Social Work Policy Institute

Joan Levy Zlotnik, PhD, ACSW

Joan Levy Zlotnik, PhD, ACSW, assumed the position of SWPI director on October 1, 2009. From 2000 until September 30, 2009 she served as executive director of the Institute for the Advancement of Social Work Research. Previously, she served as staff director of NASW’s Family Commission and as a Government Relations Associate at the NASW. She was also Director of Special Projects and Special Assistant to the Executive Director at the Council on Social Work Education. Among her numerous publications, she is the author of  Preparing the Workforce for Family­Centered Practice: Social Work Education and Public Human Services Partnerships; co­editor of several books including Charting the Impacts of University­Child Welfare Collaboration and Preparing Helping Professionals to Meet Community Needs: Generalizing from the Rural Experience, and co­editor of the fall 2009 special issue of Child Welfare. She holds a PhD in Social Work from the University of Maryland, an MSSW from the University of Wisconsin­Madison, and a BA from the University of Rochester. Dr. Zlotnik is a fellow of the Gerontological Society of America and an NASW Social Work Pioneer^®. She has received numerous awards including the Association of Gerontology Education in Social Work (AGE­SW) Leadership Award and the Association of Baccalaureate Social Work Program Director’s (BPD) Presidential Medal of Honor. She was recognized by the National Institute of Health’s (NIH) Social Work Research Working Group for her efforts on behalf of social work research at NIH.