Dr. Rycus and partner Dr. Ronald Hughes founded the Institute for Human Services (IHS) in 1977. Dr. Rycus is IHS Program Director, Director of International Child Welfare Training and Programming for the North American Resource Center for Child Welfare (NARCCW), and Senior Policy Analyst for NARCCW's Center for Child Welfare Policy. She consults extensively throughout North America and Eastern Europe to help national and local jurisdictions develop, implement, and sustain comprehensive, competency-based inservice training systems (CCBITS). Dr. Rycus also conducts comprehensive program evaluations of state/provincial and local child welfare agencies, designs and facilitates strategic change initiatives in child welfare organizations, and is a member of NARCCW’s Family Trust Clinic's case assessment and consultation team.
As Program Manager for the Ohio Child Welfare Training Program (OCWTP), Dr. Rycus manages staff and programs, and develops extensive training curricula, technologies, and resources. She is an expert in adult learning principles, curriculum development, and inservice training technology and provides training to trainers and training managers in curriculum design and evaluation. Dr. Rycus has over thirty-five years’ experience in child welfare, including direct services and supervision in protective services and adoption, staff development, training management, and consultation.
Dr. Rycus is lead author of the Field Guide to Child Welfare, a four-volume text used in college-level child welfare courses and field placement; and co-authored numerous child welfare publications. In addition, from 2004 - 2011, she produced and edited the quarterly APSAC Advisor, a multi-disciplinary newsletter of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC).
Dr. Rycus has received several awards and recognitions throughout her career, most recently being inducted into the Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame in 2009. In 2008, she received the Public Children Services Association of Ohio’s (PCSAO), Dan Schneider Award for Leadership in Child Welfare Training, and in 2005, the Peter Forsythe Award for Leadership in Public Child Welfare, presented by the National Association of Public Child Welfare Administrators (NAPCWA).
Dr. Rycus holds a Doctorate in Organizational and Developmental Psychology from The Ohio State University. For more information or to obtain a copy of a curriculum vitae, please email us. |
