2026 ISP Awardees
Thank you to everyone who submitted a nomination for ISP’s Policy Scholarship Awards. Congratulations to our 2026 awardees for their important and impactful contributions to the field of policy practice:
Katharine V. Byers BSW Award
Carson Chittick received the Katharine V. Byers BSW Award for his advocacy to preserve the Iowa Historical Society Building and protect public access to the state’s historical records. During Iowa’s NASW Legislative Day on the Hill, he engaged directly with state policymakers regarding Senate File 2293 and highlighted the importance of preserving historically significant documents and community heritage. His work demonstrated the value of civic engagement and illustrated how emerging social workers can influence public policy to protect important community resources.
Read Carson's submission.
Carson Chittick received the Katharine V. Byers BSW Award for his advocacy to preserve the Iowa Historical Society Building and protect public access to the state’s historical records. During Iowa’s NASW Legislative Day on the Hill, he engaged directly with state policymakers regarding Senate File 2293 and highlighted the importance of preserving historically significant documents and community heritage. His work demonstrated the value of civic engagement and illustrated how emerging social workers can influence public policy to protect important community resources.
Read Carson's submission.
Bruce S. Jansson MSW Award
Michael P. O’Neill received the Bruce S. Jansson MSW Award for his advocacy to strengthen the social work workforce in Massachusetts through the proposed SUPER Act. He engaged legislators, built coalitions, organized public education efforts, and testified before the Massachusetts Joint Committee on Higher Education in support of legislation designed to reduce barriers to licensure, provide stipends for MSW internships, and expand supervision opportunities. His efforts demonstrated the important role that sustained policy advocacy plays in strengthening the profession and improving access to behavioral health services.
Read Michael's submission.
Michael P. O’Neill received the Bruce S. Jansson MSW Award for his advocacy to strengthen the social work workforce in Massachusetts through the proposed SUPER Act. He engaged legislators, built coalitions, organized public education efforts, and testified before the Massachusetts Joint Committee on Higher Education in support of legislation designed to reduce barriers to licensure, provide stipends for MSW internships, and expand supervision opportunities. His efforts demonstrated the important role that sustained policy advocacy plays in strengthening the profession and improving access to behavioral health services.
Read Michael's submission.
Robert L. Schneider Dissertation Award
Aprille Arena, a doctoral student at the University of Denver, received the Robert L. Schneider Dissertation Award for her dissertation examining how payment and reimbursement policies shaped the work of outpatient mental health clinicians. Her research explored the relationship between policy-driven workplace conditions, clinician burnout, professional well-being, and workforce sustainability. By shifting attention from individual causes of burnout to the broader policy environment, her work contributed new evidence to inform payment reform and strengthen the behavioral health workforce.
Read Aprille's submission.
Aprille Arena, a doctoral student at the University of Denver, received the Robert L. Schneider Dissertation Award for her dissertation examining how payment and reimbursement policies shaped the work of outpatient mental health clinicians. Her research explored the relationship between policy-driven workplace conditions, clinician burnout, professional well-being, and workforce sustainability. By shifting attention from individual causes of burnout to the broader policy environment, her work contributed new evidence to inform payment reform and strengthen the behavioral health workforce.
Read Aprille's submission.
Research on Teaching Effectiveness in Policy Award
David L. Conley received the Research on Teaching Effectiveness in Policy Award for his article, Political Social Work’s Role in Competency-Based Social Work Education. His work demonstrated how political social work could be intentionally integrated throughout the social work curriculum, providing educators with practical strategies to prepare students for meaningful policy engagement across all areas of practice. By linking political action to competency-based education, the article strengthened the connection between research, teaching, and policy practice.
David shares this award with his co-authors: Shannon R. Lane, Tanya Rhodes Smith & Allysha Bryant
Read Dr. Conley's submission.
David L. Conley received the Research on Teaching Effectiveness in Policy Award for his article, Political Social Work’s Role in Competency-Based Social Work Education. His work demonstrated how political social work could be intentionally integrated throughout the social work curriculum, providing educators with practical strategies to prepare students for meaningful policy engagement across all areas of practice. By linking political action to competency-based education, the article strengthened the connection between research, teaching, and policy practice.
David shares this award with his co-authors: Shannon R. Lane, Tanya Rhodes Smith & Allysha Bryant
Read Dr. Conley's submission.
Katherine V. Byers BSW Award
Katherine V. Byers was recognized as a Social Work Pioneer by the National Association of Social Workers Foundation for her work as a founding member of Influencing Social Policy (ISP). Byers, now retired, has had a long career as both a social worker and an educator. In 1997, she helped create ISP, which holds annual contests for students to propose policy ideas and hosts an annual conference and teaching institute. She served as its national chair for seven years, during which time she connected ISP with the University of Connecticut and the Congressional Research Institute for Social Work and Policy to launch a voter empowerment campaign partnering schools of social work with local social service agencies.
Full - or part-time BSW students (as individuals or collaborative groups) are eligible to apply, along with their faculty mentors. This is a chance to be recognized for your efforts to influence or advocate for a local, state, or national social policy or a piece of state or federal legislation in the United States.
A $500 cash award will be given to the awarded individual(s). Group winners will share the award.
Full - or part-time BSW students (as individuals or collaborative groups) are eligible to apply, along with their faculty mentors. This is a chance to be recognized for your efforts to influence or advocate for a local, state, or national social policy or a piece of state or federal legislation in the United States.
A $500 cash award will be given to the awarded individual(s). Group winners will share the award.
Bruce S. Jansson MSW Award
Bruce S. Jansson is the Driscoll/Clevenger professor of social policy in the School of Social Work at the University of Southern California (USC). He joined the USC faculty in 1973 after working in Michigan as a community organizer and planner for tenant rights. He also has served as the Moses distinguished research professor at the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center. His scholarly interests focus on advancing case advocacy and policy advocacy in social work, as well as examining the history and practice of social welfare policy. He invented the term “policy practice” in the 1984 release of The Theory and Practice of Social Policy, which was succeeded by other titles, including Becoming an Effective Policy Advocate (1999, 2003, 2008, 2011, and 2014). Policy practice has since emerged as a recognized intervention, with the Council on Social Work Education now requiring social work schools to teach policy practice.
Full - or part-time MSW students (as individuals or collaborative groups) are eligible to apply, along with their faculty mentors. This is a chance to be recognized for your efforts to influence or advocate for a local, state, or national social policy or a piece of state or federal legislation in the United States.
A $500 cash award will be given to the awarded individual(s). Group winners will share the award.
Full - or part-time MSW students (as individuals or collaborative groups) are eligible to apply, along with their faculty mentors. This is a chance to be recognized for your efforts to influence or advocate for a local, state, or national social policy or a piece of state or federal legislation in the United States.
A $500 cash award will be given to the awarded individual(s). Group winners will share the award.
Robert L. Schneider Dissertation Award
For much of his life, Robert L. Schneider, Ph.D., the big picture was macro social work. Colleagues remember Schneider, who retired in 2008 and passed away in 2020, for his role in the school’s social work administration, planning and policy practice concentration and the subsequent SWAPPP Scholarship. At a national level, he founded Influencing State Policy – now Influencing Social Policy – in 1997 as an organization devoted to connecting social work students and faculty to legislative policy and advocacy.
Any student currently enrolled in a social work Ph.D. program in the United States is eligible to apply. All doctoral coursework and all comprehensive/oral/qualifying exams must be successfully completed by the application deadline. The dissertation must be in progress and not yet completed at the time of application. The application materials will be scored based on relevance to social work practice; use of an appropriate methodology; clarity and organization; and potential to influence state policy.
A $1,500 cash award will be given to the awarded individual.
Any student currently enrolled in a social work Ph.D. program in the United States is eligible to apply. All doctoral coursework and all comprehensive/oral/qualifying exams must be successfully completed by the application deadline. The dissertation must be in progress and not yet completed at the time of application. The application materials will be scored based on relevance to social work practice; use of an appropriate methodology; clarity and organization; and potential to influence state policy.
A $1,500 cash award will be given to the awarded individual.
Research on Teaching Effectiveness in Policy
Influencing Social Policy (ISP) is now accepting nominations for its award recognizing outstanding research on Teaching Effectiveness in Policy. This award, made possible by the Fund for Social Policy Education & Practice, recognizes significant social work contributions to the scholarship of teaching and learning in the social policy sequence. Examples of pertinent research questions include: What teaching strategies and assignments produce optimal learning outcomes for students? After students graduate, what is their sense of efficacy in influencing social policy and what do they actually do? What assignments, readings, and activities do students identify as pivotal to their learning about social policy and policy practice?
Self- nominations are accepted and encouraged. The author of the winning article will receive a cash award of $500 and a plaque from ISP. Co-authors will share the cash award and will receive certificates of recognition.
Self- nominations are accepted and encouraged. The author of the winning article will receive a cash award of $500 and a plaque from ISP. Co-authors will share the cash award and will receive certificates of recognition.