The National Association of Social Workers Foundation (NASWF) Honors Paula Allen-Meares, PhD, MSW with the 2006 Knee/Wittman Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award 

The National Association of Social Workers Foundation (NASWF) is pleased to name Paula Allen-Meares, PhD, MSW, as the recipient of the Knee/Wittman Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award for 2006. The Knee/Wittman Awards recognize individuals who are models of excellence and have made significant contributions in the field of health and mental health. The Lifetime Achievement Award, in particular, is presented to a professional social worker who has made exemplary contributions in health and mental health practice.

Since 1993, Dean Allen-Meares has led the University of Michigan School of Social Work. Under her direction, federally funded research and publications on mental health, poverty, and health have advanced, as well as post doctoral opportunities with relevant disciplines and research institutes.

The School of Social Work was the second in the nation to be funded by NIMH. Dean Allen-Meares is the Co-principal Investigator on this NIMH grant to create a center on Mental Health, Poverty, Risk and Resilience. This center seeks to reduce the public health burden of mental disorders among the poor by identifying potent and changeable risk and protective factors, developing effective methods for early detection, and evaluating information/services. The center is linked to Psychiatry, the Center for Human Growth and Development, the Medical School, the Institute for Social Research, and such research programs as the Program for Research on Black Americans.

Her research and scholarly products are cited around the world.  As Co-principal Investigator on an NIMH R01 she is studying the developmental outcomes for youth whose primary caregiver has a mental illness. This study also examines family, social, personal and community factors that predict youth resiliency. As Principal Investigator of the Global Program on Youth she has convened groups of scholars, policy makers, and service providers who work together to address issues related to youth.

Dr. Allen-Meares received a bachelor’s degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo, and her MSW and PhD from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.  She earned certificates in management from Harvard University and the University of Michigan School of Business.

Her numerous leadership activities include, President, Society for Social Work and Research; Trustee of the W.T. Grant Foundation in New York; NIMH Scientific Advisory Committee, Institute for the Advancement of Social Work Research; various positions with the Council on Social Work Education and National Association of Deans and Directors of Schools of Social Work.  Her NASW activities include past Chair of the NASW Publications/Communications Committee; Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Social Work in Education; and a committee member for the Encyclopedia of Social Work, 20th Edition.