Community Visions Photo Voice |
BSW Pinning & MSW Hooding Ceremony |
Doctoral Degree Hooding Ceremony |
Baccalaureate, Master's & Professional Graduation |
Dennis L. Poole, PhD, MSW
Making Change Happen:
Dr. Poole knows about building communities from the bottom up. A bricklayer by trade, Dr. Poole brings the same sense of rolling up one’s sleeves and laying “one brick at a time” to social work. Yet he emphasizes that social work is also about sustaining a greater vision. For Dr. Poole, that vision includes building healthy communities—locally and globally. He works with nonprofits and engages citizens to create and sustain change. Dr. Poole also believes community building needs to happen from the top down, by changing policy.
While Dr. Poole is passionate about community building, his other “great joys” are teaching and writing. He’s inspired growth of his students, many of whom have written to him about his impact on their lives. He encourages students to experience social work in ways and places they never imagined. Whether helping students find their passion through social entrepreneurship, or opening their eyes through study abroad programs in Latin America, Dr. Poole is well on his way to motivating students to leap beyond their boundaries. Perhaps Dr. Poole’s guiding motto, from Heller Keller, encapsulates this attitude best: “Life’s an adventure or nothing at all.”
Research Background:
Dr. Poole has extensive experience in qualitative and quantitative research methods. In community building, he is a certified concept mapping facilitator as well as an expert in nonprofit management audits, program evaluation, performance measurement, and action research. At the systems level, Dr. Poole utilizes diverse research methods such as social network analysis, structural equation modeling, path analysis, and advanced multiple regression techniques.
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Community Research Projects:
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Selected Publications:
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