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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Richard L. Edwards, PhD, MA, is recipient of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Lifetime Achievement Award in honor of his six decades of commitment to promoting social work values as a practitioner, author, and educator. Dr. Richards has served as a faculty member, education director, and dean at several schools of social work.  

He is a remarkable example of excellence in social work education, and his visionary guidance will have a lasting impact on the social work profession for decades to come

The NASW Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes the best social work values and accomplishments demonstrated throughout a social worker’s career.  

Edwards is currently a full-time university professor and chancellor emeritus at Rutgers University. However, his career in shaping the profession and educating successive generations of social workers began decades ago. 

He began his career as a social work trainee at Chicago State Hospital after graduating from Augustana College in 1965. He then earned his master’s degree in social work from the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration. 

After several years working for the Illinois Department of Mental Health and at agencies serving children and families, he returned to Augustana where he taught and served as founding director of its undergraduate social work program.  

During that time, Edwards was elected president of his local NASW chapter, where he received the chapter’s Social Worker of the Year Award for outstanding contributions in 1972. He worked at the NASW national headquarters, directing the chapter services office, and the NASW continuing education and professional development programs from 1974-78.

Edwards earned his PhD in public administration and policy at the State University of New York at Albany in 1986, receiving the Distinguished Doctoral Dissertation Award. 

He was associate dean and acting dean at the School of Social Welfare at the State University of New York at Albany, and dean of the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University, and dean of the School of Social Work at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, where he also worked as interim provost.

Later, at Rutgers University, Edwards served as dean of the School of Social Work and then as executive vice president for academic affairs, as interim president of the university, and then for five years as chancellor. Throughout his distinguished career, Edwards also served in a variety of nonprofit and public organizations as a consultant and served on the boards of multiple nonprofit organizations. 

Edwards was actively involved in NASW at the state, regional, and later at the national level throughout his career. He received the Social Worker of the Year Award from the NASW New York State Chapter in 1987. He was president of NASW from 1989-91 after serving as a member-at-large on the board of directors.  

A Fulbright Scholar, Edwards has been honored with the Edith Abbott Distinguished Alumni Award, the Alumni Distinguished Professorship, and the Chauncey Alexander Lifetime Achievement Award. He has written or co-written 18 books and served as the editor-in-chief for the three-volume set of the Encyclopedia of Social Work 19th Edition from NASW Press.   

He has also peer-reviewed more than 30 articles, 25 book chapters and conference proceedings, 34 manuals or book reviews, editorials, and brief articles, and more than 60 conference presentations. And Edwards helped secure more than $46 million in contracts and grants for various organizations.

His dedication to professional and community service is reflected in his leadership of - and membership in - dozens of organizations. His expansive list of academic service activities, teaching and research agendas, global faculty appointments, and dissertation committees has continued throughout his lifetime. 

Dr. Edwards work continues to profoundly influence social work, making it the amazing profession it is today.