2020 Alumni Association Excellence in Engaged Scholarship Award

The Alumni Association may make up to five awards annually to faculty who have brought honor and recognition to the University through their research or creative activities. Candidates must have been employed full-time by the University of Memphis for at least five academic years prior to the semester of their application or nomination.

Dr. Susan Elswick | Associate Professor | School of Social Work

Elswick obtained her Master of Social Work at the University of Tennessee in 2006 and her Doctor of Education in Instructional and Curriculum leadership with a specialty in Applied Behavior Analysis at the University of Memphis in 2011. She has more than 15 years of clinical mental health experience that includes community mental health, case management, residential programming, ABA-based programming, school-based programming, parent coaching, integrated behavioral health, infant mental health and home-based services. Her research interests include the use of evidence-based behavioral interventions for addressing client's needs, the use of expressive art therapies/experiential therapies in the field of social work practice and the use of informatics and technology in the field of social work.

Dr. Elswick is the author of 25 peer-reviewed journal publications and two monographed books. She served as the editor for one book publication. She also has more than 30 referred conference presentations and has received more than $1 million in internal and external grants to date. She was also awarded the NASW-TN West Branch Social Worker of the Year (2017) and the prestigious Gary Lee Shaffer Award for Academic Contributions to the Field of School Social Work by the School Social Work Association of America (2018).