Associate Professor Kathleen J. Farkas will retire effective June 30, 2023. She has devoted 35 years of exceptional scholarship, teaching and service to the Mandel School, Case Western Reserve University and the academy. Dr. Farkas has made significant scholarly contributions to the areas of substance abuse and treatment and the ethics and practice of social work, having published numerous peer-reviewed articles, book chapters and reports in these and other areas.
Dr. Farkas serves on the editorial board for numerous journals, including the Journal of Social Work Practice in the Addictions, the Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health and Substance Abuse. She has been recognized with many honors, including the John A. Yankey Outstanding Teacher Award in 2020 and a mentorship award from the Council on Social Work Education's Women’s Council. She is a gifted and beloved teacher, mentor and colleague.
Research Professor Mark S. Fleisher retired on Dec. 31, 2022. He served as the first Semi J. and Ruth W. Begun Professor and director of the Begun Center for Violence Prevention Research and Education, from 2002–07. From 1977–78, Dr. Fleisher was a linguist in Columbia University's anthropology department, where he shared an office with the famed American cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead.
Throughout his career, Dr. Fleisher published 69 journal articles and book chapters, edited several invited journal volumes and spoke regularly at national conferences. He is an accomplished researcher on gangs and life in prisons and an expert qualitative methodologist, serving as both a Fulbright Fellow and Specialist. His scholarships have been funded by the United States Department of Justice, the Census Bureau and the Guggenheim Foundation, among others. Dr. Fleisher was an honor graduate of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, and is also the author of five award-winning books on prisons, homelessness and Black community social life.
On Tuesday, May 16, Drs. Farkas and Fleisher received emeriti status from the CWRU Board of Trustees. Please join us in conveying our appreciation and thanks to them for their many years of dedicated and impactful service to the school, university and academic community.