These nine highlights represent 90 years of the school’s impact:

1. Kent School is recognized as the best social work program in Kentucky and nationally ranked as a top 50 social work graduate program based on U.S. News and World Report 2025 rankings.
2. Faculty and staff conduct research around the globe. The Kent School and its Center for Family and Community Well-Being has established and maintains a robust $27+ million research portfolio. The research – collaborative, community-based and evidence-driven – has been disseminated through a record 90 presentations and 60 professional publications. It continues to make a positive impact on hundreds of individuals, families and communities every day.
3. Kent School offers five degree programs, including the bachelor’s in social work, master of science in social work, master of science in couple and family therapy, doctor of philosophy in social work and doctor of social work program, which launched in 2021. Few social work schools offer a full array of programs to provide students an educational pathway that takes them from a bachelor’s to a doctoral degree.
4. While Kent School celebrates the milestone of 90 years, the PhD program, which now spans 120 graduates, 25 states and three countries, marks 30 years. Today, these graduates are embedded in 56 colleges and universities. Both of the school’s doctoral programs are directed by distinguished professors who are Society for Social Work Research (SSWR) Fellows. Anita Barbee and Heather Storer are part of this esteemed fellowship society which honors individuals for their accomplishments, leadership and contributions to the scientific society. Fellows serve as role models and mentors for individuals pursuing careers in social work research.
5. Through the work of Professor Karlynn BrintzenhofeSzoc, the Dr. Renato LaRocca Endowed Chair in Oncology Social Work, Kent School is helping to fill the gaps as the need for professionals in the specialty area of oncology social work continues to grow. Associate Professor Tara Schapmire recently received a five-year, $1.6 million grant to lead a national training initiative providing specialized training for 250 social workers across the United States.
6. UofL is one of only two universities in the nation that houses a couple and family therapy program in a school of social work. Established 30 years ago, the Couple and Family Therapy (CFT) Program, located on Shelby Campus, educates graduate students to become marriage and family therapists. In addition, the CFT program manages the Relationship Solutions Clinic, a valuable resource that offers therapy services to the local community. Services are provided by graduate level CFT students under supervision in a professional setting.
7. Our students are everywhere! Through practicum site placements across 31 states and two countries, Kent School students gained valuable hands-on learning experience by providing more than 124,000 hours of service working with local, national and global community partners from fall 2024 through spring 2025.
8. Kent School is a participating partner in Kentucky’s program, an innovative career preparation program for students interested in making a positive impact serving the children and families of Kentucky. Undergraduate students who enroll in this program receive benefits including free in-state tuition, mentorship, skills training and priority job placement after graduation. The Kent School staff member overseeing the UofL student participants, Emily Watts, is an alumnae and student in the DSW program. 
9. Each year, faculty design and host study abroad programs that expand upon classroom learning, engaging students in new cultural experiences. Past study abroad opportunities included trips to Belize, Peru and Vietnam.

The school recently celebrated 90 years of impact through education, research and service at an anniversary gala on March 28. Held at the Speed Art Museum, the event honored the past, present and future of the school.

A unique 90^th anniversary art collage entitled “Art of our Mission,” facilitated by Kent School alumnae Toya Northington ‘18 and Kent School professor Lesley Harris, represents the contributions of faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends. Pieces of the collage were on display at the gala, and the final compilation will have a permanent home in the Kent School’s Oppenheimer Hall.

UofL News: Talk about your passion for research.

Collins-Camargo: As a social worker, the first thing that typically comes to mind is not research. Rather, one would more likely think about helping people address life’s challenges, lifting the voices of historically underrepresented groups and individuals, and advocating for social justice for all people. But what I have come to understand over the course of my career is that if we want to do any of those things well, we must have rigorous research to inform that work. This is one of the most important things we can do for our students—help them learn not only the knowledge and skills they require to be competent practitioners, but to embrace the need to inform our work with the latest evidence regarding how to practice in a way that makes a difference.

UofL News: What are some strategies for creating additional research opportunities for students at the Kent School?

Collins-Camargo: This starts with building an appreciation for research in our students, most of whom come to us to learn how to be social work practitioners. Once we light that fire, there are many opportunities for our students to be involved in the wide range of research that is going on at Kent, including what is happening at our Center for Family and Community Wellbeing which provides an array of research opportunities for students.

UofL News: How did you know that research would be a focus of your life’s work?

Collins-Camargo: I did not know this for a very long time. I came to academia as a second career after many years as a child welfare worker, supervisor, manager and advocate. My progression into higher education happened as I continued to seek a role in which I could truly make a difference. I became principal investigator of my first federal grant a year after assuming a fulltime faculty position. I applied for the grant because I wanted to be a part of an opportunity to help child welfare workers and their organizations serve children and families—I didn’t think about it as research. The next thing I knew I was leading a four-state research project, and collaborating with the inspiring researchers evaluating each site’s intervention. Before I knew it, I was hooked, because I could hear and see the impact that was having on the people doing incredible work in child welfare agencies.

UofL News: Your studies focus on strategies to help public and private child and family serving agencies improve their work with these families. Tell us about this.

Collins-Camargo: Over time, much of my scholarship has come to focus on how these organizations, and the supervisors and managers within them, can put processes, structures and tools in place that promote the use of data to inform practice in terms of whether what they are doing is making a difference for the children and families with whom they work. When I was working in the field, we did not have access to data that enabled us to use it in this way. This also involves interorganizational relationships, because if we want to impact the well-being of children and families, both public and private agencies must be involved. In social work, our research is community-engaged, so this means getting out there and working in partnership with these organizations on how they function so they can help the families they serve, and that is an exciting privilege.

UofL News: What are some other outcomes of your research that have improved practice in the social work profession – any that make you particularly proud?

Collins-Camargo: I have had the privilege of being involved in some really incredible work—enhancing the type of supervision frontline child welfare workers receive so they are supported, and encouraged to use evidence to support the decisions they make in their work with families; working with state child welfare systems on the way they approach public/private partnerships to promote positive client outcomes; and implementing standardized screening and assessment for trauma and behavioral health needs of children entering out-of-home care in Kentucky. Most recently, I published a paper on the perceptions of public child welfare administrators on promoting equity and antiracist practice within these systems that we now understand have contributed to oppression and harm to some families. I am proud of that study because this is a defining moment in time for child welfare agencies, and they must change to antiracist approaches to promote well-being in children, families and communities.

UofL News: As you now serve in the role as interim dean, what is your vision for the Kent School?

Collins-Camargo: As an interim dean, I see my job as keeping the Kent School of Social Work and Family Science on course to promote the vision we have already established as we search for a permanent dean. We need to continue to do high quality research to address the many social problems our faculty are focused on, and to continue to prepare our students to be critical thinkers and competent social workers at all levels. For us that means continuing our efforts to build an antiracist curriculum which former Dean Jenkins initiated before he left. My short-term vision is that we will be in the best possible position to enable our new dean to be successful in leading us forward.