Amanda Moore McBride is the new dean of DU’s Graduate School of Social Work.
The University of Denver has appointed Amanda Moore McBride as dean of its Graduate School of Social Work (GSSW), effective July 1, 2016. McBride comes to DU from the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis, where she is the Bettie Bofinger Brown associate professor and executive director of the Gephardt Institute for Civic and Community Engagement.
“Dr. McBride is an internationally recognized leader in the field of civic and community engagement, and for that and many other reasons she is perfect for the University of Denver at this important time in our history,” says University of Denver Provost Gregg Kvistad. “As our strategic plan, DU IMPACT 2025, elevates our commitment to and connections with Denver and beyond, her problem-solving, partnership-based approach will be of great inspiration and benefit to our community, including students, faculty and the region.”
McBride’s scholarship focuses on ways to promote engagement through education, programs and policy — specifically addressing issues of access and inclusion. She has studied national service, service learning and international volunteering. She has served as a consultant to the United States Corporation for National and Community Service, the United Nations Volunteer Program and the Social Science Research Council. She has convened conferences and written extensively on the topic of civic and community engagement in higher education, including articles for the Chronicle of Higher Education and Huffington Post. She is working on a book titled “From Charity to Change: The Civic Mission of Higher Education,” as well as a co-edited volume on the relationship between social innovation and civic engagement in higher education.
“I am honored to join the DU and GSSW faculty, staff and students in their aspirations to positively impact the Rocky Mountain region and beyond,” McBride says. “Today’s entrenched social issues and disparities call forth what is unique about the social work profession and discipline — from a focus on social justice and diversity and inclusion to a scholarly understanding of health and wellness from the cellular to the societal levels.”
Chancellor Rebecca Chopp, who has stressed the importance of access and engagement since joining DU 18 months ago, sees the dean of GSSW as an important player in that context. “An inclusive community celebrates different cultures and cultivates the individual and collective flourishing of all of us,” she says. “Our school of social work has a history of cultivating these values, thanks in part to our retiring dean, James Herbert Williams, who will return to the GSSW faculty as Milton Morris Endowed Chair. With Dean McBride at the helm, and the goals of DU IMPACT 2025 as a guide, we will become an even more vital community partner.”
McBride earned her PhD and MSW from the George Warren Brown School of Social Work, Washington University, and her BA from Hendrix College in Arkansas.
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