Hillary Cole
Associate Professor & Department Chair, Social Work & Criminal Justice
Associate Professor & Department Chair, Social Work & Criminal Justice
Social Work and Criminal Justice
Professor Cole joined Olivet’s full-time faculty in 2015. She teaches classes on social work practice, aging, human behavior in the social environment, and human diversity. Her licensure as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker is from the State of Illinois.
Her most recent professional experiences includes providing social services to World War II, Korean War, and Vietnam War veterans and their families at Thomson-Hood Veterans Center in Wilmore, Kentucky. Prior to that she was lead case manager in the Senior Services Department of Catholic Charities, Diocese of Joliet, in Kankakee, Illinois, where she coordinated services for seniors to remain independent in their own homes.
Fluent in Spanish, Professor Cole was a bilingual therapist for child survivors of sexual assault at Kankakee County Center Against Sexual Assault (KC-CASA) in Kankakee, Illinois. For one year, she served as a volunteer missionary with the Church of the Nazarene in Quito, Ecuador, assisting college students studying abroad. As an Olivet student, she studied abroad in Spain and traveled to several European countries.
She is a member of Phi Alpha Social Work Honor Society and Sigma Delta Pi Spanish Honor Society.
Her Doctor of Social Work (DSW) dissertation work focused on integrating spirituality and religion content into undergraduate social work curriculum. She is passionate about helping social work students learn to understand and appreciate, effectively assess, and appropriately incorporate client spirituality into their every-day practice.
Professor Cole enjoys photography using her Nikon D5100. For leisure time and relaxation, she especially enjoys reading spiritual formation books. You may also find her in the kitchen, eating chocolate peanut butter ice cream or baking with her family for the holidays. Journaling and exploring the beauty of nature outdoors are two of her favorite activities. And coffee makes every day better, in her opinion.
She and Ian were married in 2008. They are the parents of one son, Elijah, and one daughter, Josephine.