Introduction to Social Work: An Advocacy-Based Profession

Using a unique advocacy framework this book explores the signature roots of the profession, its history, key figures, practice settings, policies, and the type of work performed on individual, group, community, local, state, national, and international levels. It discusses the intersections of economic and social justice, supportive environment, human needs and rights, and political access to provide a lens for viewing the issues and populations addressed in the text. 

Lisa E. Cox, PhD, LCSW, MSW, is professor of social work and gerontology and a former social work program coordinator at Stockton University. Prior to 1999, Dr. Cox held a joint faculty appointment at Virginia Commonwealth University’s (VCU) School of Medicine (Richmond AIDS Consortium) and School of Social Work, where she taught MSW students and served as a pioneering AIDS clinical trial social worker with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease–funded Terry Beirn Community Programs for Clinical Research on AIDS. Dr. Cox received BA degrees in history/political science and Spanish from Bridgewater College, and her MSW and PhD degrees from VCU. Since 2007 she has served as research chair for The Stockton Center on Successful Aging. Dr. Cox teaches undergraduate- and graduate-level classes in social work practice, gerontology, HIV/AIDS, research, psychopathology, and cultural neuroscience, and she has co-led study tours to Costa Rica. She was a 2014 faculty scholar with the Geriatric Education Center Initiative and is a governor appointee to the New Jersey Boardof Social Work Examiners. As a long-standing member of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), Dr. Cox has shared her vast practice experience by holding numerous leadership roles within NASW: National Advisory Board member to the Spectrum HIV/AIDS Project, chair of the Health Specialty Practice Section, Standards for Social Work Practice in Health Care Settings Task Force expert, long-term care liaison to The Joint Commission on Health Care, and unit chairperson. Dr. Cox has presented her scholarship nationally and internationally. She has authored several book chapters and numerous journal articles focused on health social work, gerontology, international social work, and social support. Copies of “Garment Workers of South Jersey: Nine Oral Histories” may be obtained on Amazon.com (ISBN-13: 978-0-9888731-8-6). For relaxation, Dr. Cox plays the piano and enjoys watching baseball.

Carolyn J. Tice, DSW, ACSW, has been professor and associate dean of the Baccalaureate Social Work Program, School of Social Work, University of Maryland since July 2002. Her prior appointment was chair of the Department of Social Work, Ohio University, a position she held for 9 years. At Ohio University, she was the first recipient of the Presidential Teacher Award for outstanding teaching, advising, and mentoring. Currently, Dr. Tice teaches a first-year seminar and social welfare policy. She received her BSW from West Virginia University, her MSW from Temple University, and her DSW from the University of Pennsylvania, where she worked with Hmong refugees. The coauthor of four books, Dr. Tice focuses her scholarship primarily on the development of critical thinking skills and social work practice and policy from a strengths perspective. She was a site visitor for the Council on Social Work Education and is on the editorial board of the Journal of Teaching in Social Work. She serves as a book prospectus reviewer for Wadsworth Publishers and John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Dr. Tice was a nominee for the 2015 McGraw-Hill Excellence in Teaching First-Year Seminars Award. In 2008 she was named a Fulbright specialist and traveled to Mongolia to assist in the development of social work programs. Her other international social work experiences include program development in Portugal, Taiwan, Vietnam, China, and Botswana. Dr. Tice is a member of the Council of Social Work Education, the Association of Baccalaureate Social Work Program Directors, the National Association of Social Workers, and the Social Welfare Action Alliance. For leisure, Dr. Tice operates Olde Friends, a booth in an antique store located on the southern New Jersey coastline, where she has a family home.