Michelle D. Hand, PhD, MSW, LSW

Dr. Michelle D. Hand is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Work. Her research focuses on empowerment building approaches to address sexual violence and trauma among at-risk non-dominant populations, including in later life. Thus, she studies causes and impacts of violence and trauma as well as arts- and horticulture-based interventions (e.g., community gardens, farms and murals) to support healing, informed by extensive interdisciplinary research and clinical experience. Dr. Hand’s work has been published in several scholarly journals as well as in books, and has been presented at various national and international conferences, including at Harvard Law School’s "Just Food?" Forum. She welcomes multi-level transdisciplinary collaboration in her community-based research.

In Dr. Hand’s justice-oriented, strengths-based and trauma-informed teaching, she emphasizes anti-racism, diverse practice knowledge, evidence-based strategies to address violence and trauma, as well as potential impacts of discrimination on policy development and implementation. Her research, teaching and service efforts have been informed by her (urban and rural) clinical, medical and school-based social work experience (including with the LGBTQ+ community, new immigrants and refugees) and have been recognized at local and national levels.

Research

Select Publications

• Hand, M. D., Lee, M., Dabelko-Schoeny, H., Kaiser, M. & Mengo, C. (in press). Societal, organizational, relational and individual perceptions of sexual violence against older adults and its prevention: A systematic scoping review. The Gerontologist. [Impact Factor: 3.286]
• Hand, M. D. (2020). The use of autobiographical poetry to process trauma, promote awareness and shift views on sexual violence: Exploring the “Against Our Will” campaign. Violence Against Women, 1-30. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801220963860 [Impact Factor: 1.558]
• Kaiser, M., Hand, M. & Pence, E. (2020). Individual and community engagement in response to environmental challenges experienced in four urban neighborhoods. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(6), 1-21. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17061831 [Impact Factor: 2.849]
• Hand, M. D. (2019). Every three seconds: A review of an innovative documentary on research and stigma surrounding dementia across the globe. Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 62(3), 369-373. https://doi.org/10.1080/01634372.2018.1541951 [Impact Factor: .99]
• Hand, M. D. & Kaiser, M. L. (2018). Promoting community food security and empowerment among Somali Bantu refugees: A case for community kitchen gardens. International Journal of Business, Human and Social Sciences, 12(8), 1073 - 1078. http://scholarly.org/display/promoting-community-food-security-and-empowerment-among-somali-bantu-refugees-a-case-for-community-kitchen-gardens [Impact Factor: .876] 
• Kaiser, M., Rogers, C., Hand, M., Hoy, C. & Stanich, N. (2017). Finding our direction: The process of building our community-university food mapping team. Journal of Community Engagement and Scholarship, 9(2), 19-33. [31-49% acceptance rate] https://digitalcommons.northgeorgia.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1108&context=jces
• Park, J., Lee, K., Hand, M., Anderson, K. & Schleitwiler, T. (2016). Korean survivors of the Japanese “comfort women” system: Understanding the lifelong consequences of early life trauma. Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 59(4), 1-28. https://doi.org/10.1080/01634372.2016.1204642 [Impact Factor: .99]
• Kaiser, M. L., Williams, M. L., Basta, N., Hand, M. & Huber, S. (2015). When vacant lots become urban gardens: Characterizing the perceived and actual food safety concerns of urban agriculture in Ohio. Journal of Food Protection, 78(11), 2070-2080. https://doi.org/10.4315/0362-028X.JFP-15-181 [Five-Year Impact Factor: 1.765]
• Sweeney, G., Hand, M., Kaiser, M., Clark, J., Rogers, C., & Spees, C. (2015). The state of food mapping: Academic literature since 2008 and review of on-line GIS-based food mapping resources. Journal of Planning Literature, 31(2), 1-97. https://doi.org/10.1177/0885412215599425 [Five-Year Impact Factor: 3.982]

Honors and Awards

• Group for the Advancement of Doctoral Education (GADE) Teaching in Social Work Award, GADE, 2019–2020
• 2019-2020 Doctoral Instructor Excellence in Teaching Award, The Ohio State University College of Social Work, 2019–2020
• College of Social Work Alumni Scholarship, The Ohio State University College of Social Work Alumni Board, 2019–2020
• 2016-2017 Doctoral Instructor Excellence in Teaching Award, The Ohio State University College of Social Work, 2016–2017
• The Selma and Alexander W. Erlen Award for Excellent Service, Academics and Scholarship, The Ohio State University College of Social Work, 2016–2017
• 2015-2016 Provost’s Award for Distinguished Teaching at Ohio State Nominee, The Ohio State University, Nominated in 2016
• Workshop on Panel Design and Analysis featuring the Polish Panel Survey from 1988- 2013 (POLPAN) International Travel Scholarship, The Ohio State University, 2013
• The Dodie Thomas Memorial Scholarship, The Ohio State University College of Social Work, 2009–2010

Service to Professional Societies 

• Presenter, Pacific Links Foundation, 15th Annual Social Work Summer Institute, 2021
• Guest Reviewer, Journal of Human Trafficking, 2021
• Guest Reviewer, The Gerontologist, 2021
• Textbook Chapter Reviewer, Aging and the Life Course: Social and Cultural Context, 2021
• Guest Reviewer, Journal of Ethnic & Cultural Diversity in Social Work, 2020–2021

Affiliations 

• Member, Council on Social Work Education, https://www.cswe.org/
• Member, Gerontological Society of America, https://www.geron.org/
• Member, National Association of Social Workers, https://www.socialworkers.org/
• Member, Society for Social Work and Research, https://secure.sswr.org/ 

Degrees

• PhD, Social Work, The Ohio State University
• Master of Social Work (M.S.W.), Social Work, The Ohio State University
• Bachelor of Science in Social Work (B.S.S.W.), Social Work; Minor in Studio Art, The Ohio State University