Tulane University School of Social Work is grateful the following indviduals have committed to leading the creation of a comprehensive community of alumni, students, faculty, and staff doing work that matters.
Kimberly Alvarez, Licensed Master Social Worker (LMSW) is currently a Service Coordinator with Communities in Schools Houston at Lone Star College. She was born and raised in Rhode Island, but has also lived in New York, Tijuana, New Orleans, and is currently a proud Texan. Kimberly is passionate about working with youth and young adults and has over 10 years of case management experience. Her previous work experience includes working with the homeless and with refugees, asylees, and survivors of trafficking. Kimberly successfully helped expand the Survivor’s of Trafficking Program from Austin to Houston in order to fill a gap in services and connect clients to proper benefits. She is a strong advocate of being a 'global citizen' and working towards a better world. Kimberly graduated with her Bachelor of Social Work from Long Island University in New York and received her Masters of Social Work from Tulane University with a certificate in Global Social Work.
Rock Anderson, Jr. is currently Senior Vice President, Human Resources/Chief People Officer with AutoNation, America’s largest automotive dealership company, with revenues exceeding $21B. In his current position, he is responsible for all Human Resources functions for +22,000 employees, including providing oversight for Corporate/Field HR Operations, Total Rewards, Change Management, Employee Relations, Diversity and Inclusion, Leadership Development and Organizational Effectiveness. Anderson spent 12 years with Cox Automotive, a division of Cox Enterprises, prior to joining AutoNation where he was Global Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer.
Prior to the formation of Cox Automotive, Anderson was the Regional Vice President (West) for Manheim’s operations, leading 35 operating locations, which included 13 states, 7,000 employees and over $950M in revenue. He also held the position of Vice President People Strategies at Manheim.
Anderson has held leadership positions with companies including Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), Siemens, Wachovia Bank (now Wells Fargo) and INROADS, Inc.
Originally from New Orleans, Louisiana, he is a graduate of St. Augustine High School, Dillard University and Tulane University.
Anderson is affiliated with numerous academic, professional and community organizations, and was named one of the Atlanta Business League’s “Men of Influence”. He served on the Board of Directors and Chairman of the Strategic Implementation Committee for the United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta. Anderson is also a Member of the Governing Body of the Chief Human Resources Officer Summit.
Additionally, he serves as Chairman of the Benefits Committee and is a member of the Finance Committee for the Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta. He is a Leadership Atlanta Alumnus and a member of the One Hundred Black Men of America. Anderson currently serves as President of the Finance Committee for St. Anthony Catholic Church. Anderson is currently a Board of Trustee at Dillard University, member of the MS (Multiple Sclerosis) Leadership Class and Advisory Board Member for Elite Women of Excellence (EWOE).
Sarah Basinger earned her Bachleor’s in Psychology from Lees-McRae College in Banner Elk, North Carolina in 2005 and a Master’s degree in Social Work from Tulane University in 2011. Sarah currently works as an Alumni Career Counselor for Tulane University’s Office of Alumni Relations and is passionate about working with young alumni as well as Social Work alumni. Sarah loves teaching salary negotiation and helping alumni build professional confidence to secure and excel in their careers. With over 10 years of professional experience in higher education, Sarah has worked with female identified undergraduate students through the Newcomb Institute as well as Newcomb alumnae before moving over to the career services world. Sarah currently serves as the Secretary for the Tulane School of Social Work Board of Alumni.
Dr. Samuel L. Bradley, Jr. has joined the Boston College School of Social Work as Assistant Professor of Macro Practice focused on equity, justice, and inclusion. He is an accomplished musician, community activist, and administrator with extensive experience in fundraising and communications. Dr. Bradley has expertise in diversity and inclusion, public health, and program innovation. He is particularly passionate about utilizing design thinking as a strategy for developing innovation in higher education as well as leveraging higher education programs to support community outcomes in marginalized communities.
As a professional fundraiser for the College of Music and Media at Loyola University New Orleans, Dr. Bradley worked with individual donors, business partners, and foundations to help create opportunities for philanthropy for gifts between $25,000 and $1,000,000. In addition to his work, Dr. Bradley is proud to have served as a member of the board for the Music and Culture Coalition of New Orleans—an organization dedicated to supporting and empowering the culture bearers of New Orleans. Prior to joining BCSSW, Dr. Bradley was Chair of the Forum for Equality, Louisiana’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender human rights organization dedicated to creating a society free from discrimination. Among Dr. Bradley projects, he has led undergraduate immersion programs to Kingston, Jamaica; organized to enhance educational outcomes in New Orleans public school system; and worked with the Obama administration’s Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships on creating interfaith community service projects. Dr. Bradley has achieved the status of Fellow for Life with the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship.
Tira Jones is a native New Orleanian. She is a proud graduate of Dillard University where she received a Bachelor of Arts in Social Wefare in 2000 and Tulane University, Master of Social Work program in 2001. Tira has been a Licensed Clinical Social Worker since 2008. She has spent most of her career working with military service members and military families, nationally and abroad. She has extensive training in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Deployment related Issues and other factors concerning military families. Additionally, she has spent several years in the hospital setting helping individuals and families deal with emotional and social components of illness. Notably, Tira also worked as a Crisis Counselor in local schools and disaster centers, post Hurricane Katrina, to help individuals and families cope with the devastating impact of Hurricane Katrina. Tira is compassionate, ethically driven and dedicated to the profession of Social Work.
Bill Knecht has worked in mental health, substance abuse and program management since 1967. He is the Former Director of New Orleans Methadone Clinic and Touro Infirmary Chronic Pain Program and Former Chairman of ERACE (ERACISM). He was also an Adjunct Professor at the Tulane School of Social Work and has been a Field Supervisor for both Tulane and SUNO School of Social Work students. He has a private practice specializing in couples work, sex therapies. Bill's primary interest is in supporting currently enrolled students.
Valerie Morgan earned a Bachelor's in Family Studies from Mississippi University for Women in 2008 and a Master's degree in Social Work from Tulane University in 2013. Maintaining a focus on the importance of family and youth development, Valerie's experience includes non-profit community development, military family support services, and higher education student support. She is currently a Career Educator with Newcomb-Tulane Career Services where she teaches the course Majors, Internships & Jobs, as well as providing career coaching for Tulane undergraduate students. Valerie sees career development as a valuable tool to improving the quality of life for individuals, as well as fosteing essential economic development in diverse communities. When not working, Valerie serves as the President of the Tulane School of Social Work Alumni Board and represents the School of Social Work on the Tulane Alumni Association Board.
Dorothy “Dottie” Reese, LCSW, MPH, CCDP, a principal of DMM & Associates, has extensive experience in management and leadership, in the public, private and non-profit sectors. Her areas of expertise include strategic diversity, equity and inclusion management, performance and change management, community engagement, DBE compliance, education and training, and leadership development. She has utilized her skills as an advanced practitioner in strategic diversity, equity, and inclusion management and social work to assist organizations in assessing and designing solutions that deliver lasting value. As a skilled change agent, she has successfully created and executed strategies designed to increase competitive advantage for organizations and businesses. She has presented workshops on the local, national and international level.
Ms. Reese holds a B.A. in Psychology from Pomona College of the Claremont Colleges in Claremont California, and a Master of Public Health and a Master of Social Work Degrees from Tulane University in New Orleans. She is a licensed clinical social worker and is certified in Advanced Diversity& Inclusion Management from Cornell University in New York. Ms. Reese served on the faculty of Cornell University Executive Diversity& Inclusion Management Studies Program in New York and recently joined the faculty of the Thomas Jefferson University- Institute of Emerging Health Professions Graduate Certificate Program in Diversity.
She has been recognized with honors and awards including, New Orleans Magazine Top Female Achiever, Family Services of Greater New Orleans 10 Outstanding Persons Award , Young Leadership Council Role Model, New Orleans Chapter of Jack and Jill Leadership and Community Service Award , St. Charles Avenue Magazine Community Activist of the Year, Weiss Award, Grace House Woman of Substance, Dorothy Schenthal Leadership Award, Susan G. Komen Foundation Cameo Award, YWCA Role Model of the Year, Data News Community Service Trailblazer, the Louisiana Health Care Social Work Leader of the Year and The New Orleans Medical Association Humanitarian and Community Service Award just to name a few.
Dottie is married to Judge Kern Reese and has two sons Justin and Jared.
She began her life-long work of confronting inequality and working to promote respect for all people early on in her career. She worked tirelessly in the health care profession to promote the rights of all people to have quality health care. Ms. Reese was an
administrator in health care social work, and a health care consultant for 25 years prior to launching a consulting firm. She was on the faculty of Tulane University School of Social Work where she taught the health seminar and coordinated field placement for the health concentration. As a volunteer she has championed human rights for all people, seeing these issues intricately interconnected. Her life of service includes public appointments and innumerable projects at local, state, and national levels.
Dr. Sandridge earned her Master in Social Work in 2016 from Tulane University School of Social Work. Prior to that, she earned her doctorate in 2007 in Epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and her Master of Science from the University of Massachusetts, at Amherst, in Epidemiology. She was also a student in the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine from 1987 to 1988 in the Departments of International Health and Epidemiology. She earned her Bachelor of Arts from Bryn Mawr College in Sociology and Anthropology.
Dr. Sandridge has investigated psychosocial health of New Orleans Police Officers and institutionalization of children in Armenia, supported by the Lumos Charity. Her PhD dissertation explored risk factors for congenital heart defects and she is an expert on the cultural practices of the Middle East, particularly the Gulf, specifically, the practice of consanguinity. For her work, she was awarded the 2008/2009 Doha International Institute for Family Studies and Development Fellowship Award which was renewed for 2009/2010. Dr. Sandridge has authored peer-reviewed publications and has extensively presented her work at international, regional and local scientific meetings and conferences.
Prior to her return home to New Orleans in 2012, Dr. Sandridge, was an Assistant Professor at the American University of Armenia, on the faculty of Weill Cornell Medical College, a Research Scientist with the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center and Head of the National Health Service of Scotland’s Cancer Surveillance Unit. She has also been a Research Assistant on the Navajo Reservation (New Mexico, USA) with a project looking at cervical and breast cancer and she worked with the Johns Hopkins University program in Cite Soleil, Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuberculosis prevention program in HIV affected individuals.
Currently, Dr. Sandridge is a counselor at Odyssey House of Louisiana in the medically assisted detoxification unit. Her current research interests include the best strategies for working with individuals who have recently entered the Recovery Process and children of parents with mental illness/substance abuse issues. Additionally, she has served on several Institutional Review Boards.
Dr. Danielle Wright is a licensed clinical social worker and public health practitioner with over 10 years of experience in the areas of trauma, toxic stress, infant mental health, social and emotional learning and disaster mental health. She has a Doctorate degree of Social Work from Tulane University. She also has master’s degrees in both Social Work and Public Health from Tulane University. Dr. Wright was trained in Infant Mental Health through LSUHSC Department of Psychiatry’s Harris Infant Mental Health Fellowship. She also has a certification in Disaster Mental Health from Tulane University.
Dr. Wright has worked across various clinical mental health settings, public health settings, school settings and early childhood learning centers. She also served as an adjunct clinical field faculty member at Tulane University School of Social Work for four years.
Dr. Wright has experience in program development, implementation and evaluation. She is the Founding Director of Navigate Nola, the child well-being division of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice. Through this role, she is responsible for the oversight of the development and implementation of the social-emotional and community wellness programs that fall under the Navigate Nola Division.
In addition to her role at Navigate NOLA, Dr. Wright is also a therapist, in private practice, at Atlas Psychiatry.
Dr. Wright is committed to making a difference in her community and enriching the lives of the New Orleans citizenry. She is a member of several volunteer service organizations such as the Links Inc., Crescent City Chapter. Danielle is a board member of Communities in Schools of the Gulf South, Inc. and a board member of the Tulane University School of Social Work Alumni.