Dr. Markward earned her both MSW and Ph D from the University of Illinois-Urbana. She is currently an associate professor in the University of Missouri’s School of Social Work in Columbia where she teaches policy focused on women, poverty, and mental health, children’s mental health, and evaluation of clinical practice. Although Dr. Markward’s research and scholarly publications focus on women, children and youth, her research on women is related to violence against women. She co-edited a book entitled Reassessing Social Work Practice with Children and has contributed chapters in six books. Dr. Markward is particularly interested in gender-specific violence prevention research with females who are in the prepubescent stage of development, especially in the the ability of young females to cope with violence. Dr. Markward has practiced social work in hospital, public welfare, and school settings, primarily with low income women and children who have physical and/or mental disabilities.

Dr. Bonnie L. Yegidis currently serves as Director of the School of Social Work at the University of South Florida in Tampa and served as Dean of the School of Social Work at the University of Georgia. Dr. Yegidis is also an accomplished author, having co-written several text books and contributed to chapters in eight books, as well as having produced numerous conference papers, book reviews, and articles published in peer reviewed journals. Her areas of expertise include social work practice with families, practice with women, and international education for social work. Her book, Research Methods for Social Workers, is in its sixth edition and is widely used in schools of social work nationally, and she developed a measure to assess abuse among women. She has practiced with women abused in intimate partner relationships, conducted research with women in the Ukraine, and is a certified family mediator in the state of Florida.