The NASW Foundation announced five new inductees to the NASW Social Work Pioneers® program. The program was created to honor members of the social work profession who have contributed to the evolution and enrichment of the profession. The new inductees are:

Phyllis Black

Black designed and implemented the first required course in social work ethics in the country and has given extensive presentations and produced publications on the role of ethics in social work.

She moved social work curricula from content-based to competency-based. From her days as a social worker in Harlem and Baltimore to leading the Council on Social Work Education Commission on Curriculum and Educational Innovation, Black has modeled the power of group work.

Elizabeth Wichers DuMez

DuMez undertook important and groundbreaking work in ethics as an NASW staff member. Later, she spent five years traveling, interviewing and photographing a diverse group of social workers to compile her book “Celebrating Social Work: Faces and Voices of the Formative Years.” The book features the oral histories of 51 accomplished social work leaders and spans decades of the development of the profession.

June Gary Hopps

Hopps’ participation in the civil rights movement and her time as a freedom fighter helped spur her interest in social justice and equality. She was the first person of color to serve as editor in chief of “Social Work” and the co-editor of the 19th edition of the “Encyclopedia of Social Work.” During her tenure at Boston College, Hopps helped guide the school to its 14th ranked status in U.S. News & Word Report magazine rankings.

Mildred Joyner

In the 1980s, Joyner established the first MSW program in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. She went on in her career to become president of the Association of Baccalaureate Program Directors (BPD) where she advocated for and obtained funding for BSW programs from the John A. Hartford Program, ultimately developing an official Gerontology Committee for BPD to increase visibility of faculty and program directors in this area. She also was president of the Council on Social Work Education.

She created opportunities for BSW students on Capitol Hill by funding the BPD summer program and developed an International Conference, providing the opportunity for BSW faculty to present papers globally and develop partners in other countries.

Elizabeth Pathy Salett

Salett founded the International Counseling Center in 1983, filling a need for multilingual mental health services. She followed this by founding the National MultiCultural Institute in 1990. The institute’s original purpose was to increase understanding between persons of different racial, ethnic and cultural backgrounds. It has since evolved to address the issue of human trafficking and slavery, and is one of the largest resources on the web for these topics.

Learn more about the NASW Pioneers Program.