Education
B.A. (Psychology), University of Delaware
MSW, Temple University
Ph.D. (Urban Affairs and Public Policy), University of Delaware

Courses
SOW 3232 Social Welfare Policy and Services I
SOW 3233 Social Welfare Policy and Services II

Background
Dr. Nicole Ruggiano is an assistant professor in the School of Social Work at FIU where she teaches social welfare policy and services. She specializes in macro practice, focusing on both policy advocacy and community practice. Prior to coming to FIU, Dr. Ruggiano has served in a variety of social work roles, including community organizer, community development coach, program development specialist, and program evaluator. She also participated in the Delaware Governor’s Consortium on Hispanic Affairs where she developed an in-depth needs assessment of the state’s Hispanic community and provided an analysis on state policy and human service delivery.

As an educator, Dr. Ruggiano has been an instructor at the University of Delaware and Delaware State University, where she has taught courses on leadership skills, social work research methods, women’s studies, policy analysis, and consumer advocacy. She also holds a Higher Education Teaching Certificate from the University of Delaware and believes in creating an active learning environment that engages students in critical thinking of course material.

Research
Dr. Ruggiano has taken a special interest in aging, focusing on administrative and organizational aspects of human service delivery for older adults. Her recent research examined intergenerational human service delivery within the nonprofit sector. Findings from this research are to be published in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Applied Gerontology and several additional manuscripts are in progress. At FIU, Dr. Ruggiano is affiliated with the Group for Research on Aging and the Elderly (GRAE). In addition to her work on aging, she is also currently collaborating on a series of papers focusing on political advocacy in the nonprofit sector.

Interests
Dr. Ruggiano’s two main interests are aging and the nonprofit sector. She is a member of the Urban Affairs Association and the Association for Research on Nonprofit and Voluntary Action.

Quote
"You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty."  ~ Mahatma Ghandi