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WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Association of Social Workers Foundation (NASWF) on October 19 will honor 25 of the most influential social workers in the nation at its NASW Social Work Pioneers® program with a celebratory induction ceremony. The theme this year is “The Future is Now: Charting a Course for Social Justice for All.” The inductees include:
Franklin Brooks, PhD, MSW, who has for 40 years been recognized for his role as an advocate and champion for the LGBTQIA+ community in Maine and across New England. He has been unwavering in the fight for equality, justice, and the advancement of affirming and culturally responsive services for vulnerable youth, adults, and seniors.

William Neil Brown (1919-2009) PhD, MSW, was a social work practitioner and educator who began his professional social work career after serving in World War II as a Tuskegee Airman. In 1956 he became the first Black professor at Rutgers University where he taught for the next 33 years, retiring in 1989. In 1961, Brown was invited to debate Malcolm X on “Integration versus Separation.” A recording of this debate is now part of the permanent collection in the Library of Congress.

Karen Bullock, PhD, LICSW, is the Louise McMahon Ahearn Endowed Professor in the Boston College School of Social Work and in Global Public Health. She has been a leading force in advancing social work education and training in health disparities, health equity, serious illness care, aging and gerontology, hospice, palliative and end-of-life care decision making for the last two decades.

William H. Butterfield, PhD, MSW, is known for his expertise in behavioral social work, computers and social work, and homelessness research. He was one of the earliest researchers to focus on homeless families and the growing development of shelter-based services to house them. His work stemmed largely from his volunteer work with the Salvation Army, and grew from his interest in technology, which led to application in the St. Louis City-funded Homeless Services Network.

Norman H. Cobb, PhD, MSW, has spent 40 years as an educator and practitioner.  Throughout his academic career, including more than 30 years at the University of Texas Arlington, Dr. Cobb’s teaching, publications, and research centered on the theory and treatment of an array of mental health disorders. He is the owner of, and instructor at, Cobb Educational Services; and at UT Arlington was director of its Community Service Clinic for 11 years.

Rachell Crandall Crocker, MSW, created the International Transgender Day of Visibility in 2009, in contrast to the Transgender Day of Remembrance which only focused on trans individuals who were murdered. She wanted to celebrate the living. Since its first events in 2009, Transgender Day of Visibility has gained massive traction domestically and internationally, affecting policy change in countries around the world.

King Davis, PhD, MSW, is a UT Austin Professor Emeritus who has been a beacon in the world of social justice, instructing policy makers, bureaucrats, practitioners, and students on the mental health realities and needs of all people, with a focus on African Americans. He is known for his ground-breaking report for the State of Virginia, on training for work with individuals with serious mental illness. In Texas, he held the Sutherland Endowed Chair in Mental Health and Social Policy at UT Austin’s Steve Hicks School of Social Work.

Enrico de Gironimo, MSW, has brought great vision to his roles on the NASW Board as well as his work on the modernization of the NASW as an organization. He is a dedicated advocate to social work and to the individuals, families, groups and communities he has supported. He served as New Jersey State Director, Mentor Clinical Care; Executive Director, Community Hope; and CEO, Ocean Partnership for Children.

Diana Dinitto, PhD, MSW, has made pioneering contributions as an academic and policy advocate, focusing on social welfare policy and addiction issues, through scholarship, teaching, and activism. The eight editions of her social welfare policy textbook, first published in 1983, became a standard in the field. They have been used by thousands in the fields of social work, government/political science, public affairs, and sociology.

E. Daniel Edwards, DSW, has had a huge impact on social work services for American Indian/Alaska Native Peoples. He changed the face of social work practice in many communities, first through direct practice, then as an educator and leader, and finally as an Elder. He encouraged, inspired, and supported Native and non-Native students. He founded, then developed and directed the American Indian Social Work Career Training Program at the University of Utah.

Dorothy Faller, MSW, is recognized for her international social work. She held the position of Executive Director of the Cleveland International Program (CIP) for nearly 20 years. She then became Secretary General and CEO of the Council of International Programs USA (CIPUSA), followed by her role as Secretary General and Executive Director of the Cleveland International Program (CIP) for 21 years. Faller has worked with over 150 countries, providing long-term internships in social work, both in the U.S. and overseas. Her training programs include cross-cultural awareness and values, conflict resolution, substance abuse prevention, and fundraising.

Santos Hernández, PhD, MSW, is Emeritus Dean and Emeritus Professor at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA). He has been a social worker and social work educator for more than 45 years. Notably, he worked with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) in D.C., where he helped to organize support for the expansion of the Voting Rights Act to protect language minorities from voting discrimination. He then worked with the Colorado Association for Bilingual Bicultural Education (CABBE) on a successful campaign to mandate bilingual education in public schools.

Charles E. Lewis, Jr., PhD, MSW, is the founding director of the Congressional Research Institute for Social Work and Policy (CRISP) and served as deputy chief of staff for former Congressman Edolphus “Ed” Towns (D-NY). Lewis was instrumental in creating the Congressional Social Work Caucus, with which he organized briefings for NASW, the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), and the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR). His work, and his national blog, have significantly impacted the representation of social workers in Congress and have inspired social workers to pursue political careers.

Samuel Bernard Little, PhD, MSW, is known as a powerful advocate for equitable public housing. As founding president of the National Alliance of Resident Services in Affordable and Assisted Housing (NAR-SAAH), he served the organization for 21 years and helped to shape national housing policy, expand partnerships with community agencies, leverage funds to support resident programs, and address impacts of changing economic conditions and shifting political priorities. Little has served with three large public housing authorities as well, in Baltimore, Maryland, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C.

Louise T. Locker, MSW, founded the Elf Louise Christmas Project, and distributes gifts to some 20,000 children each year, now totaling more than 1.5 million. Every year, 500 Santas with Elf teams deliver presents and love to families who would not otherwise have a Christmas. She thousands to fundraise and join in as volunteers. Today, still, ninety-eight cents out of every dollar raised goes to buying the toys.

Louis Lowy (1920-2021), PhD, MSW, was an international social work educator at the Boston University School of Social Work and a globally-recognized gerontologist. He is known for advancing the research and practice of gerontological social work among students and practitioners worldwide. As with other prominent German-born social workers who were exiles or survivors of the Holocaust, Dr. Lowy contributed to the restoration of social work education in Germany and other Nazi-occupied countries.

Goutham Menon, PhD, MA, is considered an expert and an innovator/disruptor in information and communication technologies. He has presented papers at numerous national and international conferences over the years. His scholarship has focused primarily on e-therapy, electronic advocacy, social work education, technology and international social work. Since 2023, Menon has been serving as CEO of the Network for Social Work Management.

M. Patricia O’Brien, PhD, MSW, is a pioneer in research on feminist practice and carceral corrections, with an emphasis on advocacy and transformative social justice. As one of the earliest researchers in social work to focus on incarcerated women, her research was the first of its kind. Her social work direct practice for more than ten years focused on working with battered women and their children in multiple sites.

Kathleen J. Pottick, PhD, MSW, MA, is an educator, researcher, and higher education administrator, known for her research on better understanding the dynamics of, and barriers to, the provision of effective mental health services to children and adolescents with racial and ethnic disparities. In addition to her faculty role at the Rutgers School of Social Work, she served as a core faculty member of the Institute for Health, Health Care Policy, and Aging Research.

Susan P. Robbins, PhD, MSW, is regarded as an expert in forensic social work, and she has provided expert witness testimony in cases that involve false allegations of sex abuse, proper forensic interviewing of children, and substance abuse. She has been a mediator with the Harris County Dispute Resolution Center for more than 40 years. She has trained caseworkers, social workers, and supervisors for Children’s Protective Services in the states of Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico and has been qualified as an expert in Texas, Washington D.C., Illinois, Idaho, and Arkansas.

Michael Sherraden, PhD, MSW, is a teacher, researcher, and policy specialist. He is the George Warren Brown Distinguished University Professor at Washington University in St. Louis and the founding director of the Center for Social Development in Washington University’s Brown School. He is renowned for his work to create and test social innovations that improve social and economic well-being, especially for marginalized populations. He is known for developing asset-based policy, which makes assets available to everyone, supporting the development of human potential.

Julie E. Shroyer, MSW, is a skilled advocate, leader, and negotiator. Shroyer is president and CEO of Wheat Shroyer Government Relations (WSGR), a public service and health-oriented federal advocacy firm that she founded in 2021 in partnership with former Congressman Alan Wheat. For more than 35 years, she has been a respected advisor to congressional and presidential campaigns, for er expertise in health and mental health care public policy.

Kimberly Strom, PhD, MSW, is a Distinguished Professor of Ethics and Professional Practice at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and holds the first, and to date only, endowed professorship in ethics in the field of social work. Strom is an internationally recognized educator, trainer, and scholar who specializes in the interpretation of professional standards to the complexities of contemporary practice in social work and other fields. She is the IFSW Ethics Commissioner for North America.

Dexter R. Voisin, PhD, MSW, was an early pioneer providing vital clinical services for individuals dealing with co-occurring HIV, drug use and mental health challenges during a time when stigma and accessibility barriers were prevalent. He currently serves as dean of the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University. His trailblazing research illuminates the fundamental structural causes of violence and health disparities – particularly how they disproportionately affect Black youth and adults.

James (Jim) Wayne, MSW, was the first social worker with an MSW elected to the Kentucky state legislature, representing the social justice voice in committee hearings and on the House floor. During his renowned tenure of almost 30 years, Rep. Wayne chaired the state Poverty Commission and the House Committee on Poverty. Wayne focused on issues ranging from state tax reform to protecting our vulnerable Kentucky children and youth from sex abuse. He championed the Affordable Housing Trust Fund which led to over 11,000 homes in the state being built for low-income residents. He sponsored, and/or passed legislation for campus safety, education, public health, LGBTQ+ rights, gun safety, and protection of workers.

The gathering will be held at the historic Omni Shoreham Hotel, in Washington, D.C., on October 19.