Dr. Anne Williford, Associate Professor and PhD Program Director, joined the faculty at CSU in 2017. Her research focuses on the etiology of bullying, aggression, and peer victimization among youth, particularly emphasizing ecological factors that contribute to the development and maintenance of these behaviors in peer, school, family, and community settings. A critical aim of her research and scholarship is to identify effective prevention and intervention strategies to mitigate aggressive behavior and promote positive behavioral health outcomes among children and adolescents. More recent work has focused on the experience of youth involved in the juvenile justice system with the goal of identifying effective practices that promote successful cross-system collaboration to meet the behavioral health and safety needs of this population and reduce recidivism. Dr. Williford’s teaching interests include community and organizational practice, advanced advocacy practice, social work practice with aggressive and anti-social youth, and research methods. She has a B.A. in Psychology from American University, a MSSW from the University of Texas at Austin, and a PhD in Social Work from the University of Denver. Before receiving her PhD, Dr. Williford worked as a clinical and community level social worker with diverse populations, including children and adults with developmental disabilities, adults with mental illness and chemical dependency, and youth participating in primary prevention programs.

Dr. Anne Williford research interest includes: Bullying, Aggression, Peer Victimization, School-Based Prevention and Intervention, Juvenile Justice, and Gender and Racial/Ethnic Differences in Risk