Fellows

In Memoriam

Sheila B. Kamerman, DSW

Inducted in 2010

Bio

Dr. Sheila B. Kamerman passed away on June 19, 2024. You can read more about her life and legacy here: https://socialwork.columbia.edu/news/loss-social-work-pioneer-dr-sheila-kamerman

Dr. Kamerman was the Compton Foundation Centennial Professor for the Prevention of Child and Youth Problems at the Columbia University School of Social Work and served as co-director of the website-based Clearinghouse on International Developments in Child and Family Policies. Between 2001 and 2002, she served as the interim dean of the School.

Her teaching areas included social policy, child and family policy, social services, comparative welfare state policies, and international social welfare. Her research focused on early childhood care and education policies and programs in OECD countries, parental leave policies in these countries, and social protection policies in developing nations.

Dr. Kamerman consulted widely for U.S. and international organizations, including UNESCO, OECD, UNICEF, UNDP, and ISSA. She authored, co-authored, or co-edited more than thirty books or monographs and nearly two hundred articles and chapters. Her books included:

(Co-edited with Alfred J. Kahn) Beyond Child Poverty: The Social Exclusion of Children (New York: Columbia University Institute for Child and Family Policy, 2003)
(Co-edited with Peter Moss) The Politics of Parental Leave Policies (Bristol, UK: Policy Press, 2009)
(Co-edited with Shelley Phipps and Asher Ben Arieh) From Child Welfare to Child Well-Being (Springer, 2009)

Among her many honors was an honorary degree from York University, England, awarded in joint recognition of the cross-national social policy research she conducted with her colleague Alfred J. Kahn.