Dear CSSW Community,
Social work lost one of the leading figures in the field with the passing of Professor Emerita Sheila B. Kamerman in June. Admired and cherished by all who knew her, Dr. Kamerman was a mentor to junior colleagues, an educator and advisor for countless numbers of students, a national and international scholar and author, an esteemed colleague, and a beloved friend to so many in the social work community.
Dr. Kamerman received her MSW from Hunter College in 1966 and her doctorate in 1973 from Columbia School of Social Work. She began her time as a professor at the school in 1979. During that time she served as interim dean (2001–2002); the Compton Foundation Centennial Professor of Social Work for the Prevention of Children’s and Youth Problems (a title she held from 1998 until her retirement); Co-Director of the Institute for Child and Family Policy; Co-Director of the Cross-National Studies Research Program; and Co-Director of the Clearinghouse on International Developments in Child and Family Policies. She was also an active and committed teacher and mentor, who played a particularly crucial role in the doctoral program and advised numerous doctoral students who went on to leadership positions in academia and policymaking.
A world-renowned, influential, and prolific social policy practitioner and scholar, Dr. Kamerman’s areas of research and teaching included social policy, child and family policy, social services, comparative welfare state policies, and international social welfare. Her impactful scholarship included research on early childhood care and education policies and programs in countries comprising the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), parental leave policies in these countries, and social protection policies in developing countries.
She was the author, co-author, or co-editor of more than 30 books and monographs on national and international child, family, and comparative social policy, and almost 200 articles and chapters. Her work was cited widely by scholars and policymakers.
Dr. Kamerman served on boards of several child and policy-related organizations, including Zero to Three: The National Center for Infants and Toddlers and Their Families, Citizens’ Committee for the Children of New York, the Children's Rights Division of Human Rights Watch, and the National Partnership of Women and Families. She was a sought-after expert consultant on early childhood education and care, and on parental leave for U.S. and international organizations including UNESCO, OECD, UNICEF, UNDP, and ISSA.
In addition to her research and writing, Dr. Kamerman was on the advisory board of several scholarly journals including the Journal of Public Policy, Children and Youth Services Review, and Social Service Review. She was a frequent speaker on such topics as how America neglects its youngest children, family change and family policies internationally, and social security.
Among her numerous honors, Dr. Kamerman was an inaugural member of the CSSW Hall of Fame, having been inducted during the school’s centennial in 1998. She received an honorary degree from York University in the United Kingdom, in a rare joint recognition of the work she conducted with her colleague, the late Alfred J. Kahn, in cross-national social policy research. Additionally, the International Society for Child Indicators (ISCI) created an award in honor of Drs. Kamerman and Kahn. Dr. Kamerman was also a Fellow of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare.
Our heartfelt condolences go out to Dr. Kamerman’s family, friends, and colleagues. This extraordinary woman is one of the great social work pioneers, and we are proud to count her as a colleague and an alum of CSSW.
In community
Melissa