Message from the Director

Professor Sallee is Visiting Professor and Director of the University of Houston-Downtown, Center for Family Strengths www.uhd.edu/cfs. The Center provides training, research and technical assistance on family centered practice.

He has authored and administrated over 50 grants and contracts totaling more than $15M. Over 30 universities and states have employed Professor Sallee as a consultant on child welfare training, funding and social work curriculum design. He has completed over 30 adoptions and serves as an expert witness in child abuse legal cases.

Professor Sallee has authored or coauthored eight books and over 50 articles and reports. Most recently he co-authored the Methamphetamine Handbook: What you need to know. In 2011, he coauthored the chapter on the Role of the Social Worker in Child Maltreatment: A Clinical Guide and Reference, 4th edition. He has served as editor of the Family Preservation Journal, now the Journal of Family Strengths, and the Social Work textbook series editor for Eddie Bowers publishing.

Professor Sallee is a member of the Academy of Certified Social Workers and is licensed as an Independent Social Worker. He has extensive experience at the national level including the National Association of Social Work Board of Directors and the Competency Certification Committee. As a member of the Exam Committee of the Association of Social Work Boards he helped write and review Social Work licensing exams for the US and Canada.

In social work education, he served as President of the Baccalaureate Social Work Program Directors, on the Council on Social Work Education Board and as an Accreditation site visitor and chair. As the Director of the Family Preservation Institute from 1995 to 2009, he oversaw the development of 15 videotape training modules and 19 national training conferences with family experts.

At the state level, he Chaired for two Governors the Family Policy Task Force, the New Mexico Social Work Licensing Board and the Governor's Task Force on Social Work. He served two terms on the Board of Dental Health as a public member. He has served on the Mesilla Valley Hospital Board of Trustees and the Dona Ana County Child and Adolescent Collaborative Board. In 1994 he was hired as a consultant by Texas to develop a statewide Family Preservation program.

In Houston, Professor Sallee serves as the UHD representative on the Homeless Youth Network executive committee, as a member of the Houston Community Coleman College for Health Sciences - Texas Medical Center advisory board for child abuse curriculum and the Research Institute of Children at Risk.

Professor Sallee began teaching at Texas State University, San Marcos in 1974 while working with the Center on Social Work Research at the University of Texas, Austin.

Joining New Mexico State University in 1976, Professor Sallee served as the Academic Head of the NMSU Social Work Department for 18 years beginning the BSW and MSW programs and founding the Family Preservation Institute in 1990. In 2009, as an Emeritus Professor, Sallee retired from NMSU to join the University of Houston-Downtown.

Service within New Mexico State University, included Chairing the Athletic Council, the Honorary Doctoral Committee, the College Tenure and Promotion Committee and as a member of the NCAA Review Team, University Research Council, the International Programs Coordinating Committee and the Academic Coach for the Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity.

Professor Sallee and his wife are adoptive parents and former foster parents.