Amy R. Krentzman, MSW, PhD, will join the University of Minnesota School of Social Work in the Fall of 2013. She came to Minnesota after two consecutive postdoctoral research fellowships at the University of Michigan Addiction Research Center. Dr. Krentzman received her Ph.D. in Social Welfare from the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University, her M.S.W. from New York University Silver School of Social Work, and her B.A. in English Literature from Northwestern University.

Her research focuses on the application of interventions from positive psychology to addiction treatment. She also studies factors that promote the initiation and maintenance of recovery from addiction, particularly the mechanisms of therapeutic change that are precipitated by professional treatment and mutual-aid groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). Dr. Krentzman’s work examines the factors that promote thriving and flourishing in recovery, with a special focus on spirituality and special populations, including women and people of color.