2017 Professional Recognition Award Recipients
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Significant Lifetime Achievement in Social Work Education Award
Dr. June HoppsThomas J. Parham Professor, Graduate School of Social Work at the University of GeorgiaThe Significant Lifetime Achievement in Social Work Education Award is presented to Dr. June Hopps, Thomas J. Parham Professor, Graduate School of Social Work at the University of Georgia.
Dr. Hopps has dedicated her life to issues of race, inequality, social justice, and human and civil rights. She is a leading authority on public policy for children and families and was instrumental in establishing the Donald L. Hollowell Professorship at the University of Georgia along with other initiatives. Dr. Hopps was the first African American to serve as dean at the Boston College Graduate School of Social Work and as editor-in-chief of NASW’s journal, Social Work.
An iconic leader, historical figure, and social change agent in social work and social policy, Dr. Hopps’ career is distinguished by activism through community and scholarly engagement to dismantle racist, oppressive beliefs and practices in social service and other realms. This activism is reflected in Dr. Hopps’ eminence as a policy scholar and her prolific, transformative, antioppressive scholarship including her book, Social Work at the Millennium: Critical Reflections on the Future of the Profession and articles focused on race, social justice, civil rights, and the social work profession.
Dr. Hopps has provided tireless leadership, mentorship, and service over the course of her career, including during her 24-year tenure as dean at Boston College, where she is credited with fostering the growth and excellence of the Graduate School of Social Work. She has served on numerous university, community, and governmental boards, committees, and commissions, lending her public policy expertise to bridge the gap between the academy and public services.
Dr. Hopps is the recipient of numerous awards for her leadership and contributions, including NASW’s award for Outstanding Leadership in the Social Work Profession, the establishment of the June Gary Hopps Graduate Fellowship at Boston College, and the proclamation of June Gary Hopps Day by the state of Massachusetts.
Dr. Hopps’ distinguished and extensive contributions as an educator, scholar, and leader to transform policy and bring attention to oppression and injustice make her a worthy recipient of this prestigious award. -
Distinguished Recent Contributions to Social Work Education Award
Dr. Kathryn CollinsAssociate Professor, University of Maryland School of Social WorkThe 2017 Distinguished Recent Contributions to Social Work Education Award is presented to Dr. Kathryn Collins, associate professor at the University of Maryland School of Social Work.
Dr. Collins’ accomplishments in research and scholarship, pedagogy, curriculum development, and organizational leadership are impressive. She focuses on social justice; disparities in access to trauma-based mental health services; and the development of interventions for vulnerable and oppressed children, women, and families living in poverty and experiencing inner city violence. She has more than 19 years of practice experience with children and families. This experience has influenced her research such that she has been the principal investigator (PI) or co-PI on state and nationally funded research on mental health. She received an extramural research award from the National Institutes of Health’s National Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities. She is currently a co-PI on a Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration-funded National Child Traumatic Stress Network Family Informed Trauma Treatment Center project, and a PI on the Trauma Education Connections Initiative. She is a co-developer of a trauma-informed intervention, Trauma Adapted Family Connections. She has authored 23 publications, six book chapters, and several conference presentations.
Dr. Collins brings practice and research experience to the classroom and has received teaching awards that include a letter of recognition at the University of South Carolina, the Provost’s Teaching Excellence Award at the University of Pittsburgh, and a Dean’s Exemplary Teaching Award at the University of Maryland. She has contributed to the pedagogy and curriculum development at the University of Maryland, including the development and teaching of trauma skills courses. Dr. Collins serves on the Student Review and Faculty Executive Committees and previously served on the Faculty Senate, the Human Subjects, Master's Program, Field Education, Clinical Concentration, and the Vice President Search Committees. She serves on the National Child Traumatic Stress Network's Core Curriculum in Trauma Treatment and CSWE's Core Competencies in Trauma taskforces. Previously, she served on CSWE's Council on the Role and Status of Women in Social Work Education. For her work with CSWE she has received awards for mentoring and leadership.
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Service and Leadership in Social Work Education Award
Dr. Phyllis BlackProfessor & Director, MSW Program Lehigh Valley, Marywood UniversityThe Service and Leadership in Social Work Education Award is presented to Dr. Phyllis Black, MSW, PhD, ACSW, LSW. Dr. Black’s leadership and service have expanded our thinking about the nature of education for social work practice with integrity, substance, and commitment.
Having received her BA and MSW at McGill University and her doctorate from the National Catholic School of Social Services, Dr. Black has taught for the past 50 years. She has a passion for serving by educating future social workers and mentoring current social workers. Dr. Black’s leadership as chair of the CSWE chair of the Commission on Curriculum and Educational Innovation resulted in the important shift from a content to a competency-based framework for social work education in the 2008 CSWE Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS). She has published extensively, particularly in the areas of ethics in social work practice.
Dr. Black’s scholarship is focused on ethics in social work practice and issues related to social work education. She is a member of the NASW PA Committee on Ethics and served three terms on the CSWE Board of Directors. As a member of the CSWE Commission on Accreditation, she participated in drafting the standards for the 2015 EPAS. Dr. Black has received Outstanding Teaching Awards from Catholic University and Chestnut Hill College, the Marywood University Distinguished Faculty Award, a Distinguished Alumna Award from Catholic University, the NASW Lifetime Achievement Award, and is a Social Work Pioneer. -
Service and Leadership in Social Work Education Award
Mildred Carter JoynerEmerita Director and Professor, West Chester UniversityThe Service and Leadership in Social Work Education Award is presented to Mildred "Mit" Joyner. Throughout her professional career, equality and justice for all has been Joyner’s core mission, best exemplified in her leadership and service to advance social work education.
Joyner began teaching in 1978 at West Chester University of Pennsylvania (WCU), becoming director/chair of the department in 1981, and taught social work courses for more than 29 years. In her leadership role as director, she was the catalyst in the development of the MSW program, the first accredited MSW program in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education.
Currently, Joyner serves as vice president of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW). She is the immediate past board chair of the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) and concurrently served on the board of the International Association for Schools of Social Work. Previously, she was president of the Association of Baccalaureate Social Work Program Directors (BPD) and was appointed by the governor of Pennsylvania to the State Board of Social Work Licensure.
Joyner is the first and only African American and the first woman elected to serve on the board of the community bank DNBFIRST. She also is a board member of the Chester County Food Bank and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute’s SoulMates Advisory Board in Boston, MA.
The Mit Joyner Gerontology Leadership Award was named in her honor in 2005 by AGE-SW for her leadership for inclusion of gerontology in baccalaureate education. In 2011 she received the BPD Lifetime Achievement Award and the Living Beyond Breast Cancer Founders Award for excellence in leadership and stewardship. In 2012 Howard University honored Joyner with the Dr. Inabel Burns Lindsay Award for her leadership and commitment to social justice. In March 2013 Central State University inducted her into the Hall of Fame as a Distinguished Alumna, and in that same year Joyner was named an NASW Social Work Pioneer.
Joyner co-authored two books, Critical Multicultural Social Work (2008) and Caregivers for Persons Living With HIV/AIDS in Kenya: An Ecological Perspective (2011), and has delivered hundreds of presentations around the globe. Her most recent scholarly contribution is a co-authored paper related to the Grand Challenges in Social Work Initiatives, "Increasing Success of African American Children and Youths" (with Martell Teasley, Ruth McRoy, Marilyn Amour, Ruby Gourdine, Sandra Crewe, Michael Kelly, Cynthia Franklin, Macheo Payne, John Jackson, Jr., and Rowena Fong).