The National Catholic School of Social Service

 

Loretta Vitale Saks, LCSW-C, MSW
Director of Field Education & Clinical Assistant Professor

 

 

 

Phone:  202 319 5457

Email:   saks@cua.edu

 

Education:

M.S.W., Clinical Social Work, University of Maryland School of Social Work
B.A, Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, Brandeis University, cum laude

 

Biographical Information:

Ms. Vitale Saks joined NCSSS in 1993 as Director of Admissions and Financial Aid. In that role, she was instrumental in developing NCSSS marketing materials, setting up the first NCSSS website and, in partnership with the CUA Office of Financial Aid, establishing a federal work study program which compensates students for work completed as part of their field internships.

 

In 1999 Ms. Vitale Saks was named Director of Field Education. She coordinates the Foundation Integrative Seminar sequence. Since Fall 2007, Ms. Vitale Saks has chaired the NCSSS Management Team. In cooperation with the University’s Information Technology staff, Ms. Vitale Saks developed a web-based search engine to help students learn about different internship opportunities. She has worked to increase the number of agencies affiliated with NCSSS’s field program to over 300. She provides training, peer support and occasional continuing education programs to field educators. She has served as Co-Chair of the Mid-Atlantic Consortium of Directors and Coordinators of Field Education (1999-2001, 2007 - 2008), playing a leadership role in planning conferences for field educators throughout the mid-Atlantic region. 

 

From 2005 - 2008, Ms. Vitale Saks served on the Program Committee of N Street Village, an interfaith community providing a wide range of services, including housing, employment, addiction recovery and mental health, to homeless and low-income women in Washington, D.C.

 

Before coming to NCSSS, Ms. Vitale Saks held administrative positions at the University of Maryland School of Social Work and the University of Maryland College Park. Her prior clinical social work experience focused primarily on international adoptions, and foster care with unaccompanied minors from Vietnam and Laos. She has also worked as a Clinical Associate at The Catholic University Counseling Center. Ms. Vitale Saks is clinically licensed in the state of Maryland.

 

Current research interests include support and retention of field educators, field education’s role in gatekeeping, and the state of field education in North American universities.

 

Selected Publications:

Bennett, S., Mohr, J., BrintzehofeSzoc, K. & Saks, L.V. (2008).  General and supervision-specific attachment styles: Relations to student perceptions of field supervisors. Journal of Social Work Education, 44, 75 – 94.

Bennett, S., & Saks, L. (Fall 2006). Applications of attachment theory and research to the social work supervisory relationship. Journal of Social Work Education, 42,(3), 669-682.

 

Selected Presentations:

Saks, L. V., BrinztenhofeSzoc, K., & Thursby, E. (2008, October). Examining the state of field education in U.S. social work schools, 54th Annual Program Meeting of CSWE, Philadelphia, PA.  

Saks, L.V. & BrintzenhofeSzoc, K. (2006, February).  Examining the state of field education in North American social work schools.  52^nd Annual Program Meeting of CSWE, Chicago, IL.

Bennett, S. & Saks, L.V. (2005, March).  Attachment theory and research: Implications for field work instructor-student supervisory relationships.  51^st Annual Program Meeting of CSWE, New York, NY.

Saks, L.V. (2002, February). A field search engine: Helping students explore placement sites via the web. 48^th Annual Program Meeting of CSWE, Nashville, TN.