Social work asks people to stay present in the most complex and challenging moments. That requires more than knowledge or technical skill—it calls for the capacity to stay grounded, connected, and responsive in the face of pain, conflict, and uncertainty. At the UConn School of Social Work, Associate Professor Caitlin Elsaesser helps students cultivate that capacity through the contemplative practice of mindfulness.

The UConn American Association of University Professors Chapter recognized Elsaesser with a 2026 UConn AAUP Excellence Award in Teaching Innovation for her integration of mindfulness into the School of Social Work’s curriculum.

“Dr. Elsaesser uses mindfulness as a serious and innovative method to help students cultivate presence, compassion, self-awareness, and the relational skills necessary for social work,” says School of Social Work Assistant Professor Gio Iacono. “In her teaching, mindfulness becomes a way for students to slow down, listen more deeply, and reconnect to their values, thereby strengthening their connection to themselves and to one another.”

Iacono, who nominated Elsaesser for the AAUP Teaching Innovation Award, collaborated with her in the development and teaching of their Socially Engaged Mindfulness: Mindfulness for Social Change course and in the creation of their eight-week Socially Engaged Mindfulness curriculum.

“Through this work, I have seen firsthand that Dr. Elsaesser is an extraordinary teacher whose classrooms are intellectually rigorous, deeply relational, and genuinely transformative for students,” he says. “What most distinguishes Dr. Elsaesser’s teaching is her profound ability to create the conditions in which students experience both a profound sense of belonging and a greater sense of their own agency.”

Dr. Elsaesser uses mindfulness as a serious and innovative method to help students cultivate presence, compassion, self-awareness, and the relational skills necessary for social work. — Assistant Professor Gio Iacono

Similarly, Professor Lisa Werkmeister Rozas credits Elsaesser with integrating mindfulness, embodiment, and critical reflection into her teaching to deepen students’ capacity for critical consciousness and action.

“Dr. Elsaesser’s use of mindfulness is not apolitical, individualized, or detached from structural analysis. Rather, it functions as a pedagogical strategy that helps students recognize how power operates in and through themselves, their relationships, and their institutions,” Werkmeister Rozas says. “By slowing down, reflecting, and engaging relationally, students are better able to notice defensiveness, confront privilege, tolerate discomfort, and participate more fully in collective learning.”

A mindfulness practitioner since 2014, Elsaesser’s scholarship also focuses on adolescent well-being and resilience, youth participatory action research and community-based methods, and culture centered health initiatives.

She is co-principal investigator of a UConn- and Trust for Meditation–funded study, Socially Engaged Mindfulness: Inner Transformation to Support Outer Transformation, which examines how contemplative practice supports sustainable engagement in social change. She recently completed a CDC-funded K01 Mentored Research Scientist Development Award as principal investigator. Working in partnership with COMPASS Youth Collaborative—a Hartford violence prevention agency—and youth co-researchers, she explored the core components of health supports for young people navigating social media conflict that can spill into offline violence.

Elsaesser co-edited a special issue of the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, Leveraging Inner Transformation for Social Transformation, on participatory approaches to mindfulness-based intervention development, helping to advance the integration of culture-centered community-engaged methods within contemplative science.

From a vantage point as a doctoral student and Engaged Mindfulness co-instructor, Vivien Roman-Hampton, MSW, LICSW notes how Elsaesser prepares students for the human work of social work —work that calls for presence, reflection, and courage.

“Watching her teach has expanded my own understanding of what is possible in higher education,” Roman-Hampton says. “I saw how she gently but firmly challenged students to move beyond purely intellectual engagement and into embodied awareness. At times, this felt unfamiliar or uncomfortable for students, but with care, it led to deeper grounding and a profound sense of belonging.”