School of Social Welfare Wins Two NASW Awards

McCarthy and Turner will be honored on Dec. 4 by the New York chapter of the National Association of Social Workers.

ALBANY, N.Y. (Nov. 24, 2020) — School of Social Welfare faculty member and alum Mary McCarthy (MSW ’82) and recent alum Natalie Turner (BSW ’17, MSW ’18) will be honored with awards from the National Association of Social Work, New York State chapter, on Dec. 4.

“It is a tremendous honor that two members of our School of Social Welfare community are being recognized by NASW-NY this year,” said SSW Dean Lynn Warner. “Dr. Mary McCarthy is being honored for an entire career of research, teaching and service on behalf of vulnerable children and families, and Natalie Turner for the promise she has demonstrated as an emerging social work change agent. Both are exemplars of the impact that social workers can have on the lives of individuals, the availability and quality of social services and the policies that advance social welfare overall.  SSW is proud to have played a part in their success.”

Mary L. McCarthy, Lifetime Achievement Award

McCarthy is receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award for her extensive contributions to the field of social work. She is the co-principal investigator for the National Child Welfare Workforce Institute (NCWWI), a service of the Children’s Bureau, and director of the NYS Social Work Education Consortium.

McCarthy joined the School of Social Welfare faculty in 1987, working in graduate and undergraduate field education, student services and as director of the graduate and undergraduate programs, in addition to teaching. She earned her PhD in 2003, awarded with distinction, from Memorial University, Newfoundland, Canada.

An active member of NASW since 1981, she served in many leadership positions at the division, state and national levels including division chair, chapter board member, chapter president, national PACE Board of Trustees, national board rep for Region III, and national treasurer. Today she serves on the National Finance Committee and the Legal Defense Fund Board of Trustees.

McCarthy worked in the child welfare field for 14 years both before and after earning her MSW from UAlbany. She started her social work career in 1973 in Syracuse at the Huntington Family Center, a settlement house program. In 1979 she entered the MSW program and joined the staff of the continuing education program as a child welfare training specialist. Over the past 20 years, McCarthy has led two workforce initiatives focused on child welfare for NYS and nationally. The Social Work Education Consortium is designed to impact the NYS workforce through tuition assistance for employees completing a social work degree.

The National Child Welfare Workforce Institute is designed to build the capacity of the nation’s child welfare workforce and improve outcomes for children and families through the development of skilled child welfare leaders. This multi-university collaboration is now in its 13th year of funding with Workforce Excellence initiatives underway in two states, two counties and three tribal child welfare systems.

Natalie Turner, Emerging Social Worker

Turner is a social worker at the Center of Excellence for Alzheimer’s Disease at Albany Medical Center and a senior research aide on the New York State Senate-sponsored evaluation of the PFC Dwyer Peer-to-Peer Veterans Program.

During her BSW program she interned at the American Cancer Society Hope Club. She went on to earn an MSW from UAlbany 2018. She was part of the Hartford Practicum Partnership in Aging Education Program. As part of her MSW Turner interned at the Alzheimer’s Association and the Center of Excellence for Alzheimer’s Disease at Albany.

In May 2018, Turner was hired as a full-time social worker for the Center of Excellence for Alzheimer’s Disease, where she provides support, guidance and education for people with dementia and their caregivers. She also conducts education and training programs on Alzheimer’s and other dementias to health care professionals and students in the Capital Region and surrounding counties.

She has been a guest lecturer at several area colleges and universities. Turner volunteers for the Alzheimer’s Association as a support group facilitator. In July 2020, she became the Northeast Division Director for the National Association of Social Workers New York State where she is working to help foster connections among social workers in Northeast NY.

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