April Lavette Jones, LMSW, PhD

Dr. April Lavette Jones, LMSW, PhD, M.Ed., MS, MSW, BA., is a nationally engaged social work educator, organizational psychologist, licensed master social worker, scholar, and higher education leader whose work advances innovation, equity, and excellence in social work education. She serves at Bellevue University as Associate Professor and Director of Field/Practicum Experience, bringing extensive expertise in online learning, field education, accreditation alignment, instructional design, and technology-enhanced student success.

Prior to joining Bellevue University, Dr. Jones served at Tuskegee University from July 2018 to February 2026, including as Department Head/Chair of Social Work, and earned tenure and promotion to Associate Professor in 2024. Her leadership strengthened curriculum, faculty development, accreditation readiness, field education infrastructure, student support systems, and online program growth, contributing to external recognition of program quality and workforce relevance.

Dr. Jones helped develop and expand innovative undergraduate and graduate social work learning pathways, including the online MSW program, telehealth coursework, embedded telebehavioral health certificate opportunities, and the first distance-learning MSW course in Data Science and Analytics. She is recognized for integrating artificial intelligence, simulation, data science, telehealth, and culturally responsive pedagogy into social work education while maintaining strong grounding in ethics, CSWE competencies, academic integrity, and human-centered practice.

Her recent work includes AI-enabled instructional supports, practicum and capstone coaching tools, student-facing ethical AI guidance, and curriculum models that incorporate EPAS 2022, licensure preparation, trauma-informed principles, ADEI, and Afrocentric/BIPOC-centered clinical practice. She also advanced student wellness and crisis-responsive education through policies and practices supporting mental health, self-care, and trauma-informed campus response.

Dr. Jones’s scholarship and presentations address culturally responsive teaching, global social work education, mixed reality simulation, mental health, social justice, organizational behavior, and emerging technologies in social work education. She is a contributor to the first textbook on Financial Social Work: Micro, Mezzo, and Macro Practice by Reeta Wolfsohn and Matthew L. Schwartz and is among the first to offer the course in a MSW program curriculum. She is a contributing author to CSWE’s Military and Veteran Social Work Curriculum Guide and has served CSWE as a Board of Directors BSW Program Representative, Awards Committee representative, and site visitor. Her professional recognitions include national acknowledgment from the Association of Baccalaureate Social Work Program Directors for excellence in social work education leadership.

Across more than two decades in higher education, behavioral health, government, military, disaster recovery, and community-based settings, Dr. Jones has demonstrated a sustained commitment to building programs, partnerships, and policies that expand opportunity, support student wellness, and strengthen the profession. Notably, she was recognized by the Alabama Commission on Higher Education for her support of the passage of legislation HB56: Board of Social Work Examiners, Scope of Practice of Licenses to facilitate Alabama’s Clinical Social Workers ability to meet mental health needs of all Alabamians. Her leadership reflects the values of social work education: innovation, service, ethical practice, equity, resilience, and preparation of the next generation of social workers.