Faculty

Introduction
The faculty of Columbia University School is a distinguished one. Four separate studies have found its 50 members to be among the most productive social work scholars in the nation. And they are accomplished educators and mentors as well.

The school had the #1 research productivity ranking in the nation during the 1990s, according to two recent studies. It’s also the only school showing a consistent pattern of increase — rising from 7 to 5 to 3 to 1 in rankings over the period. The doctoral faculty publishes an average of 26 articles a year in social work and non-social work peer-reviewed journals; 38% of the 61 schools with doctoral programs average fewer than five a year.

“Faculties that excelled in educating students for practice at the MSW level... are the same faculties that made the most frequent contributions to the profession’s periodical literature,” one study concluded, citing the strong correlation between educational quality and publication productivity.

Faculty members are diverse in background, expertise and viewpoint. Thanks to the faculty’s wide range of knowledge and specialization, the School is able to offer an unusually complex and comprehensive doctoral curriculum. Faculty members develop the pioneering ideas and interventions that drive the profession of social work — in the New York urban environment that is the world’s leading indicator of societal change. And they maintain high profiles around the world — “as visible in China as in Manhattan,” in the words of one experienced observer.

More than 50 research projects are funded by grants to Columbia social work faculty. Grant funding to faculty members has grown 10-fold over the last 10 years.

Among the ways faculty members demonstrate their international leadership:

• reviewing proposals for leading international organizations, including the National Institutes of Health (NIMH, NIDA, NICHD), U.S. Cabinet–level departments (HHS, HUD), the Dole Foundation, the Netherlands Cancer Society, and the W.T. Grant Foundation.
   
• serving on editorial boards and as peer reviewers for the major social work journals, for interdisciplinary and specialized journals and for journals in other countries. They are also a major resource for media throughout the world.
   
• consulting and presenting locally, nationally and internationally (WHO, UNICEF, and countries in Europe, South America, North America, and Asia)
   
• providing expert testimony on social welfare programs and policies to both houses of Congress, to state and local governmental bodies, and in court cases.
   
• offering leadership as officers and members of boards and advisory councils in a range of organizations, including professional organizations, social service agencies and consumer/client groups.