Dr. Iris Carlton-LaNey

The Significant Lifetime Achievement in Social Work Education Award is presented to Dr. Iris Carlton-LaNey. Dr. Carlton-LaNey is the Berg-Beach Distinguished Professor of Community Social Work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She received her bachelor’s degree in social work from North Carolina A&T State University, where the complex themes of inclusivity and social justice were nurtured. She received her AM in social work from the University of Chicago and her PhD from the University of Maryland at Baltimore. Her research interests include aging issues and African American social welfare history. Dr. Carlton-LaNey has several books to her credit, including Preserving and Strengthening Small Towns and Rural Communities (with Edwards & Reid) and African American Leadership: An Empowerment Tradition in Social Welfare History.

In 2003 Dr. Carlton-LaNey was the recipient of the Council on Social Work Education’s Distinguished Recent Contributions in Social Work Education Award. In 2010 she received the National Association of Black Social Workers’ Distinguished Achievement in Social Work Education Award. In 2011 the CSWE Council on the Role and Status of Women in Social Work Education named her the Feminist Scholarship Honoree, and the Sisters of the Academy (SOTA) presented her with their inaugural Legacy Award. In 2012 the University of Maryland at Baltimore School of Social Work identified Dr. Carlton-LaNey as one of its 50 Heroes for Justice, and in 2015 the National Association of Social Workers named her a Social Work Pioneer. North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper appointed Dr. Carlton-LaNey to the North Carolina Social Services Commission in 2017, and NASW-NC selected her as the 2018 Social Worker of the Year. Dr. Carlton-LaNey is committed to social work education that reflects the critical responsibility we have to take action for social justice.