Natalie Beltrano spent 15 years in child welfare before returning to higher education to obtain her Master of Social Work with a specialization in Leadership in Human Service Organizations from the University of Calgary. She entered the PhD program at the University of Windsor in the faculty of social work in 2019. Her dissertation research is focused on child welfare worker decision-making and the impact of anti-Black racism.
She is in the process of obtaining her University Teaching Certificate from the CTL and has worked as a Graduate Assistant over the last 3 years. She has had the privilege of facilitating lectures for the GATAcademy, and teaches as a sessional for the University of Windsor’s Master of Social Work Working Professionals and Durham College’s Social Service Worker programs. She is a fur-mum to a St. Berdoodle, Abby, and Labradoodle, Zoey, as well as a black cat named Dum Dum.