Social Work Faculty

Jeanne Booth joined the Social Work Department as Assistant Professor in the fall of 2019 after serving as Adjunct Professor since 2016. She joined the department with over 29 years of experience providing clinical and administrative social work practice in a variety of areas including housing, justice, mobile crisis intervention work, child welfare services, aging and developmental disability services.

Michael Wolf-Branigin, MSW, Ph.D., PStat® is a Professor of Social Work. His research focuses on complex adaptive systems and their application to social work practice specifically with disabilities and behavioral health populations.

Dr. Tompkins, Associate Dean for Faculty and Staff Affairs and Professor, teaches human behavior, research, and gerontology courses in the Social Work Department. She is interested in developing new programs for undergraduate students and developing innovations in distance education.

Holly Matto, PhD, LCSW-C is a Professor in the Department of Social Work in the College of Public Health at Mason. Dr. Matto values interdisciplinary collaborations and has established research relationships with colleagues in social work, bioengineering, mathematics, visual and performing arts and others at Mason that have resulted in grant-funded projects.

Dr. Inoue is an Associate Professor in the Department of Social Work. Her research focus is primarily on older adults with declined health who are vulnerable to losing autonomy and dignity.

Dr. Carol Cleaveland is an Associate Professor of Social Work at George Mason University. She teaches SOCW 674 Psychopathology, SOCW 645 Community Clinical Practice and SOCW 653 Immigration Policy. Dr. Cleaveland also serves as a training coordinator for Mason’s VA SBIRT grant.

Dr. Emily S. Ihara is a professor and chair of the Department of Social Work. Ihara’s research interests focus on interventions, policies, and system changes necessary to eliminate health inequities for vulnerable populations across the life course.

Vicki Kirsch, MSW, MA, PhD is a Clinical Associate Professor of Social Work at George Mason University. Her interests and practice focus on trauma and recovery, gender and sexualities, and issues of spirituality and religion.