Cheris Brewer Current
Professor
School of Social Work and Sociology
Walla Walla University
Read LinkedIn profile here.
Study of social welfare policies and institutions. Focus on critical evaluation of programs with the goal of assessing their alignment with social, economic, and environmental justice. Evaluate and explore the complexities of working within systems that are not aligned with professional values.
8/14 left voicemail & emailed
Professor
Walla Walla University
School of Social Work and Sociology
Changes to social welfare policy
Yes, I have taught classes on policy analysis, and social movements. I have not integrated that content into the social welfare classes, but would like to. This would be the focus of this course redesign.
I am working on a new course sequence and want to integrate more social action into the course. I taught one course on the history of social work and social welfare policies. We have replaced that one course with two, and I would like to use this time to shape the social welfare class. Ensuring that students can identify injustices in policy, formulate agendas, and implement change efforts. In this analysis, I would like students to use an intersectional lens to identify how current policy impacts different communities and individuals. Most traditional classes on social welfare do a good job of articulating how social class (and sometimes gender) impact the creation and maintenance of social welfare policies, but do not consider other identities or how they work together as a matrix of domination. I would like the students to engage in multi-axis analysis of how resources and power are used as social control, and the creation of new liberatory solutions that are grounded in community needs.
Winter 2025