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Faculty Profile

Jeane W. Anastas

Professor of Social Work
PhD, LMSW
jeane.anastas@nyu.edu | (212) 992-9711

bio

Dr. Anastas teaches courses in the MSW and Ph.D. programs on social welfare policy, research methods, teaching and learning in social work, and philosophy of knowledge. In 2007 she conducted the first national survey of doctoral students in social work, and she is a research consultant to the Children's Home Society of Florida, with a focus on adolescent mothers in the child welfare system, examining attachment functioning in them and their infants. Dr. Anastas presents papers regularly at national and international conferences on such topics as doctoral education, the academic job market in social work, educational outcomes, clinical theory and social work research, and epistemology and qualitative methods. In 2007, Dr. Anastas received the Council on Social Work Education's award for the Greatest Recent Contribution to Social Work Education.

Dr. Anastas is active in a variety of national social work organizations. She currently serves on the Advisory Committee to NASW's National Center for Workforce Studies and as Convener of ANSWER, a national coalition for advancing federal legislation on social work education and research. She is also Treasurer of IASWR, the Institute for the Advancement of Social Work and Research. She is also a member of CSWE's Counbcil on the Role and Status of Women in Social Work. She has been Vice-President of the Society for Social Work and Research and served as the Program Chair for its 2003 annual conference. Dr. Anastas served as Chair of GADE (the Group for the Advancement of Doctoral Education) from 2003-2006. She is also on the international advisory committee to the MA Program in Clinical Social Work at the New Bulgarian University, Sofia, Bulgaria. Dr. Anastas is currently a Consulting Editor for Social Work, the Journal of Social Work Education, and the Clinical Social Work Journal and is President-Elect of Corporate Board of Affilia: The Journal of Women in Social Work. Her term as Editor of the Journal of Gay & Lesbian Social Services ended in 2007. In 2008, she was named Associate Editor for the American Journnal of Orthopsychiatry.

Dr. Anastas has more than 25 years of experience in social work, social work research, and social work education. Before coming to SSW in 1999, she served on the faculties of the Smith College School for Social Work and the Simmons College Graduate School of Social Work. In addition to teaching research methods and policy courses to MSW and Ph.D. students in social work, she has been actively engaged in agency-based research in such areas as mental health services for children and adolescents, employed caregivers of frail elders, and homeless elders. Her evaluations of innovative programs for pregnant and parenting teens and for substance-abusing pregnant and parenting low-income women were federally funded. At NYU, Anastas has served as Associate Dean and Director of the Ph.D. Program. She is completing a book on teaching and learning in social work and beginning one on doctoral education in social work. Her general areas of research and scholarly interest: child welfare services, social work education, women's issues, LBGT issues, mental health and substance abuse treatment, research methods and epistemology.

selected recent publications


  • Sakamoto, I., Anastas, J. W., McPhail, B., & Colarossi, L. (2008) Current status of women in social work education. Journal of Social Work Education, 44(1), 37-62. 
  • Anastas, J. W. (2007) Guest Editorial: Theorizing (in)equity for women in social work. Affilia: The Journal of Women and Social Work.  
  • Anastas, J. W. (2007). Preface, Caregiving with Pride, K. I. Fredricksen-Goldsen & C. P. Ellis, Eds. Special Issue of The Journal of Gay & Lesbian Social Services, 18(3/4) Haworth Press.
  • Anastas, J. W. (2006). Employment opportunities in social work education: A study of jobs for doctoral graduates. Journal of Social Work Education, 42(2), 195-209.
  • Eckhardt, E., & Anastas, J. W. (May, 2007). Research methods with disabled populations. In F. K.O.Yuen, C. B. Cohen, & K. Tower, eds., Disability and social work education: Practice and policy issues. Binghamton, NY: Haworth Press.
  • Appleby, G. A., & Anastas, J. W. (2005). Social work practice with lesbian, gay and bisexual people. In A. Morales & B. W. Shaefor (Eds.), Social work: A profession of many faces (10th ed.), Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
  • Anastas, J. W. (2000). Research design for social work and the human services (2nd ed.). New York: Columbia University Press.
  • Appleby, G. A., & Anastas, J. W. (1998). Not just a passing phase: Social work with gay, lesbian and bisexual people. New York: Columbia University Press.
  • Anastas, J. W. (2004). Quality in qualitative evaluation: Issues and possible answers. Research on Social Work Practice, 14, 57-65.
  • Swann, S.K., & Anastas, J. W. (2003). Dimensions of lesbian identity during adolescence and young adulthood. Journal of Gay & Lesbian Social Services, 15 (1/2), 109-125.
  • Holden, G., Meenaghan, T., Anastas, J., and Metry, G., (2002), The outcomes of social work education: The case for Social Work Self-Efficacy. Journal of Social Work Education, 38 (1), 115-133.
  • Anastas, J. W. (2001). Economic rights, economic myths, and economic realities. Journal of Gay & Lesbian Social Services, 13 (1/2), 99-116.
  • Anastas, J. W., & Congress, E. (1999). Philosophical issues in doctoral education: A survey of doctoral program directors. Journal of Social Work Education, 35(1), 143-153.

selected recent publications


  • Anastas, J. W. (November, 2008). Preparing Doctoral Students for Research: Students' Views from a National Survey. Paper presented at the 11th Annual Meeting of the Society for Social Work and Research, Washington, DC. 
  • Anastas, J. W. (January, 2007) The Next Generation of Social Work Educators Now: Findings from a National Survey of Doctoral Students. Paper presented at the 53rd Annual Program Meeting, Council on Social Work Education, San Francisco, CA. 
  • Anastas, J. W., & Kuerbis, A.  (January, 2007). Survey Data on Doctoral Graduates in Social Work. Paper presented at the 10th Annual Conference of the Society of Social Work and Research, San Francisco, CA. 
  • Anastas, J. W., & Aiello, T. (December, 2006). Research, Theories, and Practices: From “Gap” to Creative Synergy. Presented at the 5th International Conference on Social Work in Health and Mental Health, Hong Kong. 
  • Anastas, J. W., Gerbino, S., Rosenfeld, D., & Ong, I. D. C. (December, 2006). Evaluating an Innovation in Community-Based End of Life Care within the Jewish Community. Presented at the 5th International Conference on Social Work in Health and Mental Health, Hong Kong. 
  • Anastas, J. W., Harold, R. S., & Northcutt, T. (2006, February). An elephant in the room? The purposes of doctoral education. Panel presentation at the Annual Program Meeting of the Council on Social Work Education, Chicago, IL.
  • Anastas, J. W. (November, 2005). Current issues in social work education in the United States. Presentation at New York University School of Social Work, Overseas Training for Korean Social Work Leaders, Korean Association of Social Work, New York, NY. 
  • Anastas, J. W., & Watkins, J. M. (2005, September). Quality Assurance in Social Work Education: Accreditation Standards and Social Work Research. Presented at an international conference on social work education and research organized by Sofia University, Kiten, Bulgaria.