Tasha Seneca Keyes, PhD, MSW

Tasha Seneca Keyes, Ph.D., MSW – Tasha Seneca Keyes identifies as biracial. Her mother is of English and Irish descent and her father is an enrolled member of the Seneca Nation of Indians on the Cattaraugus Reservation in western New York. Tasha received a PhD from the University of Chicago, Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice and a MSW from the University of Utah, College of Social Work. She began her career as a medical social worker helping older adults’ transition back home after being hospitalized. She has worked with children and families involved in Child Protective Services and children and youth that were hospitalized for inpatient mental health treatment. Eventually, she found her niche working with children and youth in K-12 schools as a school social worker. Tasha enjoys teaching and collaborating with social work students and helping them to become critically conscious, reflexive practitioners in a global, multicultural world. Her practice experience in schools informs her research which focuses on improving sense of belonging and engagement for Native students. Tasha is a community-based researcher and currently, she is collaborating with a rural school district that is partially located on the Navajo Nation to understand how restorative justice and trauma-informed initiatives impact high school students’ sense of belonging and engagement. She is excited to be joining the Department of Social Work at CSUSM and is looking to make new connections and collaborate with CSUSM colleagues and students, K-12 schools, and tribal communities within the San Diego area.