Carla J. Sofka

My Siena Experience

My Teaching Philosophy

My Favorite Courses to Teach

1) SWRK 100 (Introduction to Social Welfare and Social Work) allows me to share information about the profession that I love.  Since this course meets the core social science requirement, I get to meet students from majors throughout the College whose varying opinions about social welfare lead to incredibly interesting discussions! 

2) SWRK 430 (Social Work Research)  As a self-professed "research geek", I enjoy helping students to gain an appreciation for the ways that research helps social workers to make a difference in the world (and love to receive e-mails from graduates of our program describing how the course has helped them with graduate school or in their social work practice).  

3) SWRK 466:  Death: The Final Frontier   Thanatology is an absolutely fascinating subject and I believe the world would be a much nicer place if everyone had the chance to learn how to support people who are dealing with the universal experience of loss.  

My Professional Experience

Current Research

My research interests include:

1) Public responses to tragedy;
2) The impact of social media on how people cope with loss;
3) The use of technology and online resources in death education and grief counseling;
4) How museums related to tragedy serve as "healing spaces";
5) Digital Legacy Planning.

Please consider participating in the Digital Death Survey 2022 (link open until May 31).

Netiquette Regarding Digital Legacies and Dealing with Death, Tragedy, and Grief - Compiled by Dr. Carla Sofka

Articles & Book Reviews

• Hannelore Wass: The lasting impression of a death educator, scholar, mentor, and friend.
  Death Studies, vol. 39
  2015
• Outside the box: Creative partnerships for
  Exhibitionist
  2011
• Healing and healing: Museums as healing spaces
  International Journal of the Inclusive Museum, vol. 2
  2009
• Days in the lives of gerontological    social workers
  Journal of Social Work in End-of-Life and Palliative Care
  2008
• Adopting maternity: White women who adopt transracially or transnationally
  MultiCultural Review
  2004
• Assessing loss reactions among older adults: Strategies to evaluate the impact of 9-11-2001
  Journal of Mental Health Counseling
  2004
• What kind of funeral? Identifying and resolving family conflicts
  Generations
  2004
• Transcommunality: From the politics of conversion to the ethics         of respect
  MultiCultural Review
  2003
• A history of childhood: A socio-cultural survey across millennia
  MultiCultural Review
  2002
• Shattered bonds: The color of child welfare
  MultiCultural Review
  2002
• Trauma to trauma
  MADDVOCATE
  2002
• For the butterflies I never chased, I grieve: Grief and loss issues of childhood sexual abuse
  Journal of Personal and Interpersonal Loss
  1999
• Social support internetworks, caskets for sale, and more: Thanatology and the information superhighway
  Death Studies
  1997
• Specifying the dimensions of recovery
  Sixth Annual Conference on State Mental Health Agency Services Research
  1996
• The role of self-help in the recovery process
  Sixth Annual Conference on State Mental Health Agency Services Research
  1996
• Treatment of complicated mourning
  Omega: Journal of Death and Dying
  1996
• A contrasting profile: Participants and non-participants of self-help groups
  Fifth Annual Conference on State Mental Health Agency Services Research and Program Evaluation
  1995
• Older people giving care: Helping family and community
  Journal of Social Service Research
  1995

Awards & Distinctions

• Raymond C. Kennedy Excellence in Scholarship Award
  Category: Research
  Siena College, 2017
•  Award for record of distinguished service to the organization.
  
  
   
  
  Category: Service-Professional
  Association for Death Education and Counseling, 2014

Books & Book Chapters

• Understanding children's grief: Supporting loss and growth.
  Routledge
  2018
• Data Collection: Methods, ethical issues, and future directions
  Nova Scotia Publishers
  2017
• Postmortal Society
  Ashgate/Routledge
  2017
• Supporting Bereaved Students at School
  
  2017
• Promoting Social Justice in Loss and Grief
  Routledge Press
  2016
• Living with Grief: Helping Adolescents Cope with Loss
  Hospice Foundation of America
  2014
• The A-Z of Death and Dying: Social, Cultural, and Medical Aspects
  ABC-Clio
  2014
• The A-Z of Death and Dying: Social, Cultural, and Medical Aspects
  ABC-Clio
  2014
• The A-Z of Death and Dying: Social, Cultural, and Medical Aspects
  ABC-Clio
  2014
• The A-Z of Death and Dying: Social, Cultural, and Medical Aspects
  ABC-Clio
  2014
• Handbook of Thanatology
  
  2013
• Dying, Death and Grief in an Online Universe: For Counselors and Educators.
  Springer Publishing.
  2012
• Educating for Social Justice: Transformative Experiential Learning
  
  2011
• Adolescents and Death
  
  2009
• Encyclopedia of Death and the Human Experience
  
  2009
• Encyclopedia of Death and the Human Experience
  
  2009
• Annual book for the Hospice Foundation of America's Teleconference
  
  2007
• Handbook of Thanatology
  
  2007
• Case Studies in Generalist Practice
  
  2003
• Grief and the healing arts: Creativity as therapy
  
  1999
• Social Work Practice: Cases, activities, and exercises
  
  1999
• Holiday Hope: Remembering loved ones during special times of the year
  
  1998
• Catalog for the University at Albany Art Museum exhibit
  
  1997
• Grieving Days, Healing Days
  
  1997
• Our stories of miscarriage: Writing to heal
  
  1997
• Consumer's guide to cancer resources
  
  1996
• Bereavement: Helping the survivors
  
  1987
• Death: Completion and discovery
  
  1987

Presentations

• Digital survivor advocacy: Fighting so you may never know our pain.
  2017
  Annual Conference of the Association for Death Education and Counseling, Portland, Oregon
• Adolescents and traumatic loss.
  June, 2014
  Hospice Foundation of America Webinar., Washington, DC, Virtual
• Beading as a tool for coping with loss.
  June, 2014
  2014 International Conference on Grief and Bereavement, Hong Kong, China- Hong Kong
• Teaching that matters: Classroom activities / collaborations.
  April, 2014
  Annual Conference of the Association for Death Education and Counseling, Baltimore, Maryland
• The 921 Earthquake Museum: Survivor advocacy and healing.
  April, 2013
  Annual Conference of the Association for Death Education and Counseling, Hollywood, California
• Beading as a tool for coping with loss.
  July, 2012
  Loss & Healing Workshop Series, Hong Kong, China- Hong Kong
• Museums and Memorials as Healing Spaces
  July, 2012
  Loss & Healing Workshop Series, Hong Kong, China- Hong Kong
• Beading as a tool for coping with loss.
  June, 2012
  Loss & Healing Workshop Series, Taipei, Taiwan
• Museums and Memorials as Healing Spaces
  June, 2012
  Loss & Healing Workshop Series, Taipei, Taiwan
• 9/11: Museums Respond.
  2011
  Researching New York 2011 Conference, Albany, New York
• Helping adolescents with dying and grief: Death education opportunities in the public library and online.
  2011
  Annual Conference of the Association for Death Education and Counseling, Miami, Florida
• The cultural reincarnation of Michael Jackson
  2010
  Annual Conference of the Association for Death Education and Counseling, Kansas City, Missouri
• Adolescents and technology: Coping with loss in the digital world
  2009
  Annual Conference of the Association for Death Education and Counseling, Dallas, Texas
• History and healing: The role of museums.
  2009
  Second International Conference on the Inclusive Museum, Brisbane, Australia- QLD
• Museums, memory, and music: A model project for education, awareness, and fundraising.
  2009
  Second International Conference on the Inclusive Museum, Brisbane, Australia- QLD
• Creating contemporary mourning jewelry as a strategy for coping with loss
  2007
  Annual Conference of the Association for Death Education and Counseling, Indianapolis, Indiana
• Teaching restorative justice through a cemetery service project
  2007
  Annual Conference of the Association for Death Education and Counseling, Indianapolis, Indiana
• What death educators have learned about death education.
  2007
  Annual Conference of the Association for Death Education and Counseling, Indianapolis, Indiana
• A constrasting profile: Participants and non-participants of self-help groups
  1995
  Fifth Annual Conference on State Mental Health Agency Services Research, San Antonio, Texas
• Motivation to provide mutual-help outreach: Implications of the helper-therapy principal
  1994
  16th Annual Conference of the Association for Death Education and Counseling, Portland, Oregon
• Motivation to provide mutual-help outreach: Implications of the helper-therapy principal
  1994
  16th Annual Conference of the Association for Death Education and Counseling, Portland, Oregon
• The first amendment vs. private grief: Conflict between the Constitution and compassion
  1993
  15th Annual Conference of the Association for Death Education and Counseling, Memphis, Tennessee
• For the butterflies I never chased, I grieve
  1991
  13th Annual Conference of the Association for Death Education and Counseling, Duluth, Minnesota
• Laughing in the Face of Death: A Glimpse of Thanatology in the Cartoons
  1990
  12th Annual Conference of the Association for Death Education and Counseling, New Orleans, Louisiana
• Volunteer participation in Mutual-help outreach for the widowed: A profile of Widowed Persons Service volunteers
  1989
  Symposium on the Impact of Life Threatening Conditions: Self-help Groups and Health Care Providers in Partnership, Chicago, Illinois
• The widowed and their significant others: An examination of social support stability
  1988
  Gerontological Society of America's Annual Meeting, San Francisco, California
• Widowed Persons Service: A community networking effort to aid in coping with loss
  1987
  87th Annual Conference of the Missouri Association for Social Welfare, St. Louis, Missouri
• sychosocial bereavement education: Psychodynamic and cognitive behavioral perspectives
  1987
  3rd Annual King's College Conference: 'Bereavement: Helping the Survivors, Ontario, Canada
• Personal and situational correlates of conjugal bereavement
  1986
  8th Annual Conference of the Forum for Death Education and Counseling, Atlanta, Georgia