MANSFIELD, PA – Dr. Nancy L. Sidell, professor emeritus of Social Work, will be the speaker at Mansfield University’s 154th Commencement on Saturday, December 15th in Decker Gymnasium.
Dr. Sidell came to Mansfield in 1998 and served as its Social Work Program director until 2014. She also chaired the Department of Social Work, Anthropology & Sociology from 2002-2011. In addition to teaching, she held a variety of positions in administration at the University, most recently as Interim Associate Provost prior to her retirement in May, 2018.
Dr. Sidell earned her Ph.D. from the College of Social Work at the Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. Her master’s degree, also in Social Work, was earned at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland. Additionally, she holds a counseling degree from Bowling Green State University; her undergraduate degree is from Kent State University. She has over 18 years practical experience as a social worker in health, mental health, and nursing home settings. Sidell served as an adjunct instructor for Temple University’s Master’s of Social Work (MSW) program and is currently a part-time instructor for Capella University’s MSW Program.
Dr. Sidell has provided national service to the Social Work profession in several capacities. For the past ten years, she has been associated with the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB), the organization responsible for developing social work licensing exams used in 50 states and four Canadian provinces. She served for four years on the Council on Social Work Education’s (CSWE) Commission on Accreditation, a 24-member board responsible for accreditation decisions for both Bachelor’s of Social Work (BSW) and MSW programs in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Last year, she was tapped to serve as co-chair of a national task force charged with developing a curricular guide on teaching, licensing, and regulation in Social Work programs.
Dr. Sidell is the author or coauthor of numerous journal articles and has presented at regional, state, and national levels. Additionally, she is the coauthor (with Denise Smiley) of Professional Communication Skills for Social Workers, published in 2008 by Pearson. She is the author of Social Work Documentation: An Approach to Strengthening Your Case Recording (2nd ed.), published by NASW Press in 2015.
She resides outside Wellsboro, Pennsylvania, with her husband Michael and enjoys quilting, weaving, road biking, hiking, gardening, and caring for her chickens.