Open Positions

The UCLA Department of Social Welfare in the UCLA Meyer and Renee Luskin School of Public Affairs seeks to recruit a senior scholar with leadership experience to join the rank of its tenured Full Professors, and to serve as Director and Department Chair for a period up to six years contingent on a successful three-year review by the dean. Extensions beyond the six years are possible. Successful candidates will be Full or advanced Associate Professors with an MSW degree required and a PhD in Social Work/Social Welfare or a related discipline. Senior scholars applying to the directorship will be considered for our Marjorie Crump endowed chair.

We seek a collaborative and visionary leader to champion our efforts and lead in the pursuit of social and economic justice, the improvement of health and mental health across the lifespan, and the advancement of child and family well-being. An ideal candidate will have demonstrated leadership through their own trajectory of social welfare scholarship, clear ability to promote a range of transdisciplinary scholarship, and prior administrative experience is highly desired. The Director and Department Chair is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the social welfare department, including our MSW and PhD degrees, field education, and supervision of the department’s manager, who oversees all staff. The Director and Department Chair reports to the Dean of the Luskin School of Public Affairs.

The next Director and Department Chair will join a dynamic faculty and school in shaping the future of our department and its programs. We seek a candidate who has a visible commitment to anti-racism, and diversity, equity, and inclusion, who will continue to advance our departmental anti-racism plan and strategic plans. We seek a Director and Department Chair who will also be an outward facing leader representing our school to national organizations, such as the National Association of Deans and Directors, Council for Social Work Education, and Society for Social Work Research, and within our California Deans and Directors group. The new Director and Department Chair will lead and build upon current fundraising opportunities with the State of California, including multi-million-dollar research and training grants, and seek further endowments and student scholarships from public and private sources, as a key priority. The Director and Department Chair will build upon our recent success in securing a $3-million MSW program expansion grant in public behavioral health through the California Department of Health Care Access and Information and seek innovative ways of delivering instruction.

UCLA is consistently ranked among the top research universities across the nation and the world. The Department of Social Welfare is ranked within the top nine schools of social work nationally and is the only social work program in Southern California housed in a major public research university. The Department of Social Welfare has the unique advantage of being situated in an interdisciplinary School of Public Affairs along with highly ranked departments of Urban Planning and Public Policy. The Department has experienced dynamic growth in the past five years. In 2020, we launched our strategic plan establishing three areas of concentration in the MSW program and joined a school-wide undergraduate major in public affairs. Our current faculty includes 17 tenured and tenure track professors (with room to add), 9 field education faculty, 3 adjunct faculty, 8 full time staff members, and numerous lecturers. The Social Welfare Department has approximately 200 MSW students (growing to 250 by Fall 2025) and 40 PhD students. In addition to our MSW and PhD programs, we offer a post-MSW school social work credential, public child welfare and public behavioral health training programs, and a summer institute in leadership. We also have joint degree programs with Asian American Studies, Law, Public Health, and Public Policy.

Over the past decade we have hired over 15 new tenure and tenure track and field education faculty and we continue to grow. We currently have two endowed chairs. Our faculty and students are highly productive, garnering prestigious and large-scale grants, crafting influential scholarly publications, and engaging in research that impacts the lives of citizens in California and across the globe. Our interdisciplinary faculty are experts in school safety, activism and organizing, civic engagement, intersectionality, criminal justice, immigrant communities, LGBTQ+ health and wellness, child welfare, harm reduction, and numerous other cutting-edge topics. Our field education and adjunct faculty are highly respected and integral to our training program.

The posted UC salary scales set the minimum pay determined by rank and/or step at appointment. See Table(s) 1. The salary range for this position is $108,300 – $197,100. “Offscale salaries” and other components of pay, i.e., a salary that is higher than the published system-wide salary at the designated rank and step, are offered when necessary to meet competitive conditions.

Early applications are encouraged. To ensure full consideration, please submit applications by October 30, 2023. Interested candidates should apply through UC Recruit: https://recruit.apo.ucla.edu/JPF08494. Please submit a cover letter that illustrates your leadership experience and vision; a curriculum vitae; brief summaries of your research and teaching; three publications; a statement of diversity, equity, and inclusion; and the names and affiliations of three references. References will only be contacted for candidates who advance as top finalists.

As a condition of employment, you will be required to comply with the University of California Policy on Vaccination Programs – With Updated Interim Amendments. All Covered Individuals under the policy must provide proof of receiving the COVID-19 Vaccine Primary Series or, if applicable, submit a request for Exception (based on Medical Exemption, Disability, Religious Objection, and/or Deferral based on pregnancy or recent COVID-19 diagnosis and/or treatment) no later than the applicable deadline. All Covered Individuals must also provide proof of receiving the most recent CDC-recommended COVID-19 booster or properly decline such booster no later than the applicable deadline. New University of California employees should refer to Exhibit 2, Section II.C. of the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) Vaccination Program Attachment for applicable deadlines. All Covered Individuals must also provide proof of being Up-To-Date on seasonal influenza vaccination or properly decline such vaccination no later than the applicable deadline. Please refer to the Seasonal Influenza Vaccination Program Attachment. (Capitalized terms in this paragraph are defined in the policy.) Federal, state, or local public health directives may impose additional requirements.

The University of California is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age or protected veteran status. For the complete University of California nondiscrimination and affirmative action policy, see: UC Nondiscrimination & Affirmative Action Policy. The University of California is committed to creating and maintaining a community dedicated to the advancement, application, and transmission of knowledge and creative endeavors through academic excellence, where all individuals who participate in University programs and activities can work and learn together in a safe and secure environment, free of violence, harassment, bullying and other demeaning behavior, discrimination, exploitation, or intimidation. With this commitment as well as a commitment to addressing all forms of academic misconduct, UCLA conducts targeted employment reference checks for finalists to whom departments or other hiring units would like to extend formal offers of appointment into Academic Senate faculty positions. The targeted employment reference checks involve contacting the finalists’ current and prior places of employment to ask whether there have been substantiated findings of misconduct that would violate the University’s Faculty Code of Conduct. To implement this process, UCLA requires all applicants for Academic Senate faculty positions to complete, sign, and upload the form entitled “Authorization to Release Information” into RECRUIT as part of their application. If the applicant does not include the signed authorization to release information with the application materials, the application will be considered incomplete. As with any incomplete application, the application will not receive further consideration. Although all applicants for faculty recruitments must complete the entire application, only finalists (i.e., those to whom the department or other hiring unit would like to extend a formal offer) considered for Academic Senate faculty positions will be subject to targeted employment reference checks.