Jennifer Kenney is currently in her third year of the doctoral program at the Columbia University School of Social Work (CUSSW). She is teaching Practice in Alcohol and Chemical Dependency.  In the past, she has taught "Social Work/Criminal Justice Interface,” “Clinical Case Evaluation,” and “Practice in Alcohol and Chemical Dependency” at CUSSW. She has also taught  “Human Service Systems” at the Community College of Allegheny County in Pittsburgh, PA.

While at Columbia, Ms. Kenney has done research primarily in the area of criminal justice.  Using the Fragile Families dataset, she and her colleague explored the association between maternal incarceration and children’s health and behavior. For her dissertation, she is currently examining the relationship between women’s arrests and their experience of substance use and trauma.  

Prior to entering the doctoral program at Columbia, Ms. Kenney worked as a clinical social worker in a variety of agencies. Her last position was as the Manager of the POWER Halfway House where she oversaw client care, staff, and daily operations of the 25-bed gender-specific women’s drug and alcohol recovery program.  Before working at POWER, she worked as the Social Worker at the Mental Health Unit at Pittsburgh’s maximum security men’s prison; a Behavioral Health Professional on an acute psychiatric unit of a community hospital; the Supervisor of Counseling at an outpatient case management program for women and men transitioning out of the criminal justice system; and a Therapist in the county jail and probation department in Cleveland, OH.

Last updated July 01, 2009.