2025 Speakers

Charles Blow
Charles M. Blow is an author, journalist, cultural critic, and political commentator. Mr. Blow was a longtime OpEd columnist at The New York Times, and he has been named Harvard University’s inaugural Langston Hughes Fellow. He is also a political analyst on MSNBC, and he has been the anchor of PRIME with Charles Blow on the Black News Channel, a commentator, and a repeating guest on FOX. Mr. Blow is the author of New York Times bestselling books “Fire Shut Up in My Bones” and “The Devil You Know.” “Fire…” has been developed into an opera and will premiere at the Metropolitan Opera later this year, the first opera by a black composer in the history of that institution. “The Devil…” has been developed into a feature-length documentary that will air on HBO.

In 2016, Mr. Blow was a Presidential Visiting Professor at Yale where he taught a seminar on media and politics, tracking the presidential race in real time. Mr. Blow left The Times in 2006 to serve as the art director of National Geographic Magazine. Before coming to The Times, Mr. Blow worked at The Detroit News. He graduated magna cum laude from Grambling State University in Louisiana, where he received a B.A. in mass communications, and he holds honorary doctorates from Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston and the Metropolitan College of New York.

Matthew D. Selekman, MSW, LCSW
Matthew D. Selekman, MSW, LCSW is in private practice in Lake Forest IL, USA. He is an Approved Supervisor and Clinical Fellow for the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy, a licensed clinical social worker, and addictions counselor. He also is the Director of Partners for Collaborative Solutions (www.partners4change.net), an international family therapy and brief therapy training and consultation practice in Evanston, IL. Matthew received the Walter S. Rosenberry Award in 2006, 2000, and in 1999 from The Children’s Hospital in Denver, Colorado for having made significant contributions to the fields of psychiatry and the behavioral sciences. He is the author of nine professional practice-oriented books including The Therapist’s Use of Self: Being the Catalyst for Change in Couple and Family Therapy , Working with High-Risk Adolescents: A Collaborative Strengths-Based Approach , (with Mark Beyebach) Changing Self-Destructive Habits: Pathways to Solutions with Couples and Families , and more! He has presented workshops on his collaborative strengths-based family therapy approach with children, adolescents, and adults extensively throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, South America, Europe, Turkey, South Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.   

Ed Geraty LCSW-C, LICSW
Ed Geraty has been a mental health clinician in private and agency practice for more than 30  years. He is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in MD, DC, VA, FL, DE, VT and WV. and currently has a full-time teletherapy practice. He is a former Director of Professional Development for NASW-MD and currently the Chair of the Education Committee of the Greater Washington Society for Clinical Work. He has provided education and training for many  professional associations as well as NASW VA, NASW-WV,  NASW-DC, and NASW NYC, His website is www.INSITEintegrative.com and can be reached at edgeratylcsw-c@proton.me 

Karen Bullock, PhD, LICSW, FGSA, APHSW-C

Karen Bullock, PhD, LICSW, FGSA, APHSW-C, is the Louise McMahon Ahearn Endowed Professor in the Boston College School of Social Work and in Global Public Health. She is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Work (LICSW) with mental health practice experience and expertise in health disparities, health equity, serious illness care, aging and gerontology, hospice, palliative and end-of-life care decision making. She has served as Principal Investigator and/or Co-Investigator for over $5 million in federal grant funding focused on equity and inclusion for workforce development, aging, and health network sustainability. 

Dr. Bullock is a John A. Hartford Faculty Scholar and has served on several national boards and committees, including the Social Work Hospice & Palliative Care Network (SWHPN) as vice-chair and the American Cancer Society (ACS) Oncology Social Work Research Peer Review Committee, past chair. She is a member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) Roundtable on Quality Care for People with Serious Illness, a Board of Directors member for the Palliative Care Quality Collaborative (PCQC), a Steering Committee member for the Duke University REACH Equity Center, affiliate faculty at the Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC), and she holds an appointment in the Department of Supportive Oncology at Dana Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI). In 2024, Dr. Bullock was the recipient of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM) Richard Payne Outstanding Achievement in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award. In addition, she was elected a member of the Board of Directors for the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) and appointed co-chair of the SSWR Research Capacity Development Committee (RCDC).

Juan Rios, PhD

Dr. Juan Rios is a tenured associate professor and Chair of the Department of Social Work and Public Administration at Seton Hall University, where he advances innovative approaches to technology integration, mental health services, and social justice in social work practice and research. His transformative pedagogical approaches have earned him two Distinguished Innovations in Teaching Awards and the prestigious Janine Bruckner Community Practitioner Award, recognizing his exceptional contributions to both academic excellence and community engagement.

His scholarly portfolio encompasses critical intersections of technology, mental health, and social equity, with particular emphasis on Latino communities. Dr. Rios is a founding member of the social work futures lab. He is a certified UX/UI designer, TEDX speaker, author, member of the All Teach is Human organization, certified foresight practitioner, and has co-written policy in New Jersey on AI Ethics and the founder of the R.I.O.S Lab

Kathryn Wehrmann, PhD, LCSW

Dr. Kathryn Conley Wehrmann is a distinguished figure in the field of social work, with a career spanning several decades. She resides in Champaign, Illinois, where she has deep roots after living there for over forty years. Dr. Wehrmann received both her MSW and Ph.D. from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign.

Dr. Wehrmann worked for several years for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services before moving on to a faculty position at the Illinois State University's School of Social Work where she retired after 20 years of service. During her tenure, she was instrumental in obtaining major federal child welfare training grants and worked on evaluation projects focused on evidence-based mental health service approaches for children and adolescents.

Dr. Wehrmann has held numerous roles with the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), including serving as National Board President from 2017 to 2020. She also served on the International Federation of Social Work Secretariat, representing the North American Region. Dr. Wehrmann is an NASW Social Work Pioneer and a Fulbright Scholar who taught child welfare policy and researched child welfare reform efforts in Romania.

Currently, she chairs the Steering Committee for the Global Social Service Workforce Alliance and has a developing coaching and consultation practice, Empowering Transitions.

Jamie Sundvall, PhD, PsyD, LCSW

Dr. Jamie Sundvall is a distinguished national expert in artificial intelligence (AI) and an esteemed academic. She serves as the Touro University System Assistant Provost of Artificial Intelligence, and as the Assistant Dean and Director of Distance Education and Online Programs in the Graduate School of Social Work. In her role, Dr. Sundvall oversees system wide AI operations, governance, guiding AI technology acquisition, AI faculty and staff training, support of AI integration across diverse programs in the system, and distance clinical education.

She completed a CSWE-accredited MSW in Clinical Practice and Gerontology, a PsyD in Clinical Psychology, a PhD in International Psychology specializing in Trauma Services, and a prestigious post-graduate trauma fellowship at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. She is a former Medical Service Corps officer in the United States Navy, known for her leadership in program development, clinical and forensic practice, and research, also serving as an international liaison and US diplomatic advisor. In academia, Dr. Sundvall has held positions as a professor, research chair, program administrator, and systemic leadership roles in psychology, social work, counseling, and human services programs. An expert in online education and remote program delivery, Dr. Sundvall excels in managing organizations, systems, sites, and teams nationally and internationally, while navigating complex legal and accreditation standards to ensure high quality programming. She is a published author and public speaker on AI, trauma, military and veteran practice, acculturation psychology, cross-cultural psychology, clinical practice, geriatric practice, online education, ethics, and digital ethics.

Dr. Sundvall is leading the way with AI advancement, bringing extensive expertise, and contributing back to other professionals and organizations in their growth process.

Eric Rice, PhD, MA
Eric Rice is a Professor at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work and the director of the USC Center for AI in Society, a joint venture between the schools of social work and engineering at USC. Rice received a BA from the University of Chicago, and an MA and PhD in Sociology from Stanford University. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Los Angeles. He joined the USC faculty in 2009. For several years he has been working with colleagues in computer science to merge social work science and AI, seeking novel solutions to major social problems such as homelessness and HIV. He specializes in applications of AI to social work, social network science, and community-based research. His primary research focus is on youth experiencing homelessness and their housing issues and behavioral health risks. Rice is the author of approximately 200 peer-reviewed articles and the recipient of grants from the National Institute of Mental Health, the California HIV/AIDS Research Program, the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, the Army Research Office and other agencies.

Jonathan B. Singer, PhD, LCSW
Jonathan B. Singer, PhD, LCSW is an internationally recognized expert in youth suicide and social work technology. He is Professor of Social Work at Loyola University Chicago, Past-President of the American Association of Suicidology, coauthor of two editions of the best-selling text Suicide in Schools: A Practitioner's Guide to Multi-level Prevention, Assessment, Intervention, and Postvention, and the 2025 text Podcasting in Social Work Education. He is co-lead of the Social Work Grand Challenge “Harness Technology for Social Good,” and founder and host of the award-winning Social Work Podcast, for which he was named an NASW Social Work Pioneer in 2023. In 2024 he was inducted as a Fellow of the Society for Social Work and Research.

Dr. Singer has chaired national committees for the National Associate of Social Workers (NASW) and Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), and serves on advisory boards for NASW Foundation, Jed Foundation, Suicide Prevention Resource Center, and the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. He is the author of over 90 publications and his research has been featured in national and international media outlets like NPR, BBC, Fox, Time Magazine, and The Guardian. He can be found on way too many social media platforms.

Mayda del Valle
Mayda del Valle was born and raised on the Southside of Chicago. She is the author of The University of Hip Hop and a winner of the 2016 Drinking Gourd Chapbook Poetry Prize from Northwestern University Press. Her full-length collection, A South Side Girl’s Guide to Love and Sex, was published on Tia Chucha press. She appeared on six episodes of the HBO series Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry, and was a contributing writer and original cast member of the Tony Award winning Def Poetry Jam on Broadway. She began her artistic career at the Nuyorican Poets Café, where she was the 2001 Grand Slam Champion, and went on to become the National Poetry Slam Champion in the same year. She was the youngest poet, and the first Latine person to do so.

She has appeared in Urban Latino, Latina Magazine, Mass Appeal, The Source, The New York Times and was named by Smithsonian Magazine as one of America’s Young Innovators in the Arts and Sciences. Oprah’s “O” Magazine selected her as one of 20 women for the first ever “O Power List”, a group of visionary women making a mark in business, politics, and the arts. She has performed at venues across the world, including the White House in May of 2009, by invitation of President Obama and the First Lady. Most recently, Mayda was the recipient of the 2025 Letras Boricuas Fellowship, sponsored by Flamboyan Arts Fund and the Mellon Foundation.

Justin Harty, PhD, MSW, LCSW
Dr. Justin S. Harty is an Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work at Arizona State University, specializing in child welfare, fatherhood, and social work history. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago's Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice, an MSW with a focus on children and families from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and bachelor's degrees in sociology and philosophy from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Harty is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker whose research and practice address critical issues faced by young fathers transitioning out of foster care, father involvement within child welfare systems, and the historical development of father-focused social services.

Dr. Harty is dedicated to social justice, explicitly working to dismantle systemic racism and colonialism within social work. Grounded in Black social work history, his scholarship confronts white supremacy by leveraging African traditions of self-help and mutual aid, empowering both practitioners and marginalized communities to resist oppression. He serves on the leadership team of the Social Welfare History Group, contributing to comprehensive bibliographies on social work responses to significant societal issues, including pandemics and police violence. Dr. Harty also initiated a Legacy Series aimed at recognizing and amplifying the historical contributions of social workers and communities of color.

His recent historical research highlights the impactful role Black organizations and social movements have played in addressing racism and colonialism within social work, particularly during periods of social and political unrest. Amid national discourse surrounding the legacy of white supremacist symbolism and debates about the removal of colonialist monuments, Dr. Harty advocates for critical self-reflection within the profession. He challenges social work practitioners and educators to critically examine curricula, research methodologies, and intervention practices for the potential perpetuation of white supremacy. Dr. Harty's ongoing efforts seek to foster transformative changes within social work, ensuring an enduring commitment to equity, justice, and antiracist practice.