Published on : April 12, 2018
ALEXANDRIA, VA—The Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2018 Professional Recognition Awards. The three awards are the Significant Lifetime Achievement in Social Work Education Award, the Distinguished Recent Contributions to Social Work Education Award, and the Service and Leadership in Social Work Education Award. Recipients will be honored during CSWE’s Annual Program Meeting, November 8–11, 2018, in Orlando, FL.
Significant Lifetime Achievement in Social Work Education Award
This award, recognizing an educator's achievements over his or her entire career, will be presented to Dr. Mimi Abramovitz, professor of social policy at Silberman School of Social Work, Hunter College, City University of New York.
Abramovitz is as an educator, scholar, social critic, and activist who has authored award-winning books, more than 80 academic articles, and hundreds of conference presentations that have influenced students, faculty practitioners, and public officials all over the world. Abramovitz co-founded the Welfare Rights Initiative at Hunter College and is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards. Read her full bio.
Distinguished Recent Contributions to Social Work Education Award
Recognizing a social work educator’s achievements in the last 10 years, this award will be presented to Dr. Lisa de Saxe Zerden, senior associate dean for master of social work education at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill School of Social Work.
Zerden's work focuses on the emerging role of social work in integrated behavioral health and is supported by the Health Resources & Services Administration and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Her research and scholarship have concentrated on drug use and risk behaviors related to HIV/AIDS. Read her full bio.
Service and Leadership in Social Work Education Award
This award, recognizing a social work educator’s service excellence over time that advances, promotes, and provides a significant contribution to extend the reach of social work education, will be presented to Mr. Tracy Soska, Community, Organization, and Social Action chair and continuing education director at the School of Social Work, University of Pittsburgh.
Soska is a founder of the Continuing Education Directors’ Network in schools of social work. He has served on CSWE’s Commission on Membership and Professional Development and Council on Conferences and Faculty Development, and he initiated the University–Community Partnerships track at the CSWE Annual Program Meeting. Soska has presented numerous conference papers on the topics of university–community engagement, community/citizen leadership development, and research/service learning. He is an editor of the Journal of Community Practice. Read his full bio.
“To be gathered at CSWE’s Annual Program Meeting and to have the opportunity to celebrate our most esteemed colleagues is a tremendous honor,” says Darla Spence Coffey, president and CEO of CSWE. “This year, our awardees were selected from a most impressive pool of our field’s most prestigious contributors, and I remain in awe of all the good work that we have an opportunity to highlight with these professional awards.”
For more information about our past awardees, please visit here.
ABOUT CSWE
Founded in 1952, the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) is the national association representing social work education in the United States. Its members include more than 750 accredited baccalaureate and master’s degree social work programs, as well as individual social work educators, 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 play a central role in achieving the profession’s goals of social and economic justice. CSWE’s Commission on 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. Learn more at www.cswe.org.
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MEDIA CONTACT: Allison Moon, 571-527-3418