Linda Lausell Bryant
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs; Clinical Professor; Master Teacher; Katherine and Howard Aibel Executive-in Residence
PhD, MSW, BA
Areas of Expertise: Nonprofit management and leadership for social work professionals; macro social work practice for systems change; child welfare and youth development; college-going among foster care youth; teen pregnancy prevention and development of parenting competencies in teen parents; conflict resolution and mediation; clinical practice with Latino youth and families; diversity and inclusion
Biography
Linda Lausell Bryant is Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Clinical Professor, Master Teacher, and the Katherine and Howard Aibel Executive-in-Residence at NYU Silver. Dr. Lausell Bryant’s professional interests focus on research and practice issues related to developing the leadership capacities of social workers and other human services professionals; the intersection of race, ethnicity, and social justice; models for developing parenting skills among teen parents; the use of self in management and leadership roles; and the role of spirituality in mental health and adolescent development.
Dr. Lausell Bryant’s career spans 34 years in youth services in both the private and public sectors. She introduced the Adaptive Leadership framework into the graduate social work curriculum at NYU Silver, including the launch of an Adaptive Leadership Fellowship program and new graduate and doctoral level courses grounded in the framework. For nine years, she served as the Executive Director of Inwood House, a nonprofit youth agency focused on improving outcomes for young mothers in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. Her work in government includes serving as associate commissioner for the Office of Youth Development at the New York City Administration for Children’s Services. She was appointed by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to the New York City Panel for Education Policy. At Inwood House, she convened a Citywide Dialogue on Teen Pregnancy, which featured stakeholders from government child welfare, health, education, and poverty agencies, as well as research, philanthropy, policy, and service providing agencies. She has used her extensive knowledge of youth development to launch program initiatives in the violence prevention, reproductive health, child welfare, and after school arenas.
She is the co-author of A Guide for Sustaining Conversations on Racism, Identity and Our Mutual Humanity (2017). Dr. Lausell Bryant currently serves as the president of the board of the National Crittenton Foundation, which seeks to empower young women and girls, including young mothers. She has served as member-at-large on the board of the New York City Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers from 2011-2014 and was featured in New York Times journalist Adam Bryant’s “Corner Office” column. Her insights were featured in Mr. Bryant’s 2014 book Quick & Nimble: Lessons from Leading CEOs on How to Create a Culture of Innovation. She is a frequent presenter on panels, in conferences, and on television appearances including WABC’s Tiempo, Here and Now, One to One with Sheryl McCarthy, and NY1. She is the recipient of the Latino Social Work Coalition’s 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award, NYU Silver’s 2020 Distinguished Contribution to Student Engagement Award and NYU’s 2022 Martin Luther King, Jr. Faculty Award.
Dr. Lausell Bryant received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Pace University, her Master of Social Work degree from the Hunter College School of Social Work of the City University of New York, and her Doctor of Philosophy from NYU Silver. Her dissertation study compared the amounts and sources of perceived social support for college-going between foster care and non-foster care students.
Books
Lausell Bryant, L., & Coltoff, P. (2021). Social Work A Call to Action: A Time for Reflection and Reckoning. New York: NYU Silver School of Social Work.
Burghardt, S. DeSuze, K., Lausell Bryant, L. & Vinjamuri, M. (2017). A Guide to Sustaining Conversations on Racism, Identity and Our Mutual Humanity. New York: Cognella, Inc.
Publications
Strategic partners: Enhancing the ability of foster care agencies to serve the special needs of young mothers
Lieberman, L. D., Kaplan, A., Scholey, L., Kohomban, J. & Lausell-Bryant, L., Mar 2020,
In : Children and Youth Services Review. 110, 104808.
A Guide for Sustaining Conversations on Racism, Identity, and our Mutual Humanity
Burghardt, S., DeSuze, K., Lausell Bryant, L. & Vinjamuri, M., 2017.
San Diego, CA: Cognella Academic Publishing
300 p.
Family Preservation and Healthy Outcomes for Pregnant and Parenting Teens in Foster Care: The Inwood House Theory of Change
Lieberman, L. D., Bryant, L. L. & Boyce, K., Jan 1 2015,
In : Journal of Family Social Work. 18, 1, p. 21-39
19 p.
Pregnant Teens in Foster Care: Concepts, Issues, and Challenges in Conducting Research on Vulnerable Populations
Lieberman, L. D., Bryant, L. L., Boyce, K. & Beresford, P., Mar 2014,
In : Journal of Public Child Welfare. 8, 2, p. 143-163
21 p.
Interventions with communities affected by mass violence
Berberian, M., Lausell Bryant, L. & Landsberg, G., 2003,
Understanding mass violence: A social work perspective.
Ashenberg Straussner, S. L. & Phillips, N. K. (eds.).Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon Press, p. 105-115
The cycle of violence and victimization: A study of the school-based intervention of a multidisciplinary youth violence-prevention program
Nadel, H., Spellmann, M., Alvarez-Canino, T., Lausell-Bryant, L. & Landsberg, G., 1996,
In : American journal of preventive medicine. 12, 5 SUPPL., p. 109-119
11 p.
The Value of Including a ‘Higher Power’ in Efforts to Prevent Violence and Promote Optimal Outcomes During Adolescence
Meyer, A. L. & Lausell Bryant, L., 1996.
Preventing Violence in America.
Hampton, Robert L., Jenkins, Pamela & Gullotta, Thomas P. (eds.).SAGE Publications
Faculty Initiative
Adaptive Leadership in Human Services Institute
Founded by Dr. Lausell Bryant in 2016, the institute enables students, alumni, and human service practitioners to learn and apply the adaptive framework to engage challenges and support social change in their work. This growing community aims to promote connection and collaboration by engaging complex barriers to social justice in the human services field.