BUSSW Names New Members to its Academic Leadership Team

Boston University School of Social Work recently announced several changes and additions to its academic leadership team:

S. Wade Taylor
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs

Taylor joins BUSSW as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and a Clinical Associate Professor.  His new role provides leadership for the overall MSW educational program and development of the curriculum, and ensures that the academic standards set by the faculty and the Accreditation Standards are upheld.

In addition to his work at BUSSW, Taylor is also an Associate Research Scientist at the Fenway Institute at Fenway Health. Previously, he was Chair of the MSW program and an Associate Professor of Social Work at Wheelock College. His clinical research addresses social and medical determinants of health among the LGBTQ persons — primarily concerning HIV and the prevention and treatment of the disease. An author of several publications around this work, he has worked on interdisciplinary teams that have received funding from Harvard University Center for AIDS Research and NIH’s NIDA, NIMH and NIAD. Most recently, Taylor received the 2018 Wheelock College Gordon Marshall Award for Research to investigate the acceptability and feasibility of an innovative “music app” to address chronic pain and problematic opioid use among people living with HIV.

Judith G. Gonyea, PhD
Professor and Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs

Gonyea takes on the role of Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, providing leadership, vision, and oversight for resources aimed at enhancing faculty recruitment, satisfaction, retention, and mission-aligned growth within the school.  The position supports the professional development of SSW faculty at all career stages, with an emphasis on strengthening the School’s national professional leadership in the advancement of a just society that promotes the health and empowerment of all.

Gonyea has held several administrative positions at BUSSW, including Chair of the Research Department (1987-2014), Director of the Sociology and Social Work Doctoral Program (1986-1990; 2000-2002), Dean ad Interim (Fall 2017), and Acting Associate Dean of Research (2017-2018).  At the university level, she served several terms as a member of the University Appointment, Promotion and Tenure Committee and the University Committee on Academic Program Review.  She currently is a senior fellow at the BU Institute for Health System Innovation & Policy and a member of the faculty advisory board of the BU Initiative on Cities.  

Gonyea is a researcher and scholar who has achieved national and international recognition for her work in the areas of multigenerational relationships, particularly surrounding caregiving and the social/environmental context of health in later life.  Her current research grant focuses on the plight of older women experiencing homelessness. The author of more than 100 publications, Gonyea has served on multiple journal editorial boards and grant review committees. She has received funding from foundations and federal agencies such as Jacob and Valerie Langeloth Foundation, The Alzheimer’s Association, the Indian Health Service and NIH, the John A. Hartford Foundation, and the Boston Foundation. She has also held key roles in national professional organizations, including Chair/Vice-President of one of four sections of the Gerontological Society of America, an organization with over 6,000 members from the behavioral and social sciences, clinical medicine, biological sciences, and social practice and policy worlds.

Renée Spencer
Interim Associate Dean for Research 

Spencer was named Interim Associate Dean for Research, providing strategic vision and leadership in developing and implementing the School’s research mission including partnering with the CISWH director to advance transdisciplinary health research, and promoting collaborative work within SSW, with other units of the University, and with community partners and other academic institutions.

Spencer has dedicated her career to studying the processes at work in the development and maintenance of youth-adult mentoring relationships. Building on her foundational qualitative research on these processes, she has collaborated with other leading researchers to conduct national mixed-methods studies in areas such as innovative approaches to youth mentoring, tailoring mentoring to the needs of special populations of youth and promoting high quality mentoring program practices. She has published more than 50 widely-cited peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters and has delivered nearly 200 presentations to academic and practitioner audiences, both nationally and internationally.  

Most recently, Spencer served as a Seelye Fellow at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. A former William T. Grant Foundation Scholar, she has received more than $2.5 million in funding for her research from sponsors such as the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), and the U. S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences (IES).  She served as Chair of the Human Behavior (HB) Department at SSW since 2010, leading curriculum renewal that resulted in expanded HB coursework options for MSW students, and led the transition of SWRnet, a national information service for social work researchers, from IASWR to BUSSW in 2009.