Phone:  (907) 474-7025
Fax:  (907) 474-2712
Email:  rbgeorgebettisworth@alaska.edu

Mailing address:

UAF Dept. of Social Work
P.O. Box 756480
Fairbanks, AK 99775-6480

Retchenda George-Bettisworth, LMSW, is Clinical Assistant Professor for the University of Alaska , Fairbanks and the Statewide Coordinator for the BSW Rural Cohort Program. Retchenda has been working in the field of social work since 2000 in the area of child welfare.   She has worked in a crisis prevention program for families at risk of child abuse and neglect, as a parenting educator, various children and youth residential facilities, and as a social worker at Department of Children, Youth and Families in Rhode Island, and the Office of Children’s Services in Alaska.   Retchenda received her BSW from the UAF in 2000.   She received her MSW from the University of Michigan , Ann Arbor in 2007, with a concentration in Social Policy and Evaluation, and an emphasis in Children, Youth and Families.

Phone: 907-474-6267
Fax: 907-474-6085
Email: lmdemientieff@alaska.edu

Mailing address:

UAF Dept. of Social Work
P.O. Box 756480
Fairbanks, AK 99775-6480

LaVerne Demientieff, MSW, is a Clinical Assistant Professor for UAF's Bacholor of Social Work program. LaVerne is a Deg' Hitan, Athabascan and her family is from Holy Cross, Alaska. She grew up in Nenana, Fairbanks, Anchorage and at her family's fishcamp on the Yukon river. She has a teenage son named Khayree. LaVerne received her MSW from Washington University in St. Louis, George Warren Brown School of Social Work, with a concentration in social and economic development with an emphasis in management. She received her BSW from UAF's Social Work Department. She also holds an AAS in Early Childhood Education. LaVerne teaches Introduction to Social Work, Rural Social Work, Human Behavior in the Social Environment I and II, and Research Methods and hopes to provide a good foundation for students to build upon, as well as relay her passion and enthusiasm for all of the possiblities that the field has to offer. LaVerne is currently working towards a PhD is Social Work from the University of Utah, College of Social Work in their Technology Enhanced Doctoral Program and is in the ABD (all but dissertation) phase of the program. 

Phone: 907-796-6213
Fax: 907-796-6406
Email: hlbrocious@alaska.edu

Mailing address:

UAS Social Work
Hendrickson Annex, RM 105
11120 Glacier Highway
Juneau, AK 99801

Heidi Brocious, MSW, is a Clinical Associate Professor for the distance bachelors degree in social work.  Heidi has worked clinically in the fields of child and family mental health and domestic violence.  She has practiced community social work, developing and implementing curriculum on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) and helped oversee the State of Alaska FASD initiative, including the development of regional diagnostic teams.  More recently, Heidi has worked in the field of adoption.  She is also currently a PhD student at the University of Utah, and is focusing her dissertation work on the ethnic identity development in individuals who have been transnationally adopted. Heidi teaches distance course work to social work students around the State, focusing on practice and HBSE coursework.  She supervises student practicum placements throughout Alaska, and is interested in the complexities of rural student placements.

phone: 907-474-6513
Fax: 907-474-6085
Email: kcswisher@alaska.edu 

Mailing address:

UAF Dept. of Social Work
P.O. Box 756480
Fairbanks, AK 99775-6480

Kim Swisher was raised in Fairbanks and received her Bachelors of Arts in Psychology from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Kim began working in the field of child welfare and mental health after graduation prior to moving on to graduate school. She received a Master's of Social Work from the University of Alaska Anchorage in 2000 with an emphasis in Children, Youth and Families. Kim has spent over 12 years in the field of child and welfare, and more specifically child protection. Kim has worked as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for children in foster care, and spent ten years with the Office of Children's Services, both in Anchorage and Fairbanks. Kim spent three years working for the Family and Youth Services Training Academy, through the UAA School of Social Work, traveling Alaska and training child protection workers in best practice. Kim's area of interest include direct practice with individuals, groups and communities, and she delights in inspiring students to become social workers.

Phone: 907-474-5284
Fax: 907-474-6085
Email: jeshepherd@alaska.edu

Mailing address:

UAF Dept. of Social Work
P.O. Box 756480
Fairbanks, AK 99775-6480

Dr. Judy Shepherd joined the UAF Social Work Department in the fall of l995. She holds a PhD in social work from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and an MSW from the University of West Virginia. Her areas of interest and research are community development, rural social work practice, violence against women and children, and international social work.  Dr. Shepherd chaired the Social Work Department from 2001 through 2008, and assisted in the development of the statewide distance audio program and the cohort/intensive program for rural Alaska Native students.

Dr. Shepherd has served on the Council on Social Work Education’s Commission on the Role and Status of Women in the Social Work Profession, the National Nominating Committee, and currently serves on the Commission on Global Education.   She also serves on the editorial board of Affilia: The Journal for Women and Social Work, and is a board member of the International Consortium of Social Development. In 2006-2007 Dr.Shepherd received a J. William Fulbright Award to teach and conduct research at the University of the West Indies in Trinidad and Tobago.

Phone: 907-442-3400
Fax: 907-442-2322
Email: pjharding@alaska.edu

Mailing address:

Chukchi Campus
P.O. Box 297
Kotzebue, AK 99752-0297

Pat Harding, DSW, is Assistant Professor of Social Work based at the UAF Chukchi Campus in Kotzebue. Pat teaches the baccalaureate core social work curriculum for the UAF Social Work program. Pat received her Masters Degree in Social Work from the University of Hawaii School of Social Work, where she specialized in social group work and community organization. In 1996 Pat received her Doctorate of Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. Her integrated course of study included regional culture, social policy, and welfare law. Her interests include program development in assisting communities to create nurturing environments and opportunities for their children and families. A longtime resident of Kotzebue, Pat lives with her husband, Greg, and son, Joseph, along with the family's two dogs.

Phone: 907-474-7240
Fax: 907-474-6085
Email: cprenfro@alaska.edu

Mailing address:

UAF Department of Social Work
P.O. Box 756480
Fairbanks, AK 99775-6480

Carol is currently employed as Administrative Specialist/Program Assessment Coordinator with the Social Work Program. She has been with the department since 1996. Carol is a 1984 graduate of the UAF, with a B.A. in Foreign Languages, minored in Music, and received her Master’s in Education, Special Education from UAA in 2001. She has lived in Fairbanks for 43 years, is married and has three children. In her spare time she enjoys listening to Lynda Randle and the Gaither Vocal Band, singing, playing violin, and basketball.

Phone:  (907) 474-1812
Fax:  (907) 474-2712
Email:  clivie@alaska.edu

Mailing address:

UAF Dept. of Social Work
P.O. Box 756480
Fairbanks, AK 99775-6480


Carrie is the travel coordinator for the social work rural student cohort.  She received a B.S. degree from UAF in Wildlife Biology in 1997 and has been employed by the University since 2003.  Carrie’s position is part-time, and her office hours are 9:00am to 1:00pm, Monday through Friday.  Carrie took this part-time position with the Department of Social Work in August of 2007 in order to spend more time with her two daughters, Chloe and Ava.   She spends her “spare” time arranging play dates and shuttling the girls to their various activities.