Pioneering Contributions
Susan P. Robbins, PhD, MSW, LCSW, is regarded as an expert in forensic social work, an area in which her activity has included mediation, mediation training, evaluating cases, and providing expert witness testimony in cases that involve false allegations of sex abuse, proper forensic interviewing of children, and substance abuse. She has been a mediator with the Harris County Dispute Resolution Center for over 40 years and assists them with training new mediators. She has trained caseworkers, social workers, and supervisors for Children’s Protective Services in the states of Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico and has been qualified as an expert in Texas, Washington D.C., Illinois, Idaho, and Arkansas.
Robbins is an experienced social work practitioner, researcher, and educator. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) and holds MSW and PhD degrees. After receiving her PhD in 1979, Robbins initially became a faculty member at St. Mary's Dominican College in New Orleans and, in 1980, she accepted a position at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work in Houston, Texas. She continues to be engaged in part-time private clinical practice that she began in 1980. In addition, over the years since receiving her PhD, she has engaged in research and consultative activities with a wide range of social welfare and human services organizations.
Over the course of her career, Robbins has been a highly productive scholar and researcher. Dr. Robbins is known nationally for the focus of her scholarship which is rooted in the development and application of critical analysis and based on critical thinking and the lens of socially constructed power. She has applied this across a broad range of areas including theories of human behavior, practice methods, pedagogical issues in social work education, and epistemological methodologies. She is best known for her first-authored textbook Comparative Human Behavior Theory: A Critical Perspective for Social Work Practice as well as being the first academic to critically examine the now discredited recovered memory movement. She has published extensively in professional journals and has authored and co-authored several book chapters. Her book has been widely adopted and she has frequently been invited to contribute chapters to books being developed by other authors. As Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Social Work Education from 2013-2016, her editorials received widespread acclaim and several of them continue to have the highest readership counts.
Career Highlights
After joining the faculty at the University of Houston in 1980 as an assistant professor, Robbins steadily moved up the academic ladder. In 1986, she was promoted to associate professor and granted tenure. In 2014, she was promoted to professor and in 2022 she was named the Cele S. and Samuel D. Keeper Endowed Professor in Social Justice. Robbins served as associate dean for Academic Affairs from 1998 to 2000 and associate dean for Doctoral Education from 2019 to 2022.
Robbins has been nationally recognized through her service to a variety of organizations. She served on the executive board of the American College of Forensic Examiners. In addition, she has served on the editorial boards of several social work journals. Further, she frequently is asked by national and international universities to serve on their review committees for candidates for tenure and promotion. She has served both as a consultant and trainer for human services agencies in a variety of states. In addition, Robbins has frequently been invited to be a speaker at national and international conferences.
Biographic Information
Robbins was born in Brooklyn, New York on August 15, 1948. She earned her BA in Sociology at Hamline University (1974). In 1976, she received her MSW from the University of Minnesota School of Social Work. In 1979, she earned her PhD from Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Significant Achievements and Awards
Robbins has been recognized for her excellence in teaching. She received the National Faculty Excellence Award for Outstanding Contributions to Distance Education by the University Continuing Education Association.
Robbins repeatedly has received the Outstanding Faculty Award at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work. She has received many other recognitions and awards over the course of her career, including: the National Faculty Excellence Award for Outstanding Contribution to Distance Education from the University Continuing Education Association; Sol Gothard Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Organization of Forensic Social Work; and Making the World a Better Place Alumni Award from Hamline University. She was listed in Notable Women of Texas, in Who's Who in the South and Southwest, the World's Who's Who of Women, Who's Who in American Education, and Who's Who in Social Sciences Higher Education. Further, Robbins has repeatedly received Mentor Recognition from the Council on Social Work Education.
Significant Publications
She has published extensively in professional journals and has authored and co-authored a book and several book chapters. Her book has been widely adopted and she has frequently been invited to contribute book chapters. She served as editor in chief of the Journal of Social Work Education from 2013-2016 and several of her editorials continue to be among the most read articles in the journal.
- Robbins, S. P. (2023), Oppression theory and anti-oppressive practice. In. C. Franklin & C. Jordan (Eds.), Social work treatment: Interlocking theoretical approaches (7th ed.) NY: Oxford University Press.
- Robbins, S.P. & Leibowitz, G.S. (2023). Conflict theory for macro practice. (In D Bailey & T. Mizrahi (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Macro Social Work. Oxford University & NASW Press.
- Turner, F. J. & Robbins, S.P. (2022) Practice from a technique perspective. (In K. C. Corcoran & L. Rapp-McCall (Eds.), Social workers' desk reference (4th ed.). Oxford University Press.
- Robbins, S. P., Chatterjee, P., Canda, E. R., & Leibowitz, G.S. (2019). Contemporary human behavior theory: A critical perspective for social work practice. (4th ed.) New York: Pearson.
- Robbins, S.P. (2019). Child sex abuse and recovered memories of abuse: Looking back, looking ahead. Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Human Services, 100 (4), 367-380.
- Robbins, S.P. (2018). Forensic interviewing. In T. Maschi and G. Leibowitz (Eds.) Forensic practice: Psychosocial and legal issues across diverse populations and settings (2nd ed.). NY: Springer.
- Robbins, S.P. (2017), Oppression theory. In. F. J. Turner (Ed.), Social work treatment: Interlocking theoretical approaches (6th ed.). N.Y: Oxford University Press.