USF hosts inaugural Leadership Council meeting of Master of Social Work program directors

• March 10, 2026
• College News, School of Social Work

The USF School of Social Work hosted seven Master of Social Work (MSW) program directors from across the country for the inaugural Leadership Council meeting of the Association of MSW Program Directors (AMPD), a new national initiative aimed at strengthening leadership and collaboration among MSW programs.

This initiative grew out of a research project led by Dane Minnick, PhD, the Duvall Chair of Family and Community Health and an assistant professor in the School of Social Work, and was developed in response to a clearly identified gap in social work higher education: the absence of a coordinated national infrastructure to support mentorship, networking, structured problem-solving, and strategic alignment among MSW program leaders.

"Qualitative data gathered from program directors as part of a broader assessment of social work's role in higher education and as a professional field demonstrated a clear need for this type of organization and its services," said Minnick. "This initiative has strong potential to strengthen social work education and practice nationwide by coordinating efforts to address shared challenges and disseminating field-informed insights on contemporary issues impacting social work practitioners, educators, and students."

After participating in several virtual convenings over the past year, the group gathered in person at USF for a full-day workshop to formalize the organization's structure, mission, and core services and to develop a launch strategy for 2026. The group also outlined several key initiatives AMPD will launch to support MSW program leaders across the country.

Among the planned activities are a centralized communication infrastructure for program directors, bi-semester virtual meetings, and a problem-solving forum hosted on SPARC. The association also plans to produce a podcast for MSW program directors and organize meetups at major national social work conferences.

With a formal launch date set for mid-April at the 2026 Council on Social Work Education Conference in Atlanta, the organization will be housed through the Duvall Chair and the USF School of Social Work, further strengthening its national footprint in social work education and positioning the School as a hub for leadership and innovation among MSW programs.

Leadership Council participants included:

• Laura Ainsworth, PhD, LCSW - Louisiana State University
• Mia Ocean, PhD, LSCSW - Wichita State University
• Robin Hernandez-Mekonnen, PhD - Stockton University
• Quincy Dinnerson, DSW, LMSW, QMHP-C, CFSW - North Carolina A&T State University
• Liam Heerten-Rodriguez, PhD, PLMHP, PCMSW - University of Nebraska-Omaha
• Rachel Schwartz, PhD - University of Connecticut
• Vickie Lynn, PhD - University of South Florida
• Dane Minnick, PhD (Duvall Chair and convener) - University of South Florida
• Laura Curran, PhD, LMHC (Duvall Fellow) - University of South Florida