Dr. Margaret Coombes has been appointed to the role of Director of the School of Social Work and Human Services effective September 2016.
She holds a PhD from the University of Buffalo, a Master of Social Work from Syracuse University, a Bachelor of Social Work from Dalhousie University, and a BA from the University of Cape Breton.
Margaret has extensive experience in the child welfare system and mental health services in the USA and Canada. Her research has focused on community collaborations and interventions in the child welfare system. Her passion and substantive areas of interest have been, and continue to be, how to best serve, engage, or intervene with children and their families who are often marginalized, have experienced trauma, and have come to the attention of the child welfare systems.
In the classroom, as a registered clinical social worker in BC and NY, she strives to connect research to social work practice and the real world. Prior to UFV, Margaret was employed as a regional office project associate/senior education specialist at the University at Albany and stationed out of the Office of Children and Family Services. Preceding this, she worked at Hillside Children Center, NY where she held numerous leadership positions: western region associate service leader and acting leader.
10/15/2016