Rate My Professor Sandy Leotti

Leotti's research emphasizes social justice through critical and feminist theories in social work education, research, and practice, focusing on social work's role in systems of injustice, the carceral state, criminalization, gender, disability, and community-based non-punitive approaches to harm. Key publications include "Failed Mothers, Risky Children: Carceral Protectionism and the Social Work Gaze" (Social Service Review, 2023, with Jennifer Muthanna and Ben Anderson-Nathe); "The Discursive Construction of Risk: Social Work Knowledge Production and Criminalized Women" (Social Service Review, 2020); "Social Work with Criminalized Women: Governance or Resistance in the Carceral State?" (Affilia, 2021); "Child Welfare and Social Work Education: From a Pedagogy of Oppression to a Pedagogy of Resistance" (Advances in Social Work, 2023); and "Mapping the Landscape of Trauma-Informed Care in Social Work: A Critical Scoping Review" (Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, in press). She has received the Feminist Manuscript Award from the Council on Social Work Education (2023), Presidential Scholarly Award for Early Career Faculty from the University of Wyoming (2023), New Investigator Award from the College of Health Sciences (2022), Frank R. Breul Memorial Prize from the University of Chicago (2021), and College of Health Sciences Division of Social Work Research Award (2024). Leotti has secured grants for projects including the Wyoming Disability Project on guardianship policies and practices (2023-2024) and open educational resources for rural social work education. She presents at conferences such as the Council on Social Work Education and Society for Social Work and Research.