Award: Distinguished Recent Contributions to Social Work Education Award
Associate Professor, University of Maryland School of Social Work
The 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.