaSalle Academy in Providence, studying stress in adolescents. She has been a special lecturer in the Health Policy Management program at Providence College and in the School of Public Health at Boston University. She has over 20 years experience consulting to health care organizations across the country in the areas of leadership development, organizational development, systems, design, team building and quality improvement. She helped hundreds of hospitals, nursing homes, health centers and home health agencies improve patient outcomes and quality of care. Ms. Raimondo is a Special Lecturer for the Department of Social Work teaching SWK 101: 21st Century Social Work and SWK 253: Human Behavior Across the Life Span.
Bruce Rollins, MSW, MPA, Bruce
Rollins received his MSW from Boston University and a Masters in Public
Administration from the University of Connecticut. He retired in 2011 as the
Director of the Rhode Island Child Welfare Institute in the School of Social
Work at Rhode Island College (RIC). Previously, he was Chief of Staff
Development and Training in the Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth
& Families (DCYF). Prior to working for DCYF, he was for 10 years on the
faculty of the School of Social Work at RIC, where he was Director of Field
Education. Mr. Rollins is a Special Lecturer for the Department of Social Work teaching SWK 360: Social Policy.
Jill Sabatine, MSW, MPHJill Sabatine earned her master's degree in social work from the University of Connecticut and her master's degree in public health from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Her current practice experience includes working as the Social Service Director at AIDS Care Ocean State in Providence, working as part of the trauma team at Rhode Island and Hasbro hospitals, and working with students in the West Warwick school district. Jill is the Chair of the Advisory committee of the National NASW HIV Spectrum project, which provides training to social workers on issues related to HIV and AIDS and has provided trainings nationally on HIV and ethics and HIV, mental health, and substance abuse. Ms. Sabatine is a Special Lecturer for the Department of Social Work teaching SWK 101: 21st Century Social Work , SWK 220: Culture and Diversity in Social Work Practice, and SWK 301: Current Issues in Social Work (HIV-AIDS).
C. Kelly Smith, MSW, received her MSW in Administrative and Clinical
Social Work, Children and Families, from Rhode Island College. She also holds
a BFA in Illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design. For the past
25 years, she has worked with numerous nonprofit organizations in Rhode Island
in both consulting and administrative capacities, including full time
commitment to the state’s domestic violence prevention movement for 12.5 years.
She has mentored and supervised undergraduate and graduate social work students
for 15 years. She has also worked extensively with LGBTQQ youth and
indigenous people. Her consulting practice has been focused primarily upon
nonprofit organizational development and strategic planning efforts. In her
leisure time, she is an activist for social justice, a community gardener, a
beekeeper, and a devoted PawSox fan. Ms. Smith is a Special Lecturer
teaching SWK 301: Violence Against Women and SWK 220: Culture and Diversity
in Social Work Practice.
Linda Zangari, MSW
Linda Zangari received her MSW from Rhode Island College. She is currently a Social Worker at the Office of the Court Appointed Special Advocate at Rhode Island Family Court where she advocates for the best interests of children and youth who are involved in the Rhode Island child welfare system. She has been a Field Instructor for over ten years for Bachelor of Social Work interns from Providence College as well as for Master of Social Work interns from Rhode Island College. She has co-chaired the Children’s Issues Committee and the Nomination and Leadership Committee of the Rhode Island Chapter of NASW. She has also served on the Adoption and Foster Care Task Force, which addressed policy issues impacting permanency planning for children in the child welfare system. Ms. Zangari is a Special Lecturer for the Department of Social Work teaching SWK 253: Behavior Across the Life Span.