Maria Alejandra Acuña
Assistant Professor

Brief Biography

Alejandra Acuña, PhD, LCSW joined CSUN as a tenure-track faculty member in the fall of 2015. Dr. Acuña is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) in the state of California and has over 30 years of work experience in health and human services in various settings – non-profit community-based organizations, child protective services, and public-school districts. Dr. Acuña has taught courses at CSULA, UCLA, and CSUN and won local and national awards for field instruction. Her research interests include urban youth and families, trauma- and resilience-informed and responsive systems, and cultural approaches to mental health treatment.

Peer-Reviewed Publications
Acuña, M.A., & Martinez, J.I. (2018). Pilot Evaluation of Back to Basics Parenting Training in Urban Schools. School Social Work Journal, 42(2), 39-56.
Kataoka, S., Vona, P., Acuña, M.A., Jaycox, L., Escudero, P., Rojas, C., Ramirez, E., Langley, A., & Stein, B.D. (2018) Applying a Trauma Informed School Systems Approach: Examples from School Community-Academic Partnerships. Ethnicity & Disease, 28(2).
Acuña, A. & Kataoka, S. (2017). Family Communication Styles and Resilience among Adolescents. Social Work, 62(3), 261-9.
Acuña, A., Martinez, J., Ricks, B., & Swain, J. (2017). Minority Male Mentoring: A multi-tiered model for college success. In S. Whalen (Ed.), Proceedings of the 13th National Symposium on Student Retention, Destin, Florida. (pp. 217-232). Norman, OK: The University of Oklahoma.

Research 

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