Social Work Associate Professor honored with Lifetime Achievement Award

Morgantown, W.Va., September 7, 2007: The National Rural Social Work Caucus presented Dr. Barry L. Locke of West Virginia University with a Lifetime Achievement Award at its 32nd Annual National Institute on Social Work and Human Services in Rural Areas in Montgomery, Alabama.

Dr. Locke, associate professor in the Division of Social Work in the School of Applied Social Sciences in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences at WVU, was honored with the award for his strong commitment to professional service and his service to a number of non-profit agencies. He also provides leadership to professional organizations in West Virginia and the nation.

He has served as Board President for the West Virginia Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers, the West Virginia Human Resources Association, In-Touch and Concerned (an adult protection program), the Family Service Association for Harrison and Marion Counties, and the National Rural Social Work Caucus.

The Caucus is an informal organization of scholars, academics and social workers that share a common interest in the delivery of human services to rural people and places.

The National Institute on Social Work and Human Services has been integral in helping Dr. Locke share the findings of WVU’s Welfare Reform Research Task Force. On behalf of the Task Force, Dr. Locke has aided social work and human services with evaluating welfare reform efforts in rural areas of West Virginia. The welfare reform research group works in collaboration with West Virginia’s Department of Health and Human Services.

Dr. Locke joined the WVU faculty in 1973 with degrees from Fairmont State College, Virginia Commonwealth University and WVU. He has contributed to several articles and book chapters, and helped to co-author two books in the areas of poverty policy, rural social work practice, and higher education practices. He also has made more than 85 presentations at state, regional, national and international meetings.

“It is always humbling to be honored by ones peers for engaging in work that is indeed a labor of love,” Dr. Locke concluded.

For more information, please contact Dr. Barry L. Locke at Barry.Locke@mail.wvu.edu.

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