Maritza Vasquez Reyes Joins School of Social Work Faculty

ATLANTA — Maritza Vasquez Reyes has joined Georgia State University’s School of Social Work as an assistant professor, effective fall 2024.

Vasquez Reyes grounds her teaching, service and research in 12 years of direct social work practice. Her interdisciplinary research impacts public health and well-being, and she is particularly interested in understanding community supports available to youth facing oppression. She joins the faculty from the University of Connecticut School of Social Work in Hartford, Conn., where she was principal investigator for the project Youth-Serving Organizations as Counterspaces: The Role of Youth-Serving Organization in Disrupting Minoritized Youth Patterns of Oppression and Marginalization.

“We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Vasquez Reyes to our school,” Director Joon Choi said. “Her expertise and passion for empowering minoritized youth will undoubtedly enrich our community and inspire students and colleagues. We look forward to the innovative research and teaching ideas she will bring to the School of Social Work and Georgia State University.”

Vasquez Reyes’ recent work draws on data collected on youth impacted by structural violence. She examines the role counterspaces — settings that promote the psychological well-being of individuals who experience oppression — play in facilitating youth engagement in positive social change. Her research is guided by the principles of community participatory action research.

Through partnerships with youth and their communities, Vasquez Reyes’ work aims to promote social justice and disrupt patterns of poverty and inequality. Guided by close collaboration with those with lived experience, Vasquez Reyes’ work is designed to address gaps in the literature and bring about social change at the local, national and international levels. As a faculty member, she is committed to helping new generations of social workers be better equipped to work with marginalized and underserved populations.

Prior to entering the University of Connecticut, where she served as a graduate research assistant beginning in 2018 and as an adjunct professor from 2020, Vasquez Reyes was an adjunct professor at the Dutchess Community College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. She served as a member of a scientific research team at Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra in the Dominican Republic, and has served as an invited guest lecturer at Life Paths Research Center in Nashville, the University of Santiago, Chile, Union College Academy of Lifelong Learning and the Adelphi University School of Social Work Hudson Valley Center, among others.

Vasquez Reyes holds a Ph.D. in Social Work from the University of Connecticut, an M.S.W. from the University at Albany-State University of New York, an M.A. in Sociology from the State University of New York at New Paltz and a B.A. in Social Work and Sociology from Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra.