Ellen Rossano

Ellen Rossano has come to the University of Tennessee Knoxville by way of Boston, Massachusetts. She earned her original bachelor’s degree from Providence College in Rhode Island, and after moving here almost 8 years ago, she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology (Counseling) at Maryville College in 2023 and a Master of Science in Social Work at UTK in 2026.

After almost 30 years working in some capacity in emergency management, she developed a deep interest in fire service mental health. More fire fighters die by suicide than on the job, and although the fire service in general recognizes there is a mental health crisis in their ranks, senior officers are at a loss about where to begin to address it.

Ellen’s research focus is to determine the causes for such a high suicide rate and to advance the research available to identify and test evidence-based treatment models to determine what might be the most effective in treating this population.

Ellen is a U.S. Coast Guard veteran, and is married to Graham, who is a U.S. Navy veteran and currently a civilian nuclear engineer. Their son James lives in Hingham, Massachusetts.