蜜芽TV

by Leslie Hunter-Gadsden, M.A. 鈥�01

Kim Strom-Gottfried, M.S.W. 鈥�81, Ph.D., LCSW, did not initially set her sights on听becoming a social worker. Then, as an undergraduate majoring in sociology at the听University of Maine, she had two experiences she described as 鈥渢ransformative鈥�:听literacy work in a county jail and working at a suicide hotline. Studying for a听master鈥檚 degree at the 鈥渆nded up being perfect in terms of working in suicide prevention,鈥� she said.

Today Dr. Strom-Gottfried is at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel听Hill, where she serves as the Smith P. Theimann Distinguished Professor for Ethics听and Professional Practice in the School of Social Work and associate director of the听Academic Leadership Program in the UNC Institute of Arts and Humanities. She听is known for her focus on professional ethics and what she calls moral courage,听the 鈥渃enterpiece of my work,鈥� she said, explaining that, as professionals, 鈥淚t鈥檚 not听enough to know the right thing, but to do it. It鈥檚 not about whistle-blowing, but about听everyday acts of courage and supporting people who are doing the right thing.鈥�

Thinking back to her early career, when she directed emergency services at a听rural mental health center in northern Maine, Dr. Strom-Gottfried said, 鈥淚t was an听experience where you had to be able to do everything: crisis calls, speaking about听suicide and sexual assault. It was a great lesson. There were a lot of ethical issues听related to service provision in small communities, confidentiality, boundaries. I learned from the ground up how to help people navigate from the purity of ethics听standards in writing to the complexities of these [standards] in reality.鈥�

Dr. Strom-Gottfried applies some of that early expertise to her current experience听teaching and training in ethics and looking at 鈥渉ow we reconcile the challenges of听practice with our ethical standards.鈥� At UNC Chapel Hill, she has a regular faculty听role teaching direct and macro practice, communities, organizations and human听resource management as well as training the next generation of academic leaders.听Dr. Strom-Gottfried notes, 鈥淢ost of the time, faculty don鈥檛 come into the field听expecting to move up the ladder of success and become administrators. My role听is to cultivate the next generation of academic leaders, to help develop people to听become directors of graduate studies, deans and associate deans.鈥�

She said serving in an endowed professorship named after Smith P. Theimann is听special because 鈥渉e respected his clients and taught other people to respect them.鈥�