Mary S. Carlsen, MSW, LISW
Professor of Social WorK
Director, Social Work Program
Chair, Department of Social Work and Family Studies
Mary received her B.A. degree in Social Work from St. Olaf College in 1979, and a Master's Degree in Social Work in 1983 from the University of Washington, Seattle, with specialization in health care and aging. She has worked in medical social work for 28 years, in hospital, nursing home, hospice and home care settings.
Mary currently teaches social work at St. Olaf and directs the Social Work Program. Her primary courses are Social Policy, Human Behavior in the Social Environment and the senior seminar, Social Worker as Professional. She is also preparing to teach a course in Ethics and the Professions, and has co-taught Medical and Professional Ethics. She serves on the Ethics Committee of NASW, Minnesota Chapter and on the Northfield Hospital Ethics Committee.
She continues to consult local agencies, particulary Northfield Hospice and HOPECenter and the Northfield Community Action Center. Her professional experience includes helping to develop Clinic 42-an HIV Clinic in Minneapolis, where she worked with people with HIV disease, their partners, and family members.
Mary is active in professional work. She has published in the European Journal of Social Work and the Journal of Clinical Ethics, and has is a co-author of International Perspectives on Social Work:Global Conditions and Local Responses, with Karen Lyons, PhD and Kathleen Manion, PhD. Her primary research areas are end-of-life decision-making, advanced care planning, and social work practice in end of life care.
In 2001-2002 she served as a Policy Fellow with the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. During 2002-2003 she was a visiting scholar at the University of East London in England, where she taught International Social Work in the honors BA program.
Mary is active in community work. She has held office on the boards of the Northfield Community Action Center, The League of Women Voters, and the Minnesota Conference of Social Work Education.
On a Personal Note:
Mary is married and has two children. She loves to sing, read for pleasure, ride bike, hike in the North Cascade mountains, and drink good coffee. She is a member of the United Church of Christ, and can't believe she is living and teaching where she went to college!
