Harkmore Lee, MSW

Harkmore Lee, MSW is the Director of Simulation, Research, and Training Program at California State University, Los Angeles (Cal State LA). In 2013, Harkmore designed and built the first Residential Simulation Lab in California that specifically supports the training of new child welfare social workers from the L.A. County Dept. of Child and Family Services and the University Consortium on Children and Families (UCCF).

This new innovative training model developed at Cal State L.A. is now being replicated by other universities, training academies, and child welfare agencies around California and the U.S. Harkmore is also expanding his simulation program to other disciplines and professions, from kinesiology to criminal justice – making Cal State LA’s program one of this first of its kind to develop interdisciplinary simulation training practices. Before his current role at Cal State LA, Harkmore worked in the nonprofit/public sector for nearly 18 years at several nonprofit agencies – all focused on the health and well-being of children, women, and families.

Harkmore has served as a statewide trainer and executive coach in areas such as board member development, strategic planning, supervision, employee development, and budgeting. He is adjunct faculty member at Cal State University-Northridge and Cal State LA teaching at both the graduate and undergraduate level in nonprofit management, human resources, cultural competence, and social work practices. He served as an Associate Director of a L.A. based domestic violence and rape crisis shelter, as well as Chief Operating Officer of a community YMCA.

He also is a professional fundraiser and grant writer, managing and supporting annual giving programs, special events, donor cultivation programs, grant development and capital campaigns (primarily in the healthcare sector). And he has worked as a child welfare social worker at Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services. Harkmore received both his B.A. and M.S.W. degrees from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.