Dyer Ethics Workshop
2025: Strengths and Safeguards — Ethical Integration of AI in Social Work Practice and Education
Thank you for everyone that joined us this year. See you again in the fall of 2026!
We welcomed Dr. Karen Magruder for this year's workshop who presented on the above topic.
Karen Magruder, DSW, LCSW-S is an Associate Professor of Practice at the University of Texas at Arlington School of Social Work, where she brings to the classroom a broad background in aging, mental health, and environmental justice. A dedicated and award-winning educator, Karen is passionate about integrating evidence-based and innovative techniques to promote student success in online learning. Dr. Magruder’s expertise in leveraging AI to enhance teaching, learning, and practice has been featured in a number of conference presentations and publications. She also manages a small private therapy practice, provides clinical supervision, and maintains a free social work education resources YouTube channel with over 12,000 subscribers. Prioritizing balance and self-care, Karen also loves animals, yoga, and travel.
PAST Topic and Speaker: Rethinking Suicide — Understanding Suicide Intervention and Response
Janet McCord, PhD, FT, Professor of Thanatology at Edgewood College, has been a thanatologist and suicidologist for more than 30 years. She is a death educator who teaches a broad array of topics in thanatology and suicidology and has educated hundreds of master’s level students around the globe in graduate thanatology programs.
She has been a past president for the Association for Death Education and Counseling and served on the Board of Directors for over seven years. She became a member of the International Work Group on Death, Dying and Bereavement (IWG) in 2016 and embraces the IWG’s vision as her own: a world where dying, death, and bereavement are an open part of all cultures. Her research interests include the investigation of global perspectives of trauma, dying, death, grief, suicide, and loss, and the intersection of thanatology with the arts.