Theory and Practice of Social Group Work in Indian Society

About Meena M. BalgopalPallassana R. BalgopalSuresh Pathare

Pallassana R. Balgopal Ph.D. is a social work educator researcher and practitioner with sixty-five years of teaching curriculum development research consultation and practice experience in social work. Since 2000 he has been an Emeritus Professor of Social Work and Asian American Studies at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. Before joining the University of Illinois faculty in 1978 he taught at Tulane University and the Universities of Michigan Maryland and Houston. He held Visiting Professorships at Delhi University Jamia Milia Islamiya Madras University Visva Bharati in India and at the National University of Singapore Fachhoelschule Bielefeld Germany and the Russian State Social Institute Moscow Russia. Suresh Pathare Ph.D. is a social work educator researcher and practitioner working in India with 30 years of experience. He completed his Masters of Social Work from University of Pune Ph.D. in Social Work from Delhi University and post-doctoral studies from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill USA. Presently he works as a Director at the Center for Studies in Rural DevelopmentInstitute of Social work and Research Ahmednagar Savitribai Phule Pune University India. Earlier he worked as an Associate Professor with Indira Gandhi National Open University New Delhi Tata Institute of Social Sciences Mumbai and University of Delhi. Meena M. Balgopal Ph.D. is a professor of science pedagogy and communication in the Department of Biology and University Distinguished Teaching Scholar at Colorado State University. Her social science research centers on understanding how people understand socio-scientific issues when bridging different worldviews. She examines the outcomes of pedagogical interventions (e.g. group work reflective writing) using discourse analysis. She is a prolific writer with more than sixty refereed journal articles. Her published work is based on the data generated from support from U.S. National Science Foundation grants. She is a frequent recipient of awards for excellent teaching and mentoring students.