Bio

Dr. Mayer joined the faculty as a full-time, Assistant Professor and Chair of the Undergraduate Social Work Program in 2005. Before joining the faculty on a full-time basis, Dr. Mayer worked as a Research Associate for the National Research Center for Child and Family Services, taught part-time for NCSSS, and spent a year as a Visiting Professor and Acting Chair of the Undergraduate Social Work Program. Dr. Mayer has taught on both the graduate and undergraduate levels. On the graduate level, she taught Generalist Practice and Human Behavior and the Social Environment II. On the undergraduate level, she taught Human Behavior and the Social Environment I and II, Practice II, and Coordinating Seminar.

Dr. Mayer's professional practice focused on children and families. She implemented and directed one of the first Early Head Start Programs in the United States, and was involved in the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation project. Dr. Mayer's program for infants, toddlers, and their families was innovative in its flexibility of services, providing center based, home based, and family child care, and in its focus on the inclusion of infants and toddlers with disabilities. Dr. Mayer also directed and worked as a clinical social worker in a Therapeutic Nursery Program for preschool children with disabilities, and worked as a clinical social worker in a residential treatment program for adolescents.

Dr. Mayer's research interests include clinical social work with children and families at risk, children with disabilities, and infants and toddlers with an emphasis on research pertaining to early intervention and child development services.

Selected Publications

Mayer, L.M. (2005). Professional Boundaries in dual relationships: A social work dilemma. Journal of Social Work Values and Ethics, 2(2).

Sabatino, C., Mayer, L.M, & Timberlake, E.M. (2006). Effectiveness of school social work practice. In R.Constable, C.R. Massat, S. McDonald, & J.P. Flynn (Eds.), School social work: Practice, Policy, and research (6th ed., pp. 78-99). Chicago: Lyceum Books Inc.

Wall, S.M., Taylor, N.E., Liebow, H., Sabatino, C.A., Mayer, L.M., Farber, M.Z., and Timberlake, E.M. (In press). Early Head Start and access to early intervention services: A Qualitative investigation. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education.