Image of Dr. Cathryne L. Schmitz
Award: Significant Lifetime Achievement in Social Work Education Award
Cathryne L. Schmitz, PhD, MSW, is a Professor Emerita in the Department of Social Work at the University of North Carolina Greensboro (UNCG). Across her career, she has been committed to community, collective action, advocacy, and social change. The core areas of her scholarship reflect her overall career development–critical multiculturalism, ecological justice, analysis of the privilege/oppression nexus, mentoring for leadership, interdisciplinary education, community building, global engagement, human rights, and peacebuilding.
She has been engaged in intercultural global teaching, environmental education, knowledge building, and curriculum development. She is a co-author of several books that cover these areas: Mentoring Women for Leadership: Empowering the Next Generation; The Intersection of Environmental Justice, Climate Change, Community, and the Ecology of Life; and Critical Multiculturalism and Intersectionality in a Complex World. Through her cross-disciplinary appointments with the Department of Peace and Conflict Studies and the Program in Women and Gender Studies she expanded her vision. She further contributes to, and learns from, her work in the community and with the UNCG Center for New North Carolinians.
For three decades, Dr. Schmitz learned as she educated social workers. Her investment in social work at the undergraduate, masters, and doctoral levels continues as she supports and encourages students and faculty. Her commitment to the profession is demonstrated through her service to CSWE, including her work on the Commission on Diversity and Social and Economic Justice, the Council on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and Expression, and the Committee on Environmental Justice, where she was instrumental in bringing environmental injustice and climate concerns to the forefront.
Working within communities, including academic communities, her values of collaboration and mutual learning intensified. Change, systemic and interpersonal, requires reciprocal mentoring. Having worked across diversity, she experienced the wisdom of creating spaces for nurturing mutual growth. This commitment is deeply intertwined with her dedication to anti-racist and anti-oppressive practice and education. Dr. Schmitz is dedicated to guiding faculty, particularly women, as they navigate the challenges of social work practice, academia, and administration. The co-authored book on mentoring women exemplifies her collaborative work. In joining forces to write as a team, “we expand the growth as we learn from each other.”
Dr. Schmitz’s commitment to social work’s vision and mission are seen across her life’s work and the impact that she has on the profession and the work for racial, social, and environmental justice.
She has been engaged in intercultural global teaching, environmental education, knowledge building, and curriculum development. She is a co-author of several books that cover these areas: Mentoring Women for Leadership: Empowering the Next Generation; The Intersection of Environmental Justice, Climate Change, Community, and the Ecology of Life; and Critical Multiculturalism and Intersectionality in a Complex World. Through her cross-disciplinary appointments with the Department of Peace and Conflict Studies and the Program in Women and Gender Studies she expanded her vision. She further contributes to, and learns from, her work in the community and with the UNCG Center for New North Carolinians.
For three decades, Dr. Schmitz learned as she educated social workers. Her investment in social work at the undergraduate, masters, and doctoral levels continues as she supports and encourages students and faculty. Her commitment to the profession is demonstrated through her service to CSWE, including her work on the Commission on Diversity and Social and Economic Justice, the Council on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and Expression, and the Committee on Environmental Justice, where she was instrumental in bringing environmental injustice and climate concerns to the forefront.
Working within communities, including academic communities, her values of collaboration and mutual learning intensified. Change, systemic and interpersonal, requires reciprocal mentoring. Having worked across diversity, she experienced the wisdom of creating spaces for nurturing mutual growth. This commitment is deeply intertwined with her dedication to anti-racist and anti-oppressive practice and education. Dr. Schmitz is dedicated to guiding faculty, particularly women, as they navigate the challenges of social work practice, academia, and administration. The co-authored book on mentoring women exemplifies her collaborative work. In joining forces to write as a team, “we expand the growth as we learn from each other.”
Dr. Schmitz’s commitment to social work’s vision and mission are seen across her life’s work and the impact that she has on the profession and the work for racial, social, and environmental justice.