Dr. Sandhya Rao Hermon

Sandhya Rao Hermon joined the County of Santa Clara Social Services Agency (SSA) in March 2018. Sandhya has over two decades of research and evaluation experience in the fields of substance abuse treatment, learning and development, social work education, and workforce development.

Sandhya has a Bachelor's in Psychology and English Literature, a Master's and a doctorate in Experimental Psychology.

Prior to joining the SSA, she had served as Director of Research and Evaluation at the California Social Work Education Center (CalSWEC) at the University of California, Berkeley, focusing on social work workforce development, organizational change and the evaluation of learning. Sandhya also spent over a decade in the private sector conducting training evaluation and organizational development. After working as a researcher at UC Berkeley, several steps removed from the clients and communities she served, Sandhya wanted to move to a role that would allow her to apply her research and leadership in a manner that would directly impact vulnerable clients. She was delighted to find such an opportunity within the SSA.

Sandhya's goals include making SSA more data informed through the implementation of rigorous evaluations at a programmatic level and the development of a robust research agenda that helps move the field of Social Services forward. She is also committed to building a healthy, data-informed workplace, and linking worker well-being to client outcomes.

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