Lauren Serafy
PhD Student
Education
MSW, Garland School of Social Work, Baylor University
B.S., Applied Learning and Development, University of Texas at Austin
Licensure
LMSW - Licensed Master Social Worker
Research Interests
- Accompaniment
- Populations in Mobility
- Social Policy
Background
Lauren Serafy serves as a Lecturer in the UTRGV School of Social Work and as Co-Director of the Human Mobility Institute, the SSW’s first Organized Research Unit. Lauren attended the University of Texas at Austin, where she was born and raised. After seven years working in state politics and fundraising in the Texas Legislature and serving as a lobbyist for AT&T, Lauren served as a development director for a Waco non-profit. While doing so, Lauren decided to pursue her Master of Social Work (MSW) at Baylor University. Upon graduation, Lauren developed an expertise in the grant seeking and writing process through seven years of service to a child welfare agency, Dallas CASA. In 2015, Lauren started a non-profit consulting business. As a community practitioner, Lauren understands the unique challenges modern non-profit organizations and their constituents face daily. She offers administration and program development guidance, fundraising and development services including grant writing, and legislative advocacy coaching. Lauren is in her second year of Baylor’s Ph.D. in Social Work program. Lauren and her husband, Paul, live in Brownsville, Texas with their two sons and twin daughters.