NASW Pioneers, former Social Work professor, Dr. Norman H. Cobb (left) and former Social Work dean, Dr. Santos Hernández
A former dean and a social work professor have been named National Association of Social Workers Pioneers for 2024.
Dr. Santos Hernández and Dr. Norman H. Cobb, both former University of Texas Arlington professors, received the prestigious recognition for their outstanding contributions to the field of social work.
Hernández is an emeritus dean and former professor at UTA School of Social Work. He has been a social work educator for more than 45 years, holding academic appointments at nine universities and two deanships. He served as dean from 1998 to 2008.
His career has been marked by numerous firsts for Mexican Americans in academia.
As a Ford Foundation Fellow, Hernández worked with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund to expand the Voting Rights Act and with the Colorado Association for Bilingual Bicultural Education to mandate bilingual education in Colorado public schools.
At UTA, he strengthened distance education and developed a dual-degree PhD program with the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León in Monterrey, Mexico, the only bi-national, dual-degree PhD in Social Work, recognized as a model program. Dr. Hernández mentored many aspiring educators and social workers, leaving a significant legacy in the profession.
“I am honored and humbled to have been selected as an NASW Pioneer and included among distinguished individuals I have admired throughout my career. This recognition speaks to the caliber of the Social Work faculty at UTA,” Dr. Hernández said.
Dr. Hernández established an endowment scholarship here at UTA in “tribute to his wife Carolyn C. Hernández, who as a single parent of a two-year-old, went back to school and completed her undergraduate and then her master’s degree while working full-time to support her daughter and assist her aging parents, all the while being the only member of her immediate family to attend college,” according to the school’s website.
For BSW, MSW and PhD Social Work students, the $1,000 per semester scholarship supports first generation college students, single parents, or students who have overcome personal obstacles in pursuit of their educational goals. Consideration is also given to students who had an interruption in their educational careers, according to the school’s scholarship webpage.
Throughout his nearly 40-year career as an educator and practitioner, including more than 30 years at UTA, Dr. Cobb has made trailblazing contributions to the profession.
An Emeritus Associate Professor, Dr. Cobb’s teaching, publications, and research centered on mental health disorders and professional therapeutic interventions, which he integrated into his teaching and supervision of students in clinical settings.
In 1993, he developed licensing exam preparation workshops for LMSW and LCSW licenses, expanding from UTA to universities across Texas and Oklahoma. These workshops later became available nationwide through Cobb Educational Services, helping over 2,500 social workers pass their licensing exams with a 91% success rate.
Dr. Cobb was the director of the UTA Mental Health Clinic for 11 years, where he mentored students in field placements while maintaining a part-time clinical practice.
“I am so happy to receive the award! But most importantly, I am so proud of social workers’ contribution to our society and culture,” Dr. Cobb said in an email.
Dr. Regina Praetorius, a former colleague and current associate dean for academic and student affairs in the UTA School of Social Work spoke very highly of Dr. Cobb.
“As a mentor, he supported me in my many, many dossiers for teaching awards and championed my application for promotion. His support and guidance were invaluable,” Praetorius said.
“Students relished his courses, and alumni sought him out for advanced clinical supervision. Alumni still reap the benefits of his teaching style in preparing for licensure—what a legacy.”
NASW is the largest membership organization of professional social workers across the world. The organization’s members work to grow the profession and to create and maintain professional standards for social workers.
NASW honors members as Pioneers “who have explored new territories and built outposts for human services on many frontiers.” NASW considers this a lifetime achievement award for their social work career.
Each Pioneer “made an important contribution to the social work profession and to social policies through service, teaching, writing, research, program development, administration, or legislation,” the organization said of its honorees.
“I’m immensely proud of the achievements of Dr. Hernández and Dr. Cobb. Their accomplishments and commitment to UTA helped make our school and social work programs considered among the best in the nation,” Dean of the UTA School of Social Work Dr. Foster said.
“We are especially appreciative of the former dean, Dr. Hernández and his wife Carolyn for their scholarship funding and their continued support of social work students.”
Photos from the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) 48TH Annual Conference - https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=UTASocialWork&set=a.1097644935701495
