Kathleen Pottick, Rutgers Professor of Social Work, Named “Social Work Pioneer” by the National Association of Social Workers Foundation
Long-time Rutgers professor Kathleen Pottick is receiving one of the highest honors in the field of social work for her decades-long contribution and research, which focuses on delivering more effective mental healthcare services to children and adolescents.
Pottick, who has worked at Rutgers School of Social Work for 43 years, has been named a Social Work Pioneer by the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Foundation.
“This honor from NASW is a wonderful finale to my social work and health research career at Rutgers,” said Pottick, who retired in June. “This honor has been bestowed on some of my mentors, as well as luminaries in the field such as Jane Addams who I have looked up to throughout my career, and I am honored to be included in this community.”
Pottick, who was also a faculty member at Rutgers Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research, has researched the barriers in healthcare that prevent children, adolescents and disadvantaged populations from receiving health and mental health services.
She has examined the racial and ethnic disparities in mental health service use for youth with emotional disorders, as well as how clinicians characterize the problems based on the context where the behaviors take place.
Kathy has made continuing important contributions to health and welfare not only relevant to her field of social work but also to a variety of social sciences and psychiatry.
David Mechanic
Founding director of the Rutgers Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research
Pottick’s work has been recognized not only at Rutgers, but nationally and internationally. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare. She was named Professor of the Year from the Rutgers School of Social Work and received a Faculty Mentor Award from the American Psychiatric Association.
In announcing this year’s pioneers, the foundation’s website reads, “Pottick is a highly prolific social work researcher and scholar, as well as an award-winning classroom instructor and faculty mentor.”
Since 1994, the NASW Social Work Pioneers program has recognized individuals whose dedication and commitment to the profession of social work have improved social and human conditions. Previous pioneers include Jane Addams, Mary Richmond, Ida B. Wells and George Edmund Haynes.
“Kathy has made continuing important contributions to health and welfare not only relevant to her field of social work but also to a variety of social sciences and psychiatry,” said David Mechanic, founding director of the Rutgers Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research. “Her work is theoretically driven and empirically sophisticated, and she very much deserves recognition as a Social Work Pioneer.”
Within the School of Social Work, Pottick served as associate dean for Faculty Development and, for two years, served as acting dean. Beyond the School of Social Work and the Institute for Health, Pottick held joint appointments with the Rutgers Center on Alcohol Studies and the Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology.
“Kathleen is an amazing mentor—and social worker,” said Patricia Findley, Dean of the School of Social Work at Loyola University Chicago and former Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at Rutgers School of Social Work. “We worked together on a grant to help survivors of Hurricane Sandy. She gave me a perspective to help those who were impacted, then we were able to publish the results of our work to share details of our successful work for others to replicate.”
Pottick and the 2024 cohort of Pioneers will be honored at the NASWF’s 18th Annual Pioneer Program on October 19 in Washington, D.C.
