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.
Denezia Fahie is a Worcester, Massachusetts native and Worcester Public Schools graduate. As a young person who spent the majority of her adolescence navigating the foster care system, she found her purpose in challenging social inequities. While in her youth, she became a respected community organizer with several community groups including Worcester YWCA Girls Choice, Planned Parenthood Get Real Teen Council, and Advocates for Youth: Young Women of Color for Reproductive Justice. Denezia is a featured TedX speaker and currently serves as the Executive Director of Providence Student Union, a youth-led organization that mobilizes young people in advocating around local social issues.
Denezia attended Brandeis University (Magna Cum Laude 22') where she completed a dual degree in Education Studies and African and African-American Studies with a minor concentration in Social Justice and Social Policy. Denezia obtained her Master of Arts from Brown University (23'), where she studied Urban Education Policy. She believes education should function as a foundational community resource and anchor site of social work where youth are empowered and nurtured. She imagines a future of education that centers the full, authentic, and unapologetic version of students. Denezia is a writer, poet, and researcher who enjoys spending her free time attending open mics, collaging, taking road trips, and going to the beach!
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.
Kristen Forbes Cuddy, Esq. is a Rhode Island native and owns her own law firm, Cuddy Law Office, specializing in family law and child welfare. Until February 2026, for nine years, Kristen worked at the Office of the Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) as a staff attorney serving as guardian ad litem for abused and neglected children in the care and custody of the Department of Children, Youth and Families. During her time at CASA, Kristen was also assigned to the Safe Secure Baby Court calendar, which was established by Chief Judge Michael B. Forte in 2017. Before that, she was an associate at DiOrio Law Office, a banking and finance practice firm, representing banking institutions and other commercial lenders in sophisticated commercial transactions. Ms. Cuddy is admitted to practice law in all state courts in Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, and Massachusetts, and the United States District Court for the Districts of Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. She is a member of the Rhode Island Bar Association. Kristen's true love is her family, her husband, Peter, and their two young daughters. Kristen also enjoys volunteering locally for different community organizations, including the Board of Trustees for William Hall Library, the ES Rhodes Elementary School PTA Treasurer, and coaching a CLCF Select girls travel soccer team.
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.
Bio coming soon!