Faculty

Directors

Darren Cosgrove, PhD, MSW
they/he
​Miami University
​darren@queersocialworklab.org

Darren Cosgrove earned a Ph.D. and MSW from the University at Albany's School of Social Welfare. Prior to entering academia, Dr. Cosgrove spent several years working with LGBTQAI+ youth as a sexuality educator and community organizer. Dr. Cosgrove has also offered clinical services to both older adults in substance use recovery and LGBTQAI+ individuals and families. Currently, Dr. Cosgrove uses arts-based methodologies and participatory action research to work in partnership with transgender and nonbinary communities to explore identity development, affirmation and social stigma. Dr. Cosgrove’s teaching focuses on social work ethics and service delivery through an anti-oppressive and socially transformative lens.

​G. Allen Ratliff, PhD, MSW, LCSW
​they/them
​University of Nevada, Reno
​allen@queersocialworklab.org

G. Allen Ratliff earned their Ph.D. at the School of Social Welfare at the University of California, Berkeley, with a Designated Emphasis in Women, Gender, and Sexuality. Prior to entering academia, they practiced as a clinical social worker in Chicago, after they received their MSW from the Jane Addams College of Social Work at the University of Illinois Chicago and earned a Certificate in Evidence-based Practice with Children and Families. Dr. Ratliff is a critical, queer, place-based, person-centered, poststructuralist scholar, whose participatory research approaches with transgender young people and young people experiencing homelessness have centered young people as the experts of their own experiences. Dr. Ratliff uses qualitative and geospatial methodologies to better understand how power, policy, violence, and marginalization operate in the lives of marginalized and vulnerable young people.

​Killian Kinney, PhD, MSW
​they/them
​Pacific University
​killian@queersocialworklab.org

Killian Kinney, PhD, MSW is passionate about conducting research that raises awareness and improves the lives of individuals and their communities. Their research is guided by the ethos by, with, and for the community and explores LGBTQ health equity and wellbeing with a specialization in participatory action research with trans and nonbinary populations. Since completing their postdoctoral fellowship in 2022, Dr. Kinney has settled into an assistant professor position at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon. Since moving to the Pacific Northwest, they spend their free time exploring tidal pools, whale watching, hiking, and discovering secret swimming holes.  This quality time in nature allows them to show up in their teaching and research feeling recharged and excited to collaborate.
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Dr. C's Curriculum Vitae

Dr. R's Curriculum Vitae

Dr. K'S Curriculum vitae

Affiliated Faculty

Kate Kuvalanka, PhD
she/her
​Katherine (Kate) Kuvalanka earned her PhD in family studies from the University of Maryland and joined the Miami University faculty in 2007. Her research focuses on families with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) family members and factors ranging from the proximal (e.g., individual, family, school) to the distal (e.g., legal climate) that pose challenges to, and foster resilience among, families with LGBTQ members. Dr. Kuvalanka has received funding from the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law, the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, and the American Psychological Foundation. She is on the editorial board for the Journal of GLBT Family Studies and the Journal of Youth & Adolescence and is the principal investigator of the Trans*Kids Project (http://transkids.info/), a longitudinal study of 50 families with transgender and gender-diverse children.​​​

Ivy, PawhD
she/her
Originally from Los Angeles, Ivy is the lab support dog and mascot. Ivy has observed numerous doctoral-level courses in critical theories, research design, and qualitative and geospatial methodologies. She has a background in setting boundaries with regard to when and how she is comfortable receiving physical affection. In addition, she communicates clear expectations that she deserves all the peanut butter, bananas, and pizza. Ivy provides emotional support to the lab by being aloof and beautiful, sniffing fabrics, snoring adorably, and waving her flag tail as she wanders around. Ivy is not available for consultation at this time, but may deign to greet anyone who acknowledges her dog-embodied humanity and social positionality.