Image of Dr. Suk-hee Kim

Award: Distinguished Recent Contributions to Social Work Education Award

Associate Professor, Northern Kentucky University School of Social Work

CSWE will give the 2021 Distinguished Recent Contributions to Social Work Education Award to Suk-hee Kim, PhD, COI, MSW, associate professor and site coordinator of the Public Child Welfare Certificate State Program in the School of Social Work at Northern Kentucky University (NKU). Dr. Kim is also an active faculty fellow for the Institute for Health Innovation at NKU.

Dr. Kim is a proactive scholar, researcher, and educator in gerontological research and opioid addiction studies. She developed NKU’s transdisciplinary approach to an aging-specific curriculum and, with her colleagues, guided the creation of NKU’s gerontology microcredentials and social entrepreneurship microcredential. She received an award for her Rising Hope for Aging Project, a community-based learning initiative that connects NKU students with residents at a low-income housing unit for senior citizens. With support and collaboration across the campus community, Dr. Kim played a significant role in helping NKU earn the Age-Friendly University designation in 2020, making NKU the first institution in the region to join the international effort to increase accessibility and support services for students of all ages.

Dr. Kim has served on diversity focused councils, advisory boards, and committees at the university, regional, and national levels. She received the CSWE Council on the Role and Status of Women in Social Work Education Community Impact Award in 2020; the CSWE Community Partnership Action Inaugural Award in 2019, focused on opioid addiction; and the Korean American Social Work Educators Association Middle Career Achievement Award in 2020. She has served on the CSWE Council on Racial, Ethnic, and Cultural Diversity; is a certified CSWE accreditation site visitor; and is a reviewer for the Journal of Social Work Education.

Dr. Kim has been awarded grants by the U.S. Department of Justice (Comprehensive Site-Based Opioid Research) and the Health Resources and Services Administration (Rural Community Collaborative Addiction Treatment Initiative), among others. She is very actively involved with high school students through the IHI Teen Health Science Cafés. 

Dr. Kim received her joint PhD in social work from the University of Kentucky and University of Louisville and her MSW in social work from Boston University. She joined the NKU faculty in 2014.