Hope Conference Speakers

Tracy Whitaker, DSW, ACSW
Director, Center for Workforce Studies and Social Work Practice
National Association of Social Workers

Tracy Whitaker, DSW, ACSW, is the Director of the Center for Workforce Studies & Social Work Practice at the National Association of Social Workers (NASW). Dr. Whitaker directed the 2004 national benchmark study of licensed social workers and was the lead author of five reports emanating from that study. She also led the first compensation and benefits study of the social work profession in 2009 and has conducted multiple studies of the NASW membership. Dr. Whitaker is the lead author of Workforce Trends Affecting the Profession, 2009 and The Results are In: What Social Workers Say about Social Work, both published by the NASW Press.

Dr. Whitaker’s career includes leadership at multiple levels. Before joining NASW, she served as the Deputy Director of a federally-funded, national resource center addressing the behavioral health needs of women across the life cycle; as a court monitor overseeing the deinstitutionalization of St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in the District of Columbia; and as Executive Director of a transitional center for homeless women.

Dr. Whitaker received a BA in Political Science, and an MSW and a DSW from Howard University.  She also holds certification from NASW’s Academy of Certified Social Workers.

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