American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare

Anita P. Barbee, PhD

Active | Inducted in 2016

Current Position

Board Member, Treasurer

Bio

Anita P. Barbee, Professor, Distinguished University Scholar, and Ph.D. Director, Kent School of Social Work and Family Science, University of Louisville. Over the past 33 years, she and her colleagues have secured $150 million in extramural funding from numerous local, state and federal agencies such as the Children’s Bureau, Office of Family Assistance, Office of Adolescent Health, SAMHSA, HRSA, the CDC and OJJDP in two major areas 1) interpersonal relationship formation and maintenance and the impact of relationship education on improving communication and parenting skills and reducing intimate partner violence and risky behavior; 2) development, execution and evaluation of workforce and practice interventions, and capacity building in family and youth serving organizations such as child welfare, juvenile justice, and out of school time, youth serving agencies in order to improve policy, practice and outcomes for families, youth and children affected by trauma. This work has led to hundreds of publications and presentations.

Dr. Barbee is currently Treasurer of the AASWSW Board. From 2016-2022 she served as President-Elect, President and Immediate Past-President of the International Association for Relationship Research (IARR). She also served three years on the Executive Council of the National Staff Development and Training Association (NSDTA) in the mid-2010s. She currently serves on the Editorial Boards of four journals such as the Journal of Public Child Welfare, JSSWR, Families in Society and PLOS ONE and served on the Editorial Boards of nine other journals over the years. She is a Fellow in the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR), Society of Experimental Social Psychologists (SESP), Division 9 of American Psychological Association’s, Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI) and received the Dissertation Award in 1989 and the Miller Early Career Award in 1997 from IARR as well as the Lifetime Achievement and President’s Service Award from NSDTA in 2007 and 2014, respectively. She has worked with numerous organizations such as the Brookings Institution, the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancies, the National Academy of Medicine, the National Safe Place Network, and the Centers for Disease Control as well as 30 states and several countries to improve child welfare, education and pregnancy prevention services. In 2024 she was awarded the Wilson Wyatt Alumni Fellow, University of Louisville for the Kent School of Social Work and Family Science where she received her MSSW degree in 2001.