NYU President John Sexton and Provost David McLaughlin today announced the appointment of Lynn Videka as Dean of NYU s Silver School of Social Work, effective September 1, 2009. Videka, whose research interests include vulnerable children and families receiving child welfare and mental health services, is currently Vice President for Research at the State University of New York at Albany and a Distinguished Service Professor.
NYU President John Sexton and Provost David McLaughlin today announced the appointment of Lynn Videka as Dean of NYUs Silver School of Social Work, effective September 1, 2009. Videka, whose research interests include vulnerable children and families receiving child welfare and mental health services, is currently Vice President for Research at the State University of New York at Albany and a Distinguished Service Professor.
Dean Videka was dean of the School of Social Welfare at SUNY-Albany from 1989 to 1999. Her tenure was notable for its many successes, including establishing dual degree programs in social work and sociology and social work and human development, a 400% increase in annual fund gifts, and a 200% increase in externally funded grants.
President Sexton said, In higher education, we give much thought to the idea of the university community - to our values, to our interactions, to the micro-communities that make up our broad community, and to the supports that enable members to excel academically. It is a constant topic of discussion.
Of all the fields of study we encompass at this great research university, none immerses itself more fully in the contemplation of the role of the individual in community than our Silver School of Social Work. Each year, they send forth another cohort committed to helping others successfully cope with and overcome the many hurdles that life erects. We cherish public service at NYU; there is no schools mission of which we are more proud. So, selecting the dean of the Silver School of Social Work is a task we take on with great conscientiousness, because much is at stake - not simply for our students or our faculty, but for those they will go on to help. That is why I am so pleased by the appointment of Lynn Videka as dean. She is superbly qualified - an outstanding scholar whose professional life has been devoted to seeing that those in need receive the best possible services - and her great accomplishments will add not merely to the luster of the school, but will translate into real care for real people.
I would like to thank her predecessor, Suzanne England, for her eight years of excellent leadership as dean and her praiseworthy record of achievement on behalf of the school. And I would like to thank the search committee - and especially its chair, Professor Jerome Wakefield of the Silver School of Social Work - for their outstanding service and discernment. But mostly, on behalf of the NYU community, I would like to congratulate Lynn Videka and welcome her.
Provost McLaughlin said, NYU has a history of selecting deans who are recognized leaders in their field. In Lynn Videka, we have a dean who is a scholar of outstanding repute, an experienced administrator in social work education in particular and academic research in general, and a professional who cares deeply about ensuring a high caliber of care for those served by social workers. We are excited to have her as the new dean of the Silver School of Social Work.
Dean Videka has been the Vice President for Research and a Distinguished Service Professor at the State University of New York at Albany since 2006. She was Dean of the School of Social Welfare at SUNY-Albany from 1989 to 1999. She joined the School of Social Welfare as an assistant professor in 1981. At SUNY-Albany, she was also director of the Center for Human Services Research from 1995 to 2003 and director of the Center for Research on Social Work Practice from 1986 to 1989. Prior to that, she had been project director of Self-Help Groups and Urban Problems: Alternative Help Systems at the University of Chicagos Department of Behavioral Sciences.
Videka is the recipient of many awards and honors, including being named a Distinguished Service Professor by the Trustees of the State University of New York; being named a visiting scholar to several institutions, including Hallym University in Chun Cheon, South Korea; and being the recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship to Bulgaria, among others. She is a widely published author; among her publications are the first social work meta-analysis of mental health practice effectiveness (in 1986) with a subsequent book (Advances in Clinical Social Work Research) and several chapters and articles on the effectiveness of social work practice. She recently authored entries on Child Neglect and Parenting Practices in the Encyclopedia of Interpersonal Violence (2008), and an article, entitled, Building Research Infrastructure in Schools of Social Work, in the journal, Social Work Research.
She has held many leadership roles in her profession, including President of the National Association of Deans and Directors of Social Work and the Institute for the Advancement of Social Work Research, Vice President of the Society for Social Work and Research, and Commissioner of Accreditation and Treasurer of the Council on Social Work Education, among others.
Videka received her Ph.D. from the University of Chicagos School of Social Service Administration in 1981, and her A.M. from there in 1976. She received her B.S.N. with honors from the University of Illinois College of Nursing in 1972.