Research leaders.
Committed practitioners.
Proven educators.
Faculty
Faculty
Our faculty are recognized nationally and internationally for their research and practice. Dedicated to mentorship, these scholars, clinicians, scientists, and leaders draw on diverse disciplines—from social work and sociology to public health, epidemiology, and neuroscience—in their teaching and work.
By the Numbers
32
Full-time faculty
87
Part-time faculty
48%
Faculty diversity
$10M
In grant expenditures (2024)
Faculty Expertise
Current faculty members conduct research that promotes maternal and child well-being, reduces mental health disparities, and improves our understanding of how policies and public services impact low-wage workers, refugees, and immigrants. Their expertise spans areas such as food security in resource-poor households, parenting and male caregiving, the effects of longer working lives, social-behavioral responses to environmental changes, and more.
Global Practice
Theresa S. Betancourt
Salem Professor in Global Practice
Research interests include the developmental and psychosocial consequences of concentrated adversity on children, youth and families; resilience and protective processes in child and adolescent mental health and child development; refugee families; and applied cross-cultural mental health research.
Latinx Communities
Rocío Calvo
Professor
Using a community-centered approach in the design and implementation of interventions that address the needs identified by the community, Professor Calvo's research focuses on understanding how to improve access to social services for diverse Latinx populations (especially in health care and education).
Workplace Equity
Samuel Bradley, Jr.
Assistant Professor
Expertise lies in diversity and inclusion, public health, and program innovation. He is particularly passionate about utilizing design thinking as a strategy for developing innovation in higher education as well as leveraging higher education programs to support community outcomes in marginalized communities.
Meet Our Faculty
Our renowned faculty are researchers and scholars as well as practicing clinicians, policymakers, and nonprofit directors who specialize in a variety of critical topics such as mental health, global migration, child protection, and productive aging.
Faculty News
Global Symposium on Forced Migration
"“BC is a global university, and opportunities to come together and talk about issues that extend far beyond our campus are critically important.”
At a time when the number of forcibly displaced people worldwide has reached unprecedented levels, the Boston College School of Social Work’s Research Program on Children and Adversity (RPCA) and the Trinity College Dublin Centre for Forced Migration Studies gathered together at a symposium in Dublin to discuss the spectrum of resources and services necessary to aid such populations in remaking their lives.
Featured News Publications
CBS News
Boston College professor creates program to help Black teens with Autism improve mental health
Ed-Dee G. Williams, Assistant professor
BBC News
Many children must live with the trauma of war. Here's how to help them
Theresa S. Betancourt, Salem Professor in Global Practice
Hispanic Outlook on Education
The Latinx Leadership Initiative at Boston College School of Social Work
Rocío Calvo, Professor and Director, Latinx Leadership Initiative
The Boston Globe
‘It’s hard to conceive of this as anything other than like a death march’: Local experts decry forced displacement of Gazans
Maryanne Loughry, Part-Time Faculty
Yahoo Money
Inflation is one reason some workers may retire later — if at all
Cal Halvorsen, Assistant Professor
CNN
UN: At least 2 million Ukrainian children are refugees
Theresa S. Betancourt, Salem Professor in Global Practice
Announcements
Get to Know Our Newest Faculty
Research at BCSSW
Impact Reports
Tackling Complex Global Challenges: Our Collective Response
Humanitarian crises are increasingly an outcome of complex emergencies. Millions of families, women, and children are affected and displaced by war, civil strife, climate and environmental risk, famine, and epidemics around the globe, including those arriving on the doorstep of the U.S. border.
The world needs a community of practitioners to rise and meet these challenges. For the past 18 years, faculty and staff of the Boston College School of Social Work (BCSSW) have been preparing social work practitioners for careers in global social work with a particular focus on systems strengthening, capacity building, and accompaniment.
Serving Latinx Communities: Our Collective Response
The demand for social workers trained to respond to the needs and aspirations identified by Latinx communities, from culturally and linguistically appropriate social services to accessible mental health and healthcare, is urgent. Through award-winning academic programs and research, the BCSSW has established a community-centered approach to meet these aspirations and needs.
Crisis Migration: Our Collective Response
Ten faculty members in the Boston College School of Social Work are working to address the compound needs of migrants who have been forced to flee their homes because of war, natural disasters, political upheaval, and other problems around the world.
Commitment to Equity, Justice, and Inclusion
Faculty Diversity *
* Percentage of faculty who self-identify as AHANA (African American, Hispanic/Latinx, Asian American/Pacific Islander, Native American)
The Pinderhughes Diversity Lecture Series, which launched in 2007, is named in honor of Elaine Pinderhughes, a professor emerita of the School of Social Work whose seminal research revealed that race, ethnicity, and power strongly influence how social workers interact with clients. The series has featured doctors, anthropologists, and journalists, among others, who have reflected on topics like poverty, racism, and same-sex marriage.
“Engaging in place-based work and transcending disciplines to tackle complex social problems amplifies and strengthens the contributions of the School of Social Work. When we are in partnership with communities and with scholars from across our universities, our work not only has translational impact, but solutions to the world’s most complex problems are within closer reach.”
Research With Impact
Our faculty are engaged in research that improves peoples' lives, from former child soldiers in Sierra Leone, to homeless families in Massachusetts. Read more about the projects taking place in Boston and around the world.