Advisory Committee Members

Mary J. Archibald earned her BSW and MSW from Rhode Island College and her Ph. D in Social Work from Fordham University. She is an Assistant Professor in the Rhode Island College School of Social Work BSW Program. She teaches Introduction to Social Work, Policy Analysis and Practice, Social Work Research Methods, and Juveniles and Justice. Before coming to Rhode Island College, she was a school social worker for thirty years in the Providence School Department. Her areas of expertise are School Social Work and Juvenile Justice. Mary serves on several professional organizations that promote social justice. 

Rachel Briggs is a kinship family advocate. She, along with her identical twin sister adopted her maternal great nieces and nephew: a sibling group of 5. Her history of supporting children and families in the child welfare system started 20+ years ago when she worked as a Residential Counselor at St. Mary's Home for Children. She continues to strengthen her skills and understanding of the effects of trauma on children across their lives by attending workshops and trainings. She completed the R.I. Leadership in the Education of Neurodevelopmental Disabilities internship where she partnered with healthcare professionals to understand the causes of the disparities that exist and how the healthcare system can better serve underrepresented groups. She sits on the Hasbro Children's Hospital Family Advisory Board and the Kinship Advisory Board. In Rachel's spare time she is a creative writer, storyteller with the RI Black Storytellers, a fan of live music and dancing. Lastly, she is passionate about developing hands-on S.T.E.A.M. Programs that focus on the contributions made to American society by unknown African Americans.  

Ken Fandetti began his career as a social worker at the multi service center on Mystic Street in South Providence in 1969.  He worked in both the Dept. of Corrections (DOC) and Dept. for Children Youth and Families (DCYF) for 28 years. At DOC he was the Assistant to the Director, and Superintendent of the Rhode Island Training School. The Training School was the first Juvenile Correctional Institution in the U.S. to be Accreted by the American Correctional Association in 1981. In 1984 he headed the development of RI's Child Abuse and Tracking System (CANTS) which was recognized nationally for its expedited response and investigative techniques to child abuse and neglect allegations. Ken held the positions of Acting Director and Executive Director of DCYF until his retirement in 1997. Since then, Ken has worked in the private sector as both a corporate trainer and sea kayak instructor which allowed him to travel everywhere nationally and to many countries worldwide. 

Tanuja Gandhi is trained in both Child & Adolescent, and Forensic Psychiatry. She primarily works at Bradley Hospital as an Inpatient Child Psychiatrist on the Children's Inpatient Unit and does not work for any group homes or other Bradley placements. In the future, she plans to work a few hours a week with Dr. Lowenhaupt in the Outpatient Clinic where she does child forensic evaluations for children involved with DCYF or otherwise in the system and plan to do forensic evaluations through the Lifespan Forensic Clinic.  

Lise Iwon received a BA from University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1978 and her JD from the Franklin Pierce Law Center in 1983. Lise began her legal career as a partner in the firm Margolis, Laurence & Iwon which later became Laurence & Iwon. Her practice was primarily focused on family law; civil rights; and sexual orientation, gender, and health discrimination. Lise has dedicated much of her legal career to public service and increasing access to justice for all. Lise has been recognized for her service and expertise countless times throughout her career. Throughout her years of practice, she also offered her time and knowledge to the Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the Rhode Island Foundation, the Cane Child Development Center, The Court Appointed Special Advocate, the Domestic Violence Resource Center of South County, and the Rhode Island Council of Family Mediators, among many others.  

Linda Shaw is a retired Child Abuse Pediatrician whose career, in academic pediatrics, was as a clinician/educator. She has served on multiple boards and committees related to child maltreatment, trained child welfare and legal investigators, and been subpoenaed multiple times for testimony in child abuse trials. Currently she also serves on the Advisory and Policy Committee of the Women’s Fund of Rhode Island, is a mentor for children via Inspiring Minds, and a board member of The Economic Progress Institute. Dr. Shaw and her husband, Robert Hughes, are the proud parents of 3 adults and delighted with their six grandchildren. 

Judge Stuhlsatz attended Smith College and Howard University’s Black College Exchange Program, graduating from Smith College in 1990. She then participated in the Teach for America program, teaching junior high social studies in the Washington Heights section of New York City. Following her teaching experience, she attended CUNY School of Law, graduating in 1996. While in law school, she worked for Catholic Charities as a social worker for a program serving incarcerated mothers held at Rikers Island and Bedford Hills Correctional Facility. Following law school, she was employed by the New Hampshire Public Defender as a trial attorney. She moved to Rhode Island in 1998 and joined Rhode Island Legal Services, Inc. where she represented clients in both the Domestic Violence Unit and the DCYF Unit. Judge Stuhlsatz was appointed to the Bench by Governor Gina Raimondo in 2016 and has been assigned to the Juvenile Calendar, the DCYF Calendar and the Safe and Secure Baby Court which was established by Chief Judge Michael B. Forte in 2017. 

After graduating from the Pennsylvania State University with an honors bachelor of arts degree in psychology, Dr. Vieira-Baker worked in the Charles Bradley Program at the Emma P. Bradley Hospital before entering graduate school at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. She earned her Ph.D. in 1999 after completing an internship at the Eastern Virginia Medical School, where she was placed at the Hampton-Newport News Community Services Board, a community mental health clinic. Dr. Vieira-Baker’s career has woven together experiences that include hospital-based crisis assessment and intervention, outpatient clinical work, consultation to a multidisciplinary team assembled by the Department of Children and Family Services, school-based assessment, and intervention for those ages 3 – 21 and supervising and training future psychologists as a field supervisor of doctoral students.  Dr. Vieira-Baker is entering her second term as secretary of the Rhode Island Psychological Association and begins her first term as a member of the American Psychology Association’s Board of Professional Affairs.