She prepares and submits grants and proposals to improve the counseling services to students, student internships, identifies and engages new stakeholders to create a positive image for the University.Received a Master’s Degree in Social Work from Howard University School of Social work and Ph.D. in Health from Walden University, Minneapolis, Minnesota. She is a licensed and board certified clinical social worker. Holds membership in various organizations related to social work and substance abuse, including the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Substance Abuse and the National Association of Social Workers Steering committee on Alcohol and Other Drugs.

Dr. Curry is a licensed psychologist. She earned her doctorate in clinical psychology at George Washington University. Dr. Curry has worked clinically with adults of all ages in the GW Center Clinic, with university students at George Mason University’s Counseling Center, James Madison University’s Counseling Center, and with high school students in the District of Columbia. She trained locally in assessments at the Hyperactivity, Attention and Learning Problems Clinic of Children’s National Medical Center. In addition to her doctoral work, Dr.

Curry has completed one-year fellowships at both the Washington Center for Psychoanalysis and the Baltimore-Washington Institute for Psychoanalysis as well as one year of advanced training at the Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy Program of the Washington School for Psychiatry. As a warmly interactive therapist, her treatment approach is to foster insight, provide support and offer useful feedback to help students resolve current problems as well as to shift long-standing patterns that contribute to unhappiness. With sensitivity and compassion, Dr. Curry works with students to find solutions to a wide range of life challenges and psychological issues with the ultimate goal of supporting students’ academic progress and achievement of life goals.

Dr. Butler-Johnson is a Licensed Psychologist who provides psychotherapy services to students and runs the Starting Early, Starting Smart women’s retention initiative. Dr. Butler-Johnson has also served as the Project Director of the Mental Health Pilot Project grant award from the Morehouse School of Medicine, the coordinator of the Concerned Student Leaders Experience, and an Instructor for the Freshman Orientation Course. Prior to joining the Counseling & Student Development Center at UDC in 2006, Dr. Butler-Johnson provided psychotherapy and psychological assessment at a variety of facilities, including the Westborough State Hospital, the American University Counseling Center, the Washington Middle School for Girls, and the GW Center Clinic.

Dr. Butler-Johnson received her Doctorate in Psychology (Psy.D.) from The George Washington University and her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Emory University in Atlanta, GA. Dr. Butler’s clinical interests include individual psychotherapy, relationship issues, anxiety, depression, eating disorders and body image, self-esteem, women’s issues, and multicultural issues.

In her clinical approach, Dr. Butler-Johnson believes that clients empower themselves by using therapy to develop insight, better understand and modify dysfunctional patterns, and to ultimately discover more rewarding ways of living and relating to others. Dr. Butler-Johnson emphasizes the importance of the therapeutic relationship in promoting growth, change, and healing.

Dr. Fardis was born in a bi-cultural, bilingual family in Iran and experienced first hand the social upheaval and political turmoil of the last 3 decades of the country. He completed his medical training in Mashad University of Medical Sciences and practiced medicine in ethnically diverse areas of the country. As a physician, he noted that a great number of patients in general practice benefit from counseling and therapy and decided to pursue a career in psychology. He came to the United States and earned his PhD in clinical psychology from The University of

Montana. He then completed his clinical training in the New York metro area emphasizing on systems issues and service delivery to underprivileged populations.

In therapy, he draws primarily upon psychodynamic, family systems, and cognitive behavioral orientations. Dr. Fardis is a firm believer that humans have a natural drive for self betterment and therefore, one of the main goals in therapy is to identify and address the obstacles that people face on their path to excellence. A majority of these obstacles have a relational nature and could stem from early environments, nuclear and extended family relationships (current and historical), and underlying sociopolitical trends.

Clinically, Dr. Fardis is interested in multicultural issues in therapy, relationships, family dynamics, and cross-cultural communication. He believes that contextual factors play as crucial a role as individual and intrapsychic ones and hence, makes all effort to tackle both. He is also a strong advocate of public discourse and education, and dissemination of knowledge. To this end, he has presented talks and workshops in a variety of settings on the issues pertinent to social and individual psychology. He has had had various academic positions such as associate professor in Mashad University of Medical Sciences and psychology instructor at The University of Montana.In addition to clinical work, Dr. Fardis is the coordinator for TEAM 100 at the University of the District of Columbia, a retention program intending to prevent premature withdrawal from college by providing a network of academic and social support to 100 of the incoming freshman every academic year.

Avetta M. White
Counselor

Ms. White has worked for the University of the District of Columbia Division of Student Affairs since September 2005. In June 2006, Ms. White was brought on board as a Counselor in the Counseling & Career Development Center. A native of Alexandria, Virginia, Ms. White earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from Longwood College and obtained her Master’s Degree in Professional Counseling from Argosy University. Prior to working at UDC, Ms. White worked for organizations such as

STRIVE DC, TESST College, MAXIMUS, Inc. and George Mason University. She served within these organizations as a counselor, career advisor, mentor, instructor and recruiter in many capacities, working particularly hard in the areas of serving underserved populations, personnel and traditional/non-traditional college students. Ms. White is a hard working, ambitious and dedicated individual whose mission is to serve the needs of the UDC student body and community. As a young black professional, Ms. White hopes to lead by example, implanting her mark.

Currently, as a counselor within the Counseling and Career Development Center, Dr. Sandra Shands-Strong is primarily responsible for assisting students in meeting their academic, career, and personal goals. She is a native Washingtonian, who attended the D.C. Public Schools and graduated from Calvin Coolidge High School, before launching into the realm of higher education, from which she earned the following degrees: a B.S. Ed. from Wilberforce University, a M.A. from The

Ohio State University, a Ph.D. from The Ohio State University, and a M.Div. from The Howard University School of Divinity.

Over the past twenty-nine years at the University of the District of Columbia, Dr. Shands-Strong has served in the following capacities: psychometrist, adjunct faculty/instructor, academic advisor, education specialist, research associate, and counselor. After graduating with her M.A. Degree, Dr. Shands-Strong served as a counselor for five years within the University College, Office of Developmental Education at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. Also, outside of the UDC environment, Dr. Shands-Strong has functioned in the following capacities: academic dean, director of planning and assessment, professor, special administrative assistant to the Assistant Vice President for Continuing Education, and pastor of a small congregation. From an empowerment perspective, Dr. Shands-Strong believes in the strength of the will to eradicate the ills of societal and personal systems of dysfunction.

Ms. Sanford is the Staff Assistant of the Counseling and Career Development Center. She has worked with TRIO and College Preparatory Programs for the past ten years here at UDC. Ms. Sanford is working on her Bachelor’s degree at the University. “I am excited about working in the Counseling and Career Development Center”.

Ms. Wilbur brings to the University of the District of Columbia 20 years of experience in administrative work, particularly in the medical field at several hospitals and health centers. She is a graduate of the ICM School of Business, where she earned a certificate in medical office assistance.

Here at UDC, Ms. Wilbur capably assists in the running of the TEAM100 student retention program. Ms. Wilbur says “This is an initiative near and dear to my heart.

There’s nothing more important that helping our students stay in school and make a success of their goals.”

She particularly enjoys her one-on-one contact with students, even volunteering to serve as on-site staff support for several out-of-town student development programs. Ms Wilbur says, “I am blessed to have become a member of a loving family here at UDC.”

When not at UDC, Ms. Wilbur is kept busy by her active eight-year-old son who has now convinced her to study martial arts alongside him. Ms. Wilbur is also the proud mother of two grown daughters.