Faculty and Leadership

Lynn Anderson, M.S.W., LCSW, is a military veteran who served 10 years in the U.S. Air Force. She spent her military career serving overseas. She graduated from VCU’s M.S.W. Program in 1999 and began as a field instructor and adjunct faculty for the VCU School of Social Work in 2002. She has taught first-year and second-year master’s students focusing on clinical practice. She has mentored multiple M.S.W. candidates and other LCSWs. 

Lynn’s experience is rich and multifaceted. She started her professional career with the City of Richmond as the second responder supervisor, where she specialized in intimate partner violence, trauma and child welfare. She has been in private practice, where she specialized in trauma, burnout and compassion fatigue, with a focus on veterans and trauma survivors. As a social worker, Lynn advocates for veterans, addresses their unique challenges and helps them navigate the complexities of health care, behavioral health and life transitions. 

Lynn is currently the chief of social work services with the Richmond Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Richmond, Virginia. She is a respected leader within the VA health care system and is responsible for the ethical practice of nearly 200 social workers.

Stevara Haley Clark, Ed.D., associate professor in teaching, serves as director of online education. She was previously M.S.W. Program assistant director (online). Stevara is committed to making the social work profession and field education experiences available to students more broadly and resourcefully. Through the experiences of being a field instructor, field liaison and classroom instructor, she has learned and researched best practices to develop, implement, instruct, evaluate and support the social work curriculum.

Kimberly Compton, Ph.D., is assistant director of the M.S.W. Program and an assistant professor in teaching at the VCU School of Social Work. Compton has developed a range of teaching experiences since 2013: online, face-to-face and as a field instructor. Her teaching philosophy centers compassion and creativity. As a practitioner, instructor and researcher, Compton seeks out unexpected intersections of social work with other fields. In practice, Compton was executive director of ReEstablish Richmond, a refugee-focused nonprofit, and program director at an urban farm in Richmond’s East End that provided fresh vegetables to corner stores.

Pat Dattalo, Ph.D. began his university teaching career in 1982. He has taught courses about macro practice, organizational and community theory, and research methods. He has taught these courses at the undergraduate, master’s and doctoral levels in social work, criminal justice and public administration. Dattalo has published articles and books on research methods and statistical analysis. He is a reviewer for several journals and an editorial board member for the Journal of Social Service Research and Administration in Social Work. 

Currently, he teaches graduate courses in research methods and statistics. His educational background includes a B.S. in experimental psychology, a Master of Social Work and a Ph.D. in public administration, with a specialization in quantitative analysis. Both graduate degrees are from VCU. He retired from the VCU School of Social Work in 2021 and is now professor emeritus and part-time research faculty.

Hyojin Im, Ph.D., an associate professor at the VCU School of Social Work, specializes in mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) for refugee and immigrant communities. Her extensive experience in trauma-informed care and community capacity building includes leading numerous projects in the U.S. and internationally, partnering with global agencies like the UNHCR (UN Refugee Agency), the Center for Victims of Torture and the IRC (International Rescue Committee), among others. 

Dr. Im is interested in teaching evidence-based practice and practice-informed research (e.g., program evaluation), as well as international social work.

Nicole “Nicki” Lee, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the VCU School of Social Work. An experienced social work educator, Dr. Lee has spent over a decade teaching in the M.S.W. and B.S.W. programs. Her scholarly interests include social work teaching pedagogy, program evaluation, intimate partner violence in communities of color, and the impact of health on the psychosocial functioning of individuals and communities.

Kristen Lee, M.S.W., LCSW, a community-embedded faculty member since 2015, focuses on teaching clinical track graduate-level courses for the VCU School of Social Work. Kristen is licensed in clinical social work, is a certified trauma practitioner, is certified to administer the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule 2 and is a 200-hour registered yoga teacher.

 Kristen enjoys providing outpatient psychotherapy services to a variety of clients. Her specialties include mindfulness practices for depression and anxiety, executive functioning skills training for teens and adults newly diagnosed with ADHD/ADD or autism, and utilizing approaches of the Gottman Method and emotion-focused therapy for couples. 

Kristen also provides supervision for those seeking licensure in clinical social work in Virginia and facilitates a nationwide consultation group for therapists who work with ethically non-monogamous and kinky clients. Taking her school pride seriously, Kristen can often be found at VCU sporting events.

Nicole O-Pries, LCSW, associate professor in teaching in the VCU School of Social Work, is a licensed clinical social worker in Virginia and a certified family trauma practitioner. She is a certified practitioner in Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Level 1 Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy. O-Pries brings nearly 20 years of nonprofit experience, much of which has focused on developing effective services for youth and families who have experienced trauma.

A macro practitioner, Qasarah Bey Spencer has a unique career experience that highlights her commitment to equity, accountability, and public and private education. Qasarah has earned the Bachelor of Social Work degree from Norfolk State University, the Master of Divinity and the Master of Social Work from the School of Theology at Virginia Union University and Virginia Commonwealth University, and the Doctor of Educational Leadership from Virginia Commonwealth University. Her doctoral studies centered on best practices for social and emotional learning programs at the middle school level.