UNC School of Social Work

Our School is ranked #3 in the nation!

US News & World Report has released its graduate school rankings for 2019, and UNC School of Social Work is ranked third place in the nation! This is the highest ranking our School has received to date, according to Dean Gary Bowen, and it marks an increase from our previous fifth-place ranking.

Five U.S. schools tied for the third-place rank, with each receiving the same score as its peers -- we are ranked equally with University of Washington, University of Chicago, University of California-Berkley and Columbia.

We're really proud to earn this national recognition of excellence. Congratulations to our faculty, students, alumni, staff and partners on this acknowledgement of our achievements! You can find the list of all ranked schools, along with the methodology used to determine the rankings, at the US News & World Report website.

In The News

Zerden selected for Academic Leaders Network

Lisa de Saxe Zerden, senior associate dean for MSW education at UNC School of Social Work, is one of five University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus leaders se Lisa Zerden lected to participate in the ACC Academic Leaders Network (ALN) program for 2019-2020.

Zerden will join UNC colleagues Misha Becker (chair, linguistics department), Julie Byerley (executive vice dean, UNC School of Medicine), Patricia McAnany (chair, anthropology department) and Mary McClurg (executive vice dean, Eshelman School of Pharmacy) in a series of networking and collaboration sessions with ALN participants from other universities.

Scoville awarded national fellowship

Christopher Scoville has been awarded the Interprofessional Fellowship in Psychosocial Rehabilitation & Recovery Oriented Services, a program created by the US Department of Veterans Affairs with four sites nationally. Beginning in fall 2019, Scoville will work with the VA Hospital in Durham, N.C.

SSW honors outstanding alumni for 2019

Each year at graduation, the UNC School of Social Work presents the Distinguished Alumni Award to recognize alumni who have achieved distinction in the social work field, who embody social work values and who carry our mission of service into the world. Alumni can be nominated by peers, faculty members, staf, fellow alumni or students and are chosen by a committee.

This year, five social work professionals were selected to receive the 2019 Distinguished Alumni Award. The honorees are: Susanna Stepp Birdsong (Raleigh); Noel Sebastian Bost, Ph.D. (Greensboro); Jessica Nakell Burroughs (Durham); Mia Ives-Rublee (Washington, D.C.); and Marcia Lynn White (Raleigh).

Graham named Outstanding Doctoral Student 2019

Laurie Graham has received the Outstanding Doctoral Student Award for 2019 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Social Work. Associate Dean for Doctoral Education Mimi Chapman presented the award, which recognizes a doctoral student who demonstrates exemplary scholarship, teaching, service, leadership and collegial support of fellow students.

Dean Gary Bowen, Laurie Graham, Rebecca Macy, Mimi Chapman

Laurie Graham (second from left) receives congratulations from Dean Gary Bowen, Rebecca Macy and Mimi Chapman.