Moving to South Florida from New York in high school in the 1980s meant Tracy McDade witnessed first-hand the influx of Cuban refugees coming to Florida. Volunteering with various organizations in the South Florida community, McDade heard accounts from these refugees of oppression, poverty and injustice. This experience affirmed her desire to improve the lives of marginalized individuals, families and whole communities.

McDade comes to Florida State University with more than twenty-five years in social work, primarily with nonprofit child welfare organizations. With experience in both the public and private sector, she has direct service experience in clinical social work and case management that lead to roles in program development and administration. Her primary interests have been working with children and families involved in the child welfare system along with school-based mental health, adoption, addiction and public policy.

She noted how drawn she was to the FSU College of Social Work because of their certification program in Child Welfare Practice, and her knowledge of the college’s efforts to collaborate with organizations to conduct research on best practices in child welfare and clinical practice.

She will continue this focus on child welfare through her assistant teaching professor role at the FSU College of Social Work. “One of the main focuses throughout my career was front line support and work force retention,” said McDade. “The College of Social Work emphasizes preparing students to be competent when they enter the workforce.”

Thanks to funding through a nationwide child welfare social work re-professionalization initiative under Title IV-E, McDade’s position will focus on field supervision, oversight, training and recruitment for undergraduate and graduate social work interns assigned to the Florida Department of Children and Families and community-based care organizations providing dependency and therapeutic services to at-risk children and families in Flagler, Putnam, St. Johns and Volusia counties.

“I look forward to being part of the professional development of new social workers and supporting them to feel competent in their ability to apply their skills in the workforce,” she expounded. She added that one of her main reasons to pursue the next step in her career in academic was to have the opportunity to work with future generations of social workers as an instructor to be instrumental in preparing them for the profession.

“My role involves using my expertise to put the necessary resources in the hands of students and to make sure they are equipped to utilize this knowledge in their studies and in future employment,” she emphasized. McDade plans on creating a safe environment for interactive and collaborative learning to promote problem-solving and critical thinking.

“My philosophy on teaching is based on a belief that learning needs to be student-centered and that students need to be equal partners in the learning process,” stated McDade. Along with her duties coordinating field placements for social work students, she will also teach Social Work with Individuals and Families for the Fall 2020 semester.

To contact Tracy McDade, contact her at tmcdade@fsu.edu.