Nancy G. Calleja is professor and chair of the Department of Counseling and Addiction Studies at the University of Detroit Mercy. Calleja teaches advanced issues in addiction counseling, program development and evaluation, diagnosis and treatment planning, critical issues in counseling, legal issues and consultation. Calleja received her doctorate in Counseling from Wayne State University in 2001 and is a licensed professional counselor (LPC).

Calleja’s work has focused on marginalized individuals in the juvenile justice, child welfare and public mental health systems. She has worked as a clinician, clinical supervisor and administrator for more than three decades in the non-profit human services, and continues to do so. Calleja has developed several comprehensive treatment programs for marginalized adults and youth with substance use and serious mental health disorders. She specializes in the clinical treatment of juvenile offenders, including juveniles with sexual behavior problems. Calleja consults nationally with governmental and non-profit organizations on business planning, program development and program evaluation.

Calleja’s work has been widely recognized and supported by 20 federal and foundation grants and contracts totalling more than $8 million.  Her funded work has centered on clinical practice research, training health providers in addiction and integrated health care, and treatment program development and evaluation.  She has more than forty (40) scholarly publications including 30 journal articles.

Calleja’s third book, Fundamentals of Addiction Counseling:  An Introduction to Clinical Practice, co-written with Elvita Kondili, was just published by Cognella Press.

The second edition of Calleja’s text, Program Development in the 21st Century, was published in 2024.

She is a member of the Michigan Child Welfare Health Advisory Committee, past chair of the Licensure Committee, Michigan Counseling Association, past chair of the Ethics Committee, Michigan Counseling Association and past president of the Michigan Association of Counselor Educators and Supervisors. Calleja is a peer reviewer/panelist for the Department of Justice, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and the Health Resources and Services Administration.  Calleja received the 2019-2020 Faculty Excellence Award, recognized for excellence as a scholar at University of Detroit Mercy. She joined the University in 2002.