Wendy Shaia, EdD, MS, is clinical associate professor and executive director of The Center for Restorative Change at the University of Maryland School of Social Work (UMSSW), where she earned her Master of Social Work degree.

Shaia obtained her Doctor of Education in Human and Organizational Learning from George Washington University. She has more than 30 years of experience developing, implementing, and leading organizations and programs. In New York, she developed and operated a shelter for unhoused pregnant and parenting young women in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, and built transitional and affordable housing in East New York, Brooklyn. Most recently, Shaia worked as a strategic planner for the Department of Defense, where she led change management efforts, and developed strategies around Equal Employment Opportunity and Diversity. Shaia is also the founder of UMSSW’s Positive Schools Center, which focuses on creating positive school climate and reducing the disproportionate suspensions and expulsions of children of color and children with disabilities from Maryland schools. She also developed the SHARP framework for providing services to people who have experienced poverty and oppression. She enjoys gardening, dancing swing, and writing fiction. Her first novel, “The Black Cell,” a work of Afro-futurism, was recently released.