Marjorie N. Edguer is an assistant professor who has worked in social work for more than 25 years, primarily with children, adolescents and their families. She has been a clinical social worker in outpatient mental health centers, a school social worker, a school-based preventionist, and an advocate and crisis hotline worker in a domestic violence program.
Edguer developed programming for individual and group treatment for adolescent sexual abuse and trauma survivors, children of alcoholics/drug addicts, and children experiencing grief. She also created universal, targeted and selective prevention programming for at-risk youth in schools focused on suicide, substance use and school dropout prevention. She has supervised social workers, counselors and social work interns.
Her administrative roles have included program evaluation, quality assurance and staff education and training. Edguer has authored six entries in the Encyclopedia of Immigrant Health covering topics such as child immigrants, family immigration and trauma exposure. Her academic focus includes youth services, youth development and resilience. Her dissertation examined a high-risk sample of prenatally substance-exposed youth and the relationship between risk, protective factors and gender in adolescent risky health behaviors.
Edguer teaches courses on social work practice, practice evaluation and child development.
Biosketch | Curriculum Vitae | Google Scholar
Why I Teach
Teaching is about touching the future and changing the world for the better. After practicing social work for many years, I wanted to help others do the work that I found so meaningful. As a teacher you help social work students develop their critical thinking and practice skills, nurture their curiosity, and help them move towards their goals and dreams. Teaching and designing coursework involves creativity, connection and critical thinking. It is a bi-directional process—I learn from my students and get excited about the things that they are passionate about which enriches all our work.
Why I Chose This Profession
Initially I chose social work because I wanted to help people and make the world a better place, but my focus was on individuals and families. Then came the “a-ha!” discovery as an MSW student that social justice is foundational to social work, and that when we speak of making the world a better place, we mean individuals and families, but we also mean communities and policies and creating change broadly and deeply. This really resonated with me and meant that this was a field where I could work long-term, always discovering new possibilities for changing the world.