In recognition of his many contributions to social work research, policy, and practice, CSD’s Associate Director for Research, Jin Huang, was inducted into the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare on January 18.
“I am honored and humbled to be counted among the nation’s finest social-work researchers and practitioners, and my team shares this honor with me,” said Huang. “This fellowship recognizes the importance of our work on promoting financial capability and asset building for all through structural, policy, and scientific strategies in the profession, within a global context. Together, we can advance the cause of improving well-being for all.”
Huang is the William and Helen Reichmann Research Professor at Saint Louis University School of Social Work and Research Professor in the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.
“This is a well-deserved honor. I celebrate this recognition of Jin’s achievements,” said Michael Sherraden. “The social work profession – and impacts of our research – are demonstrably better today because of the contributions made by Jin Huang.” Sherraden is the George Warren Brown Distinguished University Professor at Washington University and Founding Director of the Center for Social Development.
Huang began his career as a practitioner with people with disabilities in China, and that work continues in his current research on family-focused interventions. He holds a bachelor’s degree from China Youth University for Political Sciences in Beijing, as well as master’s and doctoral degrees in social work from the Brown School.
Today, Huang is an internationally renowned expert on policies to foster child and family well-being. His work centers on financial capability, financial social work, disability and poverty, and asset-based social policy, particularly Child Development Account policy. At CSD, Huang plays a pivotal leadership role in the SEED for Oklahoma Kids experiment. He also leads the center’s work on financial capability and asset building, with engagements in the United States, China, and elsewhere.
A prolific scholar, he is the editor of several books and has authored or coauthored nearly 100 peer-reviewed studies, which appear in such journals as JAMA Pediatrics, Social Science and Medicine, the American Journal of Public Health, Social Service Review, Social Science Research, and Social Work. Stanford University named Huang to its 2024 list of the world’s top 2% of scientists in social work.
Huang’s contributions have been recognized through appointments to several leadership roles, including appointments to the editorial board of the Journal of Policy Practice and Research and to the board of directors for Influencing Social Policy. He is one of the leaders of the Grand Challenges for Social Work initiative’s network to build financial capability and assets for all.
Huang was one of ten inducted in a ceremony held during the 29th annual meeting of the Society for Social Work and Research in Seattle, WA. He is the eighth CSD-affiliated scholar to be honored in this way. Michael Sherraden, Margaret Sherraden, Shenyang Guo, Sean Joe, Nancy Morrow-Howell, Mark Rank, Fred Ssewamala, and Trina Shanks also are fellows of the academy, which has fewer than 150 members. Founded in 2009, the academy is a society of distinguished scholars and practitioners in social work and social welfare. The academy’s enrolled fellows nominate new members, who are inducted in an annual ceremony.