Anthony Nicotera, J.D., DSW, LCSW, C-SSWS

Assistant Professor of Social Work
Department of Social Work

With over 25 years of experience as an educator, leader, clinician, and social justice advocate, Dr. Nicotera is passionate about helping people heal, and advancing human rights, social, economic, and environmental justice through teaching, research, and practice. He holds a Doctor of Social Work (DSW) degree from Rutgers University, a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from DePaul University, a Master of Social Work (MSW) degree from Loyola University of Chicago, and Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) and Certified School Social Work Specialist (C-SSWS) credentials from the State of New Jersey.

As an Assistant Professor at Seton Hall University, Dr. Nicotera teaches courses in policy, social problems, race and bias, law and social work, and social justice. He also designed and teaches a service-learning core curriculum course, and co-founded and co-directs SHU's Catholic Social Thought (CST) in Action Academy which exists at the intersection of Catholic studies and social work. He helps oversee Seton Hall's Policy and Justice Certificate Program and Social Work and Law Program. He serves the country's oldest, largest, multifaith peace and justice organization, the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR-USA), of which Nobel Peace Laureates Jane Addams and Dr. King are legacy members, in its mission of promoting nonviolence, reconciliation, and the building of the Beloved Community.

Prior to coming to Seton Hall, Dr. Nicotera partnered with Vietnamese Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay), nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Dr. King, to coproduce the mixed-media films Planting Seeds of Mindfulness for Children, a favorite at the Illuminate Film Festival, and The 5 Powers Revolution, which won best film at The People's Film Festival in Harlem, NY.  He also helped found Newark New Jersey's Cristo Rey High School and practiced as a clinical social worker, working primarily with gang involved and affected young people. He served as Chaplain to the College of Law and School for New Learning via DePaul University's Center for Spirituality and Values in Practice, which he co-founded. He also co-founded, and designed and taught numerous courses in DePaul's Peace, Conflict Resolution, and Social Justice Studies program.

Dr. Nicotera has led scores of workshops, presentations, retreats, and healing circles, and he has presented on panels pertaining to spirituality and social work, CST and social work, social and racial justice, nonviolent peacemaking, public policy, and nonprofit leadership and management. He was interviewed for the PBS documentary Where We Stood: Chicago's Resistance to the War on Iraq, nominated for an Emmy. He was featured in articles on academics and activism and the living out of Dr. King's nonviolent vision in the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun Times. Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Mairead Maguire invited him to speak at a peace-building conference in Belfast, N.I. Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson, Arun Gandhi invited him to present workshops at Gandhi Institute conferences, where he co-presented with youth leaders.

Dr. Nicotera spent six years as a member of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), a religious order in the Roman Catholic tradition. As a Jesuit, he completed the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises, a thirty-day silent retreat, and worked internationally and domestically in prisons, hospice facilities, inner-city parishes and schools, and legal and social service centers. He worked with, and served on the Board of, the Brothers and Sisters of Love, a gang ministry and outreach program in Chicago. He also lived in Latin America, working with community organizations and victims of war and violence, and he lived and worked in Calcutta, India with Saint Mother Teresa.

After leaving the Jesuits, he lived and worked at the Camden, NJ Leavenhouse Community, modeled on Servant of God Dorothy Day’s Catholic Worker communities, serving the homeless and hungry. He also worked as a clinical social worker at Guadalupe Family Services in Camden, founding Together Across Generations, a program dedicated to building stronger ties between disadvantaged youth and the grandparents raising them.

Based on his research of indigenous peacemaking circle processes, CST, Aristotelian philosophical traditions, social inquiry processes, and restorative and social justice theory, he created the Circle of Insight, www.circleofinsight.org, a See, Reflect, Act pedagogical framework and process for the practice of peace, justice, and transformative love. The Circle of Insight serves as a resource for educators, advocates, and practitioners seeking to invite deeper healing, compassion, transformation, and social justice. Dr. Nicotera has published several articles and book chapters describing and applying the Circle of Insight process and has presented nationally and internationally on the ways in which the Circle process can help move us individually and collectively toward deeper liberation, justice, and transformative love and Beloved Community.

Dr. Nicotera’s skills and interests include: educational and nonprofit leadership and management; policy advocacy and practice; public interest and human rights law; mediation and conflict resolution; clinical social work; curriculum development; program design and evaluation; civic engagement; mindfulness meditation and practice; and the intersection of spirituality, religion, CST, and social work and mental health and well-being. He also is a vegan and enjoys yoga, going to the gym, sports, music, and singing and playing the guitar. He is inspired and challenged daily by Thich Nhat Hanh’s insight that we are here to awaken from our illusion of separateness, Saint Mother Teresa’s invitation to do little things with great love, and his mother’s mantra, from the Gospel of Luke 12:48, “From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required.” He is deeply grateful for opportunities he has been given and the love and mentoring of so many. Thus, he seeks to live and share the abundant love and learning he has received with students, colleagues, his Seton Hall family, and all with whom he walks and works.