Published on : June 30, 2025
The Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) is pleased to announce the speakers for the Opening Plenary and the Future of Social Work Plenary at its upcoming Annual Conference in Denver this fall.
The Opening Plenary serves as the official kickoff to the conference, preparing and engaging attendees ahead of the upcoming sessions. Aligning with the conference theme of disability justice and joy, this year's speakers represent the Social Work Disability Justice League. They will engage in meaningful conversation on disability justice and the League's vision for social work and disability. Dr. Tonya Perry, member of the CSWE Board of Directors, will moderate the discussion.
The Future of Social Work Plenary is the final plenary of the Annual Conference, encouraging attendees to explore possible futures and challenges for the profession. It features an expert in the field that provides a forward-looking perspective on social work education, addressing issues that will impact the profession in years to come.
Introducing this year’s speakers:
Opening Plenary
Dr. Vandana Chaudhry, PhD, MPhil, MSW
Vandana Chaudhry is an Associate Professor in the Department of Social Work at the City University of New York, College of Staten Island. Her research focuses on disability in the Global South, digitalization, neoliberal governance, disability justice, and culturally competent practices. Her multi-year ethnographic work explores disability at the nexus of digitalization, development, globalization, and the politics of subject-formation in India, through the examination of digital disability pensions, microfinance and community-based approaches. Her scholarship offers analysis of how big data, algorithmic regimes, and biometric technologies are reshaping disability welfare systems, restricting access to government benefits, and in the process reconfiguring the category of disability.
Dr. Chaudhry has published widely across the disciplines of disability studies, social work, and interdisciplinary social sciences, with her work appearing in Disability and Society, International Social Work, and Qualitative Inquiry, among others. Her article “Living at the Edge: Disability, Gender, and Neoliberal Debtscapes of Microfinance in India” received the 2016 Affilia Award for Distinguished Feminist Scholarship and Praxis in Social Work. Her work has been supported by the Center for Democracy and Technology, Ford Foundation, National Science Foundation, and CUNY, among others.
Dr. Shanna Katz Kattari, PhD, MEd, CSE (they/them)
Dr. Kattari is an associate professor at the University of Michigan School of Social Work and the Women’s and Gender Studies Department (by courtesy), the director of the [Sexuality | Relationships | Gender] Research Collective, and convener of the Social Work Disability Justice League. A white, AuDHD, disabled, chronically ill, queer, fat, nonbinary femme, they are an esteemed researcher, scholar, and advocate whose work has made significant contributions to the fields of social work, health disparities, and LGBTQ+ studies.
With a steadfast commitment to social justice and equity, Dr. Kattari’s research and advocacy efforts have focused on understanding and addressing the unique challenges faced by marginalized communities, particularly within the realms of gender, sexuality, and disability (including neurodiversity).
Dr. Laura J. Wernick, PhD, MPA, LMSW
Laura J. Wernick is an Associate Professor at Fordham University School of Social Service and a life-long organizer/activist. Using predominantly participatory action research, their scholarship uses a disability justice lens to explore how transformative organizing models address intersectional issues of power, oppression, healing and change within their movement organizing.
Dr. Wernick’s work has focused on organizing LGBTQ+ youth, low-income youth of color, young adult activists with wealth, and employers of domestic workers. Their current research is examining ableism & white supremacy culture in the social work academy.
Future of Social Work Plenary
Lieutenant General (Retired) R. Scott Dingle, MSA, MMAS, MSc
Raymond “Scott” Dingle is the U.S. Army’s 45th Surgeon General. He retired on March 1, 2024 as the Surgeon General and the Commanding General of the U.S. Army Medical Command in Washington, D.C. Lt. Gen. Dingle served for over 35 years, including two combat tours in Afghanistan and Iraq. He commanded at every level and led an Army medicine team that comprised of over 120,000 soldiers, civilians, and contractors; while consistently establishing standards for medical care management and operations with a budget over $22 billion.
Lt. Gen. Dingle earned 18 award medals for distinguished service including the Order of Military Medical Merit, the Recruiters Medallion, Honor from the Order of Kentucky Colonels, and the Army Surgeon General’s prestigious 9A Proficiency Designator.
He is a distinguished military graduate of Morgan State University. His degrees include a Master of Science in Administration from Central Michigan University, a Master of Military Arts and Science from the School of Advanced Military Studies, and a Master of Science in National Security Strategy from the National War College. He and his wife, Sonja, have been married for 37 years and have four children and two grandsons.
CSWE’s 71st Annual Conference takes place between October 23 and 26 in Denver. The preeminent event in social work education, this year's conference features conversations around disability joy and the disability justice principles of intersectionality, interdependence, centering those most impacted, mutual aid, cross movement solidarity, recognizing wholeness, commitment to cross-disability solidarity, sustainability, collective access, collective liberation, and opposition to oppressive systems.
Founded in 1952, CSWE is the national association representing social work education in the United States. Its members include more than 900 accredited baccalaureate and master’s degree social work programs and their affiliated social work educators, students, and staff, as well as practitioners and agencies dedicated to advancing quality social work education. Through its many initiatives, activities, and centers, CSWE supports quality social work education and provides opportunities for leadership and professional development so that social workers are empowered to play a central role in achieving the profession’s goals of social and economic justice. CSWE’s Board of Accreditation is recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation as the sole accrediting agency for social work education in the United States and its territories.