Bio
Loretta Pyles is an engaged scholar who is concerned with transformative social change. Her scholarship centers on the ways that individuals, organizations and communities resist and respond to poverty, violence and disasters in a policy context of neoliberal economic globalization and social welfare retrenchment. She draws from critical, social constructionist and feminist traditions to inform her research and utilizes a range of research methods including conceptual, qualitative, participatory action research, and quantitative.
Dr. Pyles has a diverse academic background with undergraduate degrees in sociology and philosophy, a Master's degree in philosophy and a Ph.D. in Social Work; she is an alum of the University of Kansas. Before returning to school to complete a Ph.D. in Social Work, she worked in the policy/practice arena focusing on the issues of domestic violence/sexual assault and economic justice including welfare reform. Her sensibility about transformative social change was formed during her time working in a women's collective at a community-based domestic violence program in Lawrence, KS. She is the author of Progressive Community Organizing: A Critical Approach for a Globalizing World (Routledge, 2009) and more than 30 articles and book chapters. In Progressive Community Organizing (second edition forthcoming in 2013), she introduces the innovative transformative organizing framework, which affirms critical and compassionate inquiry into self and society.
Pyles spent three years as a faculty member at Tulane University School of Social Work in New Orleans, LA where she focused on post-Hurricane Katrina recovery, policy and development. Since joining the faculty at the University at Albany, State University of New York (SUNY), School of Social Welfare in 2008, Dr. Pyles' research continues to be concerned with post-disaster recovery and development with a current focus on the aftermath of Haiti's January 12, 2010 earthquake. She is principal investigator of a National Science Foundation study comparing rural communities on recovery from the Haiti earthquake and Hurricane Katrina. She also works on issues related to gender-based violence and is co-founder of the anti-violence group, Building Bridges, in Albany, New York.
Dr. Pyles is a faculty affiliate in the Department of Women's Studies and is the faculty liaison for the MSW student-led annual service learning trip to New Orleans. In addition, she serves on the Editorial Board for International Social Work. Pyles is a certified yoga instructor and is interested in the ways that spiritual practice, including yoga and other forms of contemplative inquiry and meditation, can positively impact community practitioners.
Dr. Pyles has a diverse academic background with undergraduate degrees in sociology and philosophy, a Master's degree in philosophy and a Ph.D. in Social Work; she is an alum of the University of Kansas. Before returning to school to complete a Ph.D. in Social Work, she worked in the policy/practice arena focusing on the issues of domestic violence/sexual assault and economic justice including welfare reform. Her sensibility about transformative social change was formed during her time working in a women's collective at a community-based domestic violence program in Lawrence, KS. She is the author of Progressive Community Organizing: A Critical Approach for a Globalizing World (Routledge, 2009) and more than 30 articles and book chapters. In Progressive Community Organizing (second edition forthcoming in 2013), she introduces the innovative transformative organizing framework, which affirms critical and compassionate inquiry into self and society.
Pyles spent three years as a faculty member at Tulane University School of Social Work in New Orleans, LA where she focused on post-Hurricane Katrina recovery, policy and development. Since joining the faculty at the University at Albany, State University of New York (SUNY), School of Social Welfare in 2008, Dr. Pyles' research continues to be concerned with post-disaster recovery and development with a current focus on the aftermath of Haiti's January 12, 2010 earthquake. She is principal investigator of a National Science Foundation study comparing rural communities on recovery from the Haiti earthquake and Hurricane Katrina. She also works on issues related to gender-based violence and is co-founder of the anti-violence group, Building Bridges, in Albany, New York.
Dr. Pyles is a faculty affiliate in the Department of Women's Studies and is the faculty liaison for the MSW student-led annual service learning trip to New Orleans. In addition, she serves on the Editorial Board for International Social Work. Pyles is a certified yoga instructor and is interested in the ways that spiritual practice, including yoga and other forms of contemplative inquiry and meditation, can positively impact community practitioners.
