Wendy Shaia, MSW, EdD
Titles
Clinical Professor
Executive Director, Center for Restorative Change
School Affiliation
School of Social Work
Specialties
Positive School Climate
Community Outreach
About
Phone: 410-706-5130
Email: wshaia@ssw.umaryland.edu
Dr. Wendy Shaia is a Clinical Professor and Executive Director of The Center for Restorative Change at the University of Maryland School of Social Work, where she earned her Master of Social Work degree. Wendy earned her Doctor of Education in Human and Organizational Learning from The George Washington University. She has over 30 years of experience developing, implementing, and leading human service organizations and programs. Wendy considers herself a “pracademic,” a person who supports the connection between academic research and theory with practical application. She created the SHARP framework for providing services to people experiencing poverty and oppression and is currently adapting it to foster critically conscious leadership and social cohesion. Wendy’s goal with SHARP is to influence how services are provided across social service, education, legal, and healthcare systems to address not only the symptoms of systemic barriers but also their root causes. To date, more than 2,000 professionals have been trained, with plans to promote multi-system change in several jurisdictions. As a result of these trainings, Wendy has facilitated challenging discourse across polarized perspectives related to structural racism and witnessed the development of a shared focus on humanity as a way to bridge ideological divides. Wendy values the arts as a catalyst for social change and views fiction as a way to explore the connection between historical events and current societal issues. Her first novel, The Black Cell, published in 2022, explores extreme societal polarization, beginning with the rise of American nationalism following the 2024 election. The sequel, Seeds of Resistance, is nearly finished. Recently, Wendy completed writing Undoing Racism: Stories and Principles from an Antiracist Organizer, the memoir and organizing manual for Ron Chisom, Co-Founder of the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond, and co-developer of the Undoing Racism antiracist organizing workshop.
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Tagged: Global Health Caring for the Human Condition Community Engagement Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion