Dr. Susan Chizeck

Internship Director

I have a wide interdisciplinary background, which fits in perfectly with my position in interdisciplinary studies. My professional odyssey began at Douglass College of Rutgers University where I received the Mabel Smith Douglass Scholarship which financed my entire college education. After blowing up many experiments in chemistry class, I abandoned my pre-med studies and returned to an interest in art history, which led me to Oriental Art, and to hence to study Japanese language and culture at Princeton Univ. as a National Defense Foreign Language Scholar. Thus by the time I received my BA in History in 1969, I had studied equally at a woman's college and an all-male (2500 men and 30 women) institution, as well as lived in Japan and NYC each for many months, learning to immerse myself in diverse cultures.

From there I was recruited into the Ph.D. program in Social Work at Rutgers Univ., specializing in administration and economics, and completed my dissertation on Social Functioning in Schizophrenics. By that time I was Asst. Director of an innovative residence for schizophrenics and also did consulting on non-profit management. However, I married and moved to Dallas, Texas, where I began a health education consulting firm with a nurse which supplied wellness and management programs to businesses and did extensive free-lance writing.

In 1985 I began teaching in the School of Social Sciences at UTD in 1986 and moved to the School of Interdisciplinary Studies as Director of the Internship Program. Here I get to use my diverse talents supervising students doing internships in all fields. I also hope to use my skills as a health and public policy specialist when I move back into teaching in the future. I am particularly interested in research on ways of coping with chronic illness. I also hold licenses as a Licensed Professional Counselor, Certified Social Worker (Advanced Clinical Practice), and Hypnotherapist, although I do not currently maintain a practice.

I currently teach the student internship course and do independent studies with students in the fields of health, policy, and management issues.

Committees:
Medical School Admissions
Self-Study Committee on the Faculty

External service:
Public Affairs officer, Richardson Chapter, AAUW, also write monthly women's issues column for newsletter

Listserv administrator, Hyperacusis Network, a service for people with hyperacusis hearing disorder

Scholarship Judge, North Texas Mensa
Cookie coordinator, Troop #2138 Jr. Girl Scouts