Lauren Willner

Lauren Willner, Assistant Professor, completed her PhD in Social Welfare at UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs. Her research focuses on the nonprofit sector, specifically social justice and social change organizations. She is currently investigating how these organizations utilize business models typically employed by the for-profit sector, and the impact of this trend on the abilities of social justice organizations to effectively provide services, meet the needs of clients, and work towards greater social justice and social change. Social justice is at the forefront of Dr. Willner’s research and practice, and she is committed to garnering greater understanding about how the models that nonprofit organizations embrace can be strengthened to achieve greater positive results for clients and communities. By conducting research that favors an interdisciplinary and critical approach to organizational inquiry, Dr. Willner’s research builds upon existing knowledge and generates new understandings about the role of nonprofit organizations in working towards greater social justice. Her other research interests include anti-oppressive social work research and practice, and social work pedagogy informed by critical theoretical approaches. She is a qualitative researcher and has a particular interest in community based research methodologies. Dr. Willner earned her MSW from the University of Pennsylvania's School of Social Policy and Practice in 2009, and BA in Feminist Studies and Photojournalism from the Gallatin School at NYU in 2004.