Faculty and Staff Profiles

Dra. Judith Susan Rocha is an assistant professor of Social Work and currently serves as the Interim Program Director of the Master's of Social Work program at NEIU. As a proud Chicago Public Schools alumna, she is a strong believer and advocate for quality public education. All her social work degrees were completed at the University of Illinois at Chicago's Jane Addams College of Social Work. As a Mexicana born in Chicago and raised in the Little Village and Gage Park neighborhoods (both Chicago working class ethnic enclaves), by a hard-working single mother and loving older siblings, all Mexican-born; Dra. Rocha has always been interested in helping Latinx/a/o families navigate systems in order to have full access to a more just and prosperous life. 

Her work in the last 20 years has included parenting education and counseling for children and families on the Southwest and Southeast sides of Chicago, where resources are oftentimes few and opportunities for a higher quality of life can be challenging to reach. With input from dementia family caregivers, content area experts, service providers and other stakeholders, she developed Caring of Caregivers Organically (CoCO), a culturally responsive health education program for Latinas that are caring for a family member with dementia. The intervention aims to address the higher risk of developing health conditions such as depression and reduced overall health in this population. As a caregiver herself, providing care for her mother that was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease over a decade ago, there is a personal passion and commitment to this work. She is invested in finding practical ways for family members providing care to someone with this complex disease, to stay healthy. Included in her service to the community is a program called La BROCHA which she co-founded, that carries out free art workshops and activities for the Latinx community with a focus on elders 60 years of age and older. More recently, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, she began co-facilitating the support group ANCLA for Spanish-speaking individuals that provide care to a loved one living with dementia. 

Social work is not only a career for her but a way of life. She started as an aviation flight major at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale in 1995, never imagining the heights she would reach in the Social Work field as a Ph.D., a couple decades later, in her beloved city of Chicago.

Director of Clinical Services, Deborah’s Place, 2000-2010.

Dr. Aguado earned a Ph.D. in Social Work from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is a bilingual/bicultural clinical social worker with more than 15 years of practice and research experience in the field of HIV/AIDS. Her research interests focus on the social and cultural determinants of sexual health and retention in HIV care.

Andrew Brake is an assistant professor in the NEIU Social Work program and has more than 18 years of experience working for an array of youth agencies and public high schools in Chicago. He received his Ph.D. and MSW from the University of Chicago and an M.A. in Sociology from the New School for Social Research. At NEIU, Dr. Brake has developed the Introduction to Social Work curriculum and teaches in both the BSW and MSW programs. His research examines how trust and collaboration shape teacher-student relationships and teaching and social work practice in schools in improving policies, practices, and partnerships in urban public schools. Most recently, Dr. Brake was Co-Principal Investigator for the School Mental Health Professional Learning Community Project, a two-year qualitative examination of a professional learning community designed specifically for school social workers in metropolitan Chicago. Dr. Brake’s future teaching, research, and service activities aim to align social work leadership to advance school mental health and school climate initiatives in urban public schools.

Crystal has more than 10 years experience working with children, adolescents and adults from diverse backgrounds. She has extensive experience working within the mental health setting. For nine years she has worked in various departments within the inpatient psychiatric hospital setting. Crystal seeks to encourage the development of social work professionals as she believes that this field, with its many facets and ever changing dynamics, is a wonderful journey to embark upon.

Kim is currently a full-time professor of Social Work. She also has 15 years of direct service experience within the homelessness services system. She previously spent seven years as the Clinical Services Director of Deborah’s Place, and has also provided oversight to supportive housing and drop-in services. In addition, she provided leadership to the Service Providers Commission and other committees/workgroups within the Chicago Continuum of Care.

Former elementary school principal on Chicago’s West Side; former program manager at Healthy Families Illinois Program; former Instructor at Robert Morris University; former program director at Drug Free Schools and taught  ESL at the Northeastern El Centro campus in the Community Program for four semesters.

Dr. Casey Holtschneider is an assistant professor of social work at NEIU and has spent the last 20 years working with young people experiencing homelessness. She completed her Ph.D. at the University of Illinois at Chicago where her dissertation research investigated the long-term impact of housing and support services for youth in situations of homelessness. Her findings raised critical concerns with regard to: the systemic barriers and further harm youth experience when accessing services; the prioritization and quality of those services; and the continued structural violence that leads to and perpetuates poverty and homelessness for youth. In effort to take action on these findings, Dr. Holtschneider teamed up with a group of former participants in, and directors of, homeless youth services in Chicago and together they founded the LYTE Collective where she currently serves as executive director. Dr. Holtschneider is the co-author of Foundations of Social Work Practice: A Graduate Text (5th ed.) and her present research focuses on improving services for young people through the implementation of intervention models that are youth-driven, evidence-guided, and grounded in anti-oppressive practice.

I am an associate professor and policy curriculum specialist in the Social Work Department. My research generally examines poverty, inequality, and health, and the various public policies that potentially impact these social issues. Methodologically speaking, I use longitudinal methods to examine research questions typically involving the effectiveness of public policies in mitigating the disadvantages or disparities stemming from the aforementioned issues.

Dr. Lopez obtained her Ed. D degree from National Louis University in Chicago. She received her master’s degree in Social Work at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Dr. Lopez has extensive experience working with children, families, individuals, couples and youth counseling. Dr. Lopez is engaged in community education both locally and internationally, on women empowerment, women’s ministry, early childhood education, substance abuse and domestic violence. She co-founded Latina Child Care Providers In Action (LCCPIA) in 1998. This is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to foster economic development in the Latina community. In addition, she established the Dr. Maribel Lopez Scholarship Foundation, with a mission to support students in school. Dr. Lopez is passionate about teaching and engaging in shared knowledge with her students in the classroom.