Dr. Michael Lyman

Profile

My roots are in Los Alamos, New Mexico, where I was raised by a Physical Chemist who worked with lasers and radioactive isotopes at Los Alamos National Laboratory.  Somehow, my maternal grandmother’s social work genes and my great grandfather’s interest in human behavior had a greater impact in me than the immediate hard sciences environment of Northern New Mexico and I ended up majoring in Psychology at Brigham Young University.  I graduated from that school with a Psychology degree with an English minor.

I completed all of my graduate education at the University of Utah: an MSW in 1998 and a PhD in 2004. My dissertation research focused on substance abuse prevention programs for children and their families.  Both prior to and during my time at the University of Utah I worked in a variety of social service and non-social service positions in Utah and New Mexico.  These included jobs as a Case Manager at a community mental health center; Kinship Placement Evaluator, Family Preservation Worker, and Foster Care Consultant at a child welfare agency; Grant Writer and Director of Outreach Services at a substance abuse and homeless services agency; and a therapist at a faith-based agency as well as at a private practice.

I was hired here at Shippensburg University in the Fall of 2001 to help teach the child welfare class.  I still teach that class and still have a great interest in child welfare.  However, I teach classes across the BSW and MSW curriculum here at Shippensburg, but primarily in the areas of micro/mezzo practice, policy, and research. 

My family and I spent the Spring and Fall semesters of 2009 on sabbatical in South Africa at the University of Pretoria.  As a consequence I am more interested lately in Social Development and International Social Work and take every opportunity to travel outside of the United States to connect with social workers all over the world.  I am also always on the lookout for research ideas and opportunities that might lead to more international work and experiences.

I am particularly passionate about providing research experiences and opportunities to social work students.  As an advisor to the BSW and MSW Research Clubs within the Department of Social Work and Gerontology.  In the past few years I have presented with Research Club students at conferences as far away as Singapore and South Africa, but also here in the U.S. in Myrtle Beach, SC, and Louisville, KY.

Courses

• UNIV 101: First Year Seminar
• SWK 150: Human Relations Lab
• SWK 250: Assessing Individuals in the Social Environment
• SWK 262: Introduction to Child Welfare Practice
• SWK 265: Understanding Diversity for Social Work Practice
• SWK 270: Social Work Practice with Individuals  
• SWK 327: Social Work Practice with Families
• SWK 360: Research Techniques for Social Workers  
• SWK 352: Special Fields of Social Work: Child Welfare
• SWK 389, 390: Field Work in Social Work
• SWK 391: Seminar in Social Work Methods  
• SWK 450: Social Work Policies and Services  
• SWK 520: Foundations of Micro/Mezzo Social Work Practice
• SWK 525: Research Methods
• SWK 530: Field Practicum I  
• SWK 610: Advanced Human Behavior in the Social Environment  
• SWK 602: Adult Behavioral Health Care Settings
• SWK 640: Selected Topics: Human Rights and Social Development