The National Catholic School of Social Service
Linda Plitt Donaldson, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Phone: 202 319 5478
Email: donaldson@cua.edu
Education:
Ph.D., Social Work, Catholic University of America
M.S.W., Social Work, University of Maryland at Baltimore
B.S, Decisions and Information Science, University of Maryland, College Park
Biographical Information:
Dr. Donaldson began her position as an Assistant Professor at NCSSS in 2004, bringing extensive experience in nonprofit social service management. Prior to teaching at NCSSS, Dr. Donaldson worked for ten years in a community-based homeless services agency in Washington, D.C, providing direct service, directing programs in advocacy, social justice, family services, and developing affordable housing. Prior to her nonprofit experience, Dr. Donaldson was a Legislative Fellow for the late Senator Paul Wellstone.
Dr. Donaldson has taught the following courses at NCSSS: Social Work Practice with Groups, Organizations, and Communities; Social Welfare Policy and Services I and II; Homelessness: Individual and Social Concerns; Social Planning; Advanced Social Policy; and the Advanced Macro Field Integrative Seminar. Her research interests are in the areas of advocacy and social change practice within nonprofit human service organizations; social change leadership development within grassroots communities and human service agencies; asset-based community development; and strategies to end homelessness. Her dissertation research examined organizational factors that enhanced or created barriers to the advocacy behavior of nonprofit social service agencies in Washington, D.C.
Dr. Donaldson continues to maintain a small consulting practice to train and develop the advocacy and social change capacity of human service agencies and grassroots communities.
Selected Publications:
Plitt Donaldson, L. (2004). Toward Validating Therapeutic Benefits of Empowerment-Oriented Social Action Groups. Social Work with Groups, 27, 2/3, 159-175.
Plitt Donaldson, L. (2005). Collaboration strategies for reforming systems of care:
A toolkit for community-based action. International Journal of Mental Health, 34, 1, pp. 90-102.
