Andrea Porter, assistant dean for student services at the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Ohio Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW). The award recognizes “an individual as espousing the best social work values and accomplishments throughout their career.” She had previously been recognized with the Lifetime Achievement Award for Region 3 of the state.
“I am thrilled Andrea has been recognized with this outstanding distinction,” said Grover C. Gilmore, the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Dean in Applied Social Sciences. “As a faculty member and an alumna, Andrea is a terrific example of the school’s commitment to creating leaders in social work. In all that she does, she is the consummate social worker.”
About Porter
Throughout her career as a social worker and administrator, Porter has served in a number of capacities, including direct practice, management, teaching, training, organizational development and evaluation. She devoted 32 years of her career to child welfare, including 12 years supervising protective services and 12 years as deputy director in Summit County. She has been at the Mandel School since 2004.
Sarah Andrews, senior instructor and director of social work at the Mandel School, recommended Porter for the award, calling her “honest and trustworthy.”
“The Mandel School and our student services management is strengthened because she is at the core of it,” Andrews said. “She guides students and empowers them. She is a co-worker on whom all of us depend for helping support our students to success.”
Porter is a graduate of the Mandel School’s Master of Science in Social Administration program, a member of the Academy of Certified Social Workers and an Ohio Licensed Independent Social Worker – Supervision.
Porter has taught social work courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels, primarily interested in child abuse and family violence, the impact of separation on child development, child sexual abuse and program evaluation and practice intervention in large systems. In addition, she has an interest in the recruitment, support and retention of students with a career interest in the social work profession.
Porter also is a leader in the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, International Partners in Mission, St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church Foundation and the Cleveland-based Student Run Health Clinic.