Social Work: An Empowering Profession, 9th edition

About our authors

Brenda DuBois, MSW, PhD received a baccalaureate degree from Western Illinois University in 1971, a master's degree in social work from the University of Iowa in 1997 and a doctoral degree in educational administration from Illinois State University in 2002. She taught social work for 20 years at Marycrest College and 15 years at St. Ambrose University, where she served as Director of the School of Social Work prior to her retirement in 2012. In addition to Social Work: An Empowering Profession, co-authored with Karla Miley, she also collaborated with Karla Miley and Michael O' Melia in writing Generalist Social Work Practice: An Empowering Approach, now in its 8th Edition. Dr. DuBois' work has also been published in edited collections, such as Education and Research for Empowerment Practice by Gutiérrez and Nurius, Empowerment Practice in Social Work by Shera and Wells and Social Work, Health, and International Development: Compassion in Social Policy and Practice by Dumont and St-Onge. She presented at numerous conferences in the Quad Cities, and across the US and Canada on topics of empowerment, social work ethics and social justice. Dr. DuBois served on many community agency boards and social services committees throughout her lifelong career in social work.

Karla Miley earned her AM degree in social work from the University of Chicago, School of Social Service Administration. Professor Miley has been teaching in higher education for over 30 years. Her full -time appointment was at Black Hawk College where she taught introductory and lifespan psychology and had responsibility for coordinating the social work transfer program. Over the course of her teaching career, she also held adjunct appointments in the accredited social work degree programs at Marycrest College and St. Ambrose University. In addition to Social Work: An Empowering Profession, coauthored with Brenda DuBois, she has collaborated with Michael O' Melia and Brenda DuBois in writing Generalist Social Work Practice: An Empowering Approach, now in its 8th Edition. Ms. Miley's work has also been published in edited collections, such as Education and Research for Empowerment Practice by Gutierrez and Nurius, Empowerment Practice in Social Work by Shera and Wells and Social Work, Health, and International Development: Compassion in Social Policy and Practice by Dumont and St-Onge. She was coeditor with Michael O'Melia and the author of chapter on empowerment and aging in Pathways to Power: Readings in Contextual Social Work. She has extensive experience in facilitating workshops, staff development training and conference sessions on empowerment-oriented generalist social work, social justice and social work ethics.