Biography
Dr. Catherine R. Baratta, MSW, MPIA is an Assistant Professor of Social
Work, in the Department of Sociology and Social Work at Central Connecticut
State University. She is also the Field Education Coordinator in the Social
Work Program’s whose responsibilities include developing and arranging
placement opportunities for students throughout the community.
Her areas of specialty and interest include community social work
practice, social welfare policy, and women and poverty. She has conducted
research and presented papers on women and their children staying in homeless
shelters and activism in an era of welfare reform. Currently, Dr. Baratta is
researching the life of Arria Sargent Huntington (1848-1921), an early
social reformer and feminist. The courses she has taught include Generalist
Practice with Families, Organizations and Communities; Social Welfare Policy;
Research Methods for Social Work; Senior Seminar I & II, Human Behavior
& Social Environments II, and Computing for Human Services. Dr. Baratta
previously taught at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.
Dr. Baratta received her Ph.D. in social sciences from The Maxwell School
of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University in 1995. Her concentration of study was social
policy, feminist theory, and qualitative research. She also received a Graduate Certificate in Women’s Studies. Dr.
Baratta received Master Degrees in 1986 from the University of Pittsburgh in
Social Work (MSW) and Public and International Affairs (MPIA). Her area of
study was Community Organization and Planning/Economic and Social Development.
She graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree Magna Cum Laude from Franklin Pierce
College in 1983.
Prior to teaching, Dr. Baratta was a director of a national demonstration
project teaching independent living skills to foster care youth, and a
Legislative Assistant in the New York State Assembly. She has been mentoring a Teen Mother and her three children for
the past seven years.
She is a member of the Board of Directors of The Friendship Service
Center of New Britain, and the Collaborative Center for Justice, Inc.,
Hartford, Connecticut; Community Representative, Family Policy Council H.R.A.
HEAD START of New Britain; a member of the North-Oak, New Britain, Neighborhood
Revitalization Zone group.
Among other professional organizations, Dr. Baratta is a member of the
Council of Social Work Education (CSWE), National Association of Social Workers
(NASW), and Association of Community Organization and Administration (ACOSA),
where is the Newsletter editor.