UBC welcomes Dr. Donna Baines as new director of the School of Social Work.
The University of British Columbia welcomes Dr. Donna Baines as the new Director of the School of Social Work. A globally recognized scholar who teaches and researches in the area of labour studies and social work, Dr. Baines will assume the role starting July 1, 2019.
“We are fortunate to have recruited Dr. Baines to UBC and I very much look forward to working with her as she undertakes leadership of the School of Social Work starting this summer,” said Dr. Gage Averill, Dean of the Faculty of Arts at UBC.
Dr. Baines comes to UBC from the University of Sydney, where she serves as the Chair of the School of Social Work and Social Policy. Previously, she held professorial appointments at Dalhousie University and McMaster University. She takes over at the School of Social Work for Dr. Miu Chung Yan, who has served as Director for the past three years, steering the school through a period of growth and consolidation.
Founded in 1929, the UBC School of Social Work is the oldest social work education program in British Columbia and the third oldest in Canada. Based on a commitment to fundamental social work values and a vision of social justice, the School prepares social workers for generalist and advanced professional practice.
“UBC is a great university in a dynamic region,” Dr. Baines said. “I am very excited to join their social justice School of Social Work and use our skills, not just to study the world, but to change it.”
Dr. Baines’ research focuses on paid and unpaid work, critical social work theory and practice, and social policy and austerity. She has collaborated extensively with research projects in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Scotland and is currently involved in a number of research collaborations, including as a co-applicant on a SSHRC Partnership Grant and as a co-investigator on another. She founded and co-edits the online journal, Social Work & Policy Studies: Social Justice, Practice and Theory.
