Dr. Ellis is a full-time faculty member in the Doctor of Social Work Program of the Simmons School of Social Work. She earned an MSW degree from California State University, Long Beach in 2001 and a PhD in Social Work in 2007 from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Dr. Ellis has 20 years of experience practicing social work, with nearly 10 years of direct practice experience in the human services field in community mental health and child welfare settings. She is a program evaluation expert with over 15 years of research and program evaluation experience. She has made substantive contributions to building the evidence-base around what interventions work to improve child welfare outcomes for children and their families. Dr. Ellis has contributed to the research in the areas of adoption recruitment, family preservation, long-term foster care, informal kinship care, clinical supervision of child welfare workers, child welfare-juvenile court personnel relations, judicial decision-making during termination of parental rights proceedings, family search and engagement strategies, differential response programs, and trauma informed practice. She has experience teaching across DSW, MSW, and BSW programs for several universities.
Education
- MSW and PhD in Social Work
What I Teach
- SWO 701 Transformation, Inspiration, and Inclusion: Social Work Leadership for the Future
- SWO 707 The Research Informed Practitioner
- SWO 715 Capstone
Community Engagement
- Mentor for Leaders in Equitable Evaluation and Diversity (LEEAD) program; provide evaluation training and development to diverse professionals in culturally responsive and equitable evaluation (CREE) who will advance the field of evaluation (2023-present)
- Chair of the Board of Directors for the Southern California Branch of Bethany Christian Services (2020-present)
- Member, 44 Women for Orangewood Foundation (2020-present)
Publications/Presentations
Select Presentations
Ellis, R., Lorthridge, J. & Harrison, S. (2023, October). Assessing evidence-based programs through a culturally responsive & equitable evaluation (CREE) lens. [Conference session]. The Council on Social Work Education, 69th Annual Program Meeting. Atlanta, GA.
Kolomer, S. R., Simmons, C. A., Ellis, R., & Sellers, S. L., (2023, October). Social work leaders approaches to anti-racist practices in their educational spaces. [Connect Session]. The Council on Social Work Education, 69th Annual Program Meeting. Atlanta, GA.
Ellis, R., Hays, K., Hamilton, J., & Reyes, L. (2021). Spiritual outcomes of a faith-based camp program for children of incarcerated parents. [Conference session]. The 71st Annual North American Christians in Social Work Convention, Glendale, CA.
Hays, K., Flores-Carter, K., Costello, J., Ellis, R. (2021). Training church volunteers to engage in trauma-informed mentorship. [Conference session]. The 71st Annual North American Christians in Social Work Convention, Glendale, CA
Lee-Johnson, C. & Ellis, R. (2020). How servant leadership can facilitate an inclusive and supportive MSW program environment [Conference Session]. The 66th Annual Council on Social Work Education APM, Virtual.
Ellis, R., Hays, K., Flores-Carter, K., & Breitenbucher, P. (2020). “I Can Do All Things”: Strategies for integrating faith into social science research courses [Conference session]. The Annual North American Christians in Social Work California Chapter Convention, Riverside, CA.
Ellis, R., Hays, K., Flores-Carter, K., & Lindsey, V. (2019). What were we thinking? Lesson learned from the development of MSW Capstone curriculum [Conference session]. The 69th Annual North American Christians in Social Work Convention, Indianapolis, IN.
Ellis, R. (2018). Strategies for doctoral degree attainment for first-generation college students [Guest lecture]. California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, CA.
Fuller, T., Ellis, R., & Murphy, J. (2014). Examining outcomes of differential response: Results from three randomized control trials in Colorado, Illinois, and Ohio [Conference session]. The 19th National Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect, New Orleans, LA.
Fuller, T., Winokur, M., Ellis, R., & Murphy, J. (2012). The family voice in the evaluation of differential response [Conference session]. The 7th Annual Differential Response in Child Welfare Conference, Henderson, NV.
Ellis, R. T., Allen, T., & DeStefano, D. (2012). Engaging foster youth and their biological families: Lessons learned from the family finding model evaluation [Conference session]. The 18th National Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect, Washington, DC.
Ellis, R.T. & Allen, T. (2011). The challenges of and strategies for improving adoption recruitment: Voices of American foster youth [Conference session]. Conference of Black Administrators in Child Welfare. Philadelphia, PA.
Ellis, R.T. & McKlindon, A. (2011). Wendy’s Wonderful Kids evaluation: Lessons learned [Conference session]. New York State’s Citizens’ Coalition for Children Conference, Albany, NY.
Ellis, R. T. & Malm, K. (2010). The timing of termination of parental rights: A balancing act for children's best interests [Conference session]. National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges 73rd Annual Conference, San Diego, CA.
Malm, K. & Ellis, R.T. (2010). Connecting foster kids to families: An evaluation of Family Finding [Conference session]. American Humane Association Family Group Decisionmaking Conference, Burlington, VT.
Ellis, R. T., Ross, T., & Detlaff, A. (2010). Making connections a strategy to address racial disparities in child welfare [Conference session]. Black Administrators in Child Welfare Annual Conference, Chicago, IL.
Ellis, R.T. (2010). Measuring connections in Family Finding programs: Measuring family connections [Conference session]. Children’s Bureau Fostering Connections Grantees Teleconference Meeting, Washington, DC.
Ellis, R. T. & Allen, T. (2008). Strategies for developing foster and adoption family recruitment messages: Summary of Child Trends survey findings [Meeting presentation]. Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, Columbus, OH.
Ellis, R. T., Ruiz, M., & Gleeson, J. (2006). Engaging Latino families in research on informal kinship Care: lessons learned [Conference session]. Council on Social Work Education Annual Program Meeting, Chicago, IL.
Select Publications
Lorthridge, J., Ellis, R. & Harrison, S. (2023). Applying a culturally responsive and equitable evaluation lens to evidence-based interventions in child welfare settings. In Adedoyin, A.C., Amutah-Onukagha, N.N. & Jones, C.D. (Eds.), Culturally responsive and equitable evaluations: Visions and voices of emerging scholars (1st ed.). Cognella.
Ellis, R.T., Hays, K., Hamilton, J. & Reyes, L.J. (2022, May). Spiritual outcomes of a faith-based camping program for children of incarcerated parents. Journal of the Christian Society for Kinesiology, Leisure and Sports Studies, 7(1), Article 1.
Hays, K., Costello, J., Flores-Carter, K., & Ellis, R. (2021, May). Enhancing supports to children of incarcerated parents: Introducing trauma informed training to church mentors. Journal of Prevention and Intervention in the Community, 49, 1-17.
Breitenbutcher, P., Ellis, R. & Clift, N. (2021, May). Applying lessons learned on early identification of opioid use: Opportunities for CBSS students. Center for the Study of Human Behavior. https://blogs.calbaptist.edu/cshb/2021/05/13/applying-lessons-on-early-identification-of-opioid-use-opportunities-for-cbss-students/
Ellis, R.T. (2021, March). Reflections on the importance of research mentorship. Center for the Study of Human Behavior. https://blogs.calbaptist.edu/cshb/2021/03/01/reflections-on-the-importance-of-research-mentorship/
Ellis, R.T. (2020, Nov). My journey to merge my interests in child welfare and research. Center for the Study of Human Behavior. https://blogs.calbaptist.edu/cshb/2020/11/17/my-journey-to-merge-my-interests-in-child-welfare-and-research/#comment-764
Ellis, R. (2020). Mystery and the adopted child. Social Work & Christianity, 47(3), 126-127. https://doi.org/10.34043/swc.v47i3.134
Winokur, A.J., Ellis, R., Drury, I., & Rogers, J. (2015). Answering the big questions about differential response in Colorado: Safety and cost outcomes from a randomized controlled trial. Child Abuse and Neglect, 39, 98-108.
Sedlak, A.J., & Ellis, R.T. (2014). Trends in child abuse reporting. In J.E. Korbin and R.D. Krugman (Eds.), Handbook of child maltreatment (pp. 3-26). Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer.
Ellis, R. (2011). What helps and hinders me from being adopted: Voices of youth in foster care from the Wendy’s Wonderful Kids Evaluation. Washington, DC: Child Trends.
Ellis, R. (2011). Achieving successful adoptions: Voices of prospective and current adoptive parents from the Wendy’s Wonderful Kids Evaluation. Washington, DC: Child Trends.
Ellis, R. T. (2010). Family Finding services: Establishing, re-establishing, and maintaining family connections for children in foster care. Fostering Families Today.
Ellis, R. T. (2010). Exploring the influence of juvenile court personnel on child welfare practice. Journal of Public Child Welfare, 4(2), 158-173.
Ellis, R.T., Malm, K., & Bishop, E. (2009). The timing of termination of parental rights: A balancing act for children’s best interests. Washington, DC: Child Trends.
Gleeson, J. P., Wesley, J., Ellis, R., Seryak, C., Talley, G.W., & Robinson, J. (2009). Becoming involved in raising a relative’s child: Reasons, caregiver motivations and pathways to informal kinship care. Child & Family Social Work, 1-11.
Professional Affiliations & Memberships
- Manuscript Reviewer, Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research (2022-current)
- Appointed Member, CSWE Council on Leadership Development (3-year term; 2020-present)
- Editorial Board Member, Journal of Mental Health and Social Behaviour (2018-present)
- Certified Site Visitor for the Commission on Accreditation of the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) (2021-present)
- Manuscript Reviewer, Journal on Social Work Education (2021-present)
- Manuscript Reviewer, Social Work & Christianity Journal (2016-present)
- Member, North American Christians in Social Work (2016-present)