University of Michigan-Flint

Assistant Professor
Social Work Department
454 David M. French Hall

I graduated with my BA in social work from Auburn University in 1979 and received my MSW from the University of Georgia in 1981. After practicing in community mental health centers on the coast of Georgia and in the Okeefenokee Swamp, I moved to a private, non-profit community mental health center in Muncie, IN.

In 1987 I moved to Manistee, MI as a school social worker at Manistee Intermediate School District. During that time I served as a field instructor for 3 universities over a period of 12 years. I also started teaching as an adjunct instructor at West Shore Community College in 1989.

I enjoyed teaching so much that I entered a doctoral program in 2002. My interest in providing effective and efficient training to field instructors led to a dissertation on field instructors' preferences in training methods. I graduated with my Ph.D. from Western Michigan University in 2008. With this recent experience in going to school part time while working full time, I can relate to the conflicting demands many of my students experience.

I've been a part of the social work faculty of the University of Michigan-Flint since 2005. By clicking on the links in the column on the left you can view some of my research and teaching interests.

Under Favorites, I've included some links to favorite social work and social justice web sites, as well as some of the more useful writing and research sites. I've also included some of my favorite social work poems there.

Contact me via email at ddedman@umflint.edu .