Rate My Professor Derrik Tolefson

Dr. Derrik Tollefson is Professor and Director of the I-System Institute for Transdisciplinary Studies in the Department of Sociology, Social Work, and Anthropology at Utah State University. He earned his PhD in Social Work from the University of Utah in 2001, MSW from the University of Denver in 1995, and BSW from Utah State University in 1994. Tollefson has advanced social work education and practice through key leadership roles, including Head of the Department of Sociology, Social Work, and Anthropology, Interim Dean and Executive Director of USU's Uintah Basin campus, and MSW Program Director where he established and expanded Utah State University's MSW program statewide with full-time and part-time options. He founded the Utah Association for Domestic Violence Treatment, developed a domestic violence offender treatment program for Utah DCFS following the Violence Against Women Act of 1994, and forged ongoing partnerships with Utah DCFS, including a stipend program for social work students committing to child welfare service.

Tollefson's research focuses on program evaluation, child welfare, family violence, social work practice, research methods, motivational interviewing, and mind-body bridging interventions. His dissertation examined factors associated with batterer treatment success and failure, leading to predictive models still in use. Key publications include the highly cited meta-analysis 'A meta-analysis of motivational interviewing: Twenty-five years of empirical studies' (2010, Research on Social Work Practice), 'Motivational interviewing in medical care settings: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials' (2013, Patient Education and Counseling), 'A meta-analysis of father involvement in parent training' (2008, Research on Social Work Practice), and mind-body bridging works such as 'A mind-body bridging treatment program for domestic violence offenders: Program overview and evaluation results' (2015, Journal of Family Violence). He secured a $500,000 U.S. Children’s Bureau grant in 2005 for child welfare research partnering USU, University of Utah, and Utah DCFS, investigating outcomes for abused children in foster care versus family services. As inaugural holder of the Block Professorship, Tollefson leads the I-System Institute, advancing Mind-Body Bridging for resilience training across elementary students to adults, addressing depression, PTSD, addictions, and recidivism in domestic violence perpetrators. He co-authored the book Social Unrest: Resolving the Dichotomies of Me/You and Us/Them. Tollefson was promoted to full professor in 2017, recognized during his Inaugural Professor Lecture.