Bryan Victor
Associate Professor
Expert in child welfare, child maltreatment prevention and domestic violence
Bryan Victor
Biography
Bryan Victor, Ph.D. is an associate professor in the WSU School of Social Work. Previously, he served on the social work faculty at Indiana University, and as a postdoctoral fellow with the Child and Adolescent DataLab at the University of Michigan School of Social Work where he remains a faculty affiliate.
Victor’s program of research centers on the child welfare system in the United States and has three focal areas: 1) system responses to children’s exposure to domestic violence; 2) reducing harm and social injustice associated with child welfare involvement; and 3) enhancing primary and secondary prevention of maltreatment through cross-systems collaboration. He specializes in the use of data science methods and administrative records research to better understand system operations and drive data-informed decision-making in child welfare practice.
Victor's research also examines how generative artificial intelligence and large language models can responsibly advance social work research and practice. His work provides guidance on the ethical integration of these technologies into social work, and explores how diverse groups are making use of large language models to enhance their wellbeing. His scholarship has appeared in leading social work and child welfare journals including Child Abuse & Neglect, The British Journal of Social Work, Child Maltreatment, and Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research where he currently serves as an associate editor.
Victor practiced both clinical and macro social work in Detroit for a number of years in the areas of domestic violence, LGBTQ health, and HIV decriminalization.
Degrees and Certifications
- Ph.D., Social Work, Wayne State University
- MSW, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
- B.A., Social Relations and Social Policy, Michigan State University
Teaching Interests
- Introduction to social work
- Social welfare policy
- Domestic violence
- Child maltreatment
- Violence prevention
Areas of Expertise
SUBSTANTIVE
- Domestic violence
- Child welfare
- Parental substance misuse
- Child maltreatment prevention
METHODS
- Program evaluation
- Data science methods (text mining, machine learning, etc.)
- Qualitative data mining
- Policy analysis
Grand Challenges Project
Strengthening Indiana Families
The Strengthening Indiana Families (SIF) project -- which Victor co-leads with Dr. E. Susana Mariscal -- focuses on the development and implementation of family resource centers as a primary prevention strategy for child maltreatment. This project is being carried out in collaboration with a number of community partners including the Indiana Department of Child Services, Indiana Department of Health, Commission on Improving the Status of Children in Indiana, Children's Bureau, Inc., Prevent Child Abuse Indiana, the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration, local municipalities, and families and youth with lived experience in the child welfare system. The project is funded by a five-year, $2.74 million award from the Children's Bureau in the U.S. Administration for Children & Families.
Courses taught by Bryan Victor
Fall Term 2024
Fall Term 2023
Fall Term 2022
Winter Term 2022
Recent university news spotlights
- Helping hands: Social Work faculty partners with community agency to support Michigan’s kinship families
- Social Work faculty recognized as Warrior Trailblazer for groundbreaking AI research innovations
- Workforce Development: Investing in the next generation of social workers, health care workers and our community
- New child welfare training initiative coming to WSU includes financial support for students