SSA plans ‘Bridging Gap Between Research, Practice’ to honor Pinkston

The School of Social Service Administration is organizing a conference, titled “Bridging the Gap between Research and Practice: A Symposium Honoring Professor Elsie Pinkston,” to mark Pinkston’s retirement after 29 years of service to the University and the social work community.

Pinkston, Professor Emerita in SSA, is an innovator of behavioral clinical social work methods, particularly in the treatment of families. At SSA, she directs the Program Procedures Project in child welfare and previously directed the Elderly Support Project and the Parent Partnership Program, as well as programs in parent education and home-based parent training.

The conference will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, April 4, at SSA, 969 E. 60th St. SSA faculty members and former students of Pinkston’s will present sessions on such topics as “Perspectives on Evidence-Based Practice,” “Practical Roles for Research,” “Practice Applications” and “Culture and Interventions.” Many participants have authored chapters in a forthcoming book honoring Pinkston’s contributions to their work, Accountable Practice: Critical Thinking, Evidence, and Application.

Pinkston received her undergraduate degree in 1969 and a Ph.D. in 1973 in developmental and child psychology, both from the University of Kansas. She then joined the SSA faculty, where she co-founded the Applied Behavior Analysis Sequence.

She is lead author of books on behavioral methods and case studies in social work, Effective Social Work Practice, and Care of the Elderly: A Family Approach, and co-editor of Environment and Behavior.

As a pioneer in behavioral social work practice, she has published in the Journal of Applied Behavioral Analysis, Behavior Therapy, The Gerontologist, Social Service Review and Social Work. Pinkston consults internationally on behavioral family treatment, and her work is translated into Norwegian, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish and Japanese.

She currently is evaluating system variables that influence treatment of children in child welfare, and writing a book, Bad Manners, Bad Politics, and Uncaring Hearts, describing the consequences of using sexual aggression as a category for treatment of children who are wards of Illinois’ Department of Children and Family Services.

The Child Welfare League of America recently published an ethics manual, Ethical Child Welfare Practice, Volume 1: Clinical Issues, developed in collaboration with her staff and the Office of Inspector General, IDCFS.

In addition to research and teaching, she has advocated for children’s rights on committees for the Illinois’ DCFS, the American Civil Liberties Union Advisory Committee on the DCFS Family Court, and as a federal court monitor advisor in a case involving DCFS.