The Professional Awards

Dr. Congress is a professor and associate dean at the Fordham University Graduate School of Social Service in New York City. She began her career serving as a counselor at a Brooklyn mental health clinic, primarily caring for recently arrived immigrants. Dr. Congress has spent the past three decades teaching at Fordham, with courses in clinical, family-oriented, supervisory, and macro social work. Her recent teaching has helped MSW students develop skills in high-level international engagement and conference planning. A prolific scholarly writer, Dr. Congress has authored more than a dozen books on social work ethics, migration, nonprofit leadership, health, international issues, and social work education. She has also held leadership roles with the National Association of Social Workers, the United Nations, and national health organizations. 

Dr. April Lavette Jones, LMSW, PhD, MEd, MS, MSW, BA, is a nationally engaged social work educator, organizational psychologist, licensed master social worker, scholar, and higher education leader whose work advances innovation, equity, and excellence in social work education. She currently serves as Department Chair of Social Sciences at Talladega College, overseeing Social Work, Criminal Justice, and Sociology. Previously, Dr. Jones served as Associate Professor and Director of Field/Practicum Experience at Bellevue University, where she contributed expertise in online learning, field education, accreditation alignment, instructional design, and technology-enhanced student success. Before joining Bellevue, she served at Tuskegee University from July 2018 to February 2026, including as Department Head/Chair of Social Work, and earned tenure and promotion to associate professor in 2024. Her leadership strengthened curriculum, faculty development, accreditation readiness, field education infrastructure, student support systems, and online program growth, contributing to external recognition of program quality and workforce relevance.

Dr. Childress is an Associate Professor at the University of Texas at Arlington School of Social Work. Her scholarship focuses on the prevention of interpersonal violence and adverse childhood experiences across the lifespan, particularly among immigrant, refugee, and underserved populations in the United States and low- and middle-income countries. Her work integrates prevention science, implementation science, and community-engaged research to address child maltreatment, intimate partner violence, family stress, and mental health disparities through culturally responsive, multilevel interventions. Dr. Childress currently serves as Principal Investigator of an NIH/NICHD-funded career development award focused on adapting and implementing evidence-based family and school interventions in Kyrgyzstan. She also serves in leadership roles within the Society for Prevention Research and is deeply committed to mentoring students and advancing excellence in social work education. 

Dr. Saleeby is a professor and program director of social work at Bradley University. She is a leading expert on disability in social work, recognized internationally for her work promoting the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) in social work and the application of the Capability Approach as an alternative framework for better situating disability. She is currently a collaborating member of the World Health Organization (WHO) Education and Implementation Committee for international classifications and WHO Functioning and Disability Reference Group. Another area of Dr. Saleeby’s scholarship focuses on her efforts to bridge curriculum gaps between education and practice to better prepare social work students. With her background in non-profit management and social administration, she has been an advocate for integrating grant writing and fundraising into social work education.

The University of Montana School of Social Work's Field Education Program has developed a relationship-centered, place-bound, and justice-oriented model of practicum education designed to expand equitable access to social work education across Montana, the broader Rocky Mountain West, and geographically isolated communities. Serving a vast, largely rural, and significantly Indigenous region, the program is grounded in a simple but profound commitment: students should not have to leave their communities to become social workers. The program has intentionally developed flexible and community-responsive field education pathways that allow students to remain rooted in their home communities while engaging in meaningful, competency-based learning.