SPECIFIC PIONEERING CONTRIBUTIONS
Dr. Goutham M. Menon, PhD, MA, MBA, has been innovative in the social work field, blazing trails and effecting meaningful change by using technology and communications to increase access to services and educational opportunities for vulnerable individuals and families in highest need. His commitment to building opportunities for a better system to serve the needs of our talented but disadvantaged members of society has not only transformed individual lives but has contributed significantly to the advancement of social work practice, policy, and research on a broader scale.
Considered an expert and an innovator/disruptor in information and communication technologies in the areas of social services and higher education by his peers, Menon has presented papers at numerous national and international conferences over the years, he has published extensively. His scholarship has focused primarily on e-therapy, electronic advocacy, social work education, technology and international social work. Since 2023, Menon has been serving as CEO of the Network for Social Work Management.
He has also published in the areas of mixed methodologies, ethics, mental health, and distance education. Menon has published six edited books, several peer-reviewed articles, serves on editorial boards, and is currently editor-in-chief of Best Practices in Mental Health. He has received over $3.2 million in federal and foundation grants for training social work students in behavioral health at the various institutions he has served.
Menon has enlisted stakeholders to invest, develop and implement the first online bi-lingual (English/Spanish) MSW program in the U.S. (mainland) to meet community needs; engaged faculty to enhance access and affordability by lowering MSW credit hours to 49 CHRs (from 60) to prepare early career professionals; conceptualized and launched the first online MSW program with differential tuition, in Nevada, to enable students to earn a graduate degree with lower student debt primarily from rural and frontier locations across the country, as a pathway completion from community colleges; consulted with HUD and non-profit agencies and provided thought leadership to institute a Community Land Trust in the City of Reno to curb gentrification and keep a stock of affordable housing for service workers.
Menon has held leadership positions at the NASW-NV Chapter, the Council on Social Work Education, the International Consortium for Social Development (ICSD), the human services Information Technology association (husITa) and the National Association of Deans and Directors of Schools of Social Work (NADD). He served as vice president of NADD and as secretary general of ICSD.
He has also chaired or served on numerous boards, committees, and task forces concerned with social work education, technology, global education at both the public and private levels. He remains active in a number of national and international professional organizations.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
Menon’s vision to increase access and affordability to make MSW programs in private institutions of higher education more affordable to low-income social work students is notable. He led the reimagining of the entire MSW curriculum to combine competency-based generalist and advanced curriculum into a 49 total credit hour offering, which was a huge undertaking of a two-year process to overhaul the curriculum with all faculty and staff input and participation. This student-focused curriculum transformation has received accolades from CSWE as an innovative offering of MSW coursework. Loyola University Chicago recently received its reaffirmation based on this change. This model has set new standards for excellence in the field and have inspired other programs of social work to follow suit.,
Throughout his nearly 36-year social work career, Menon has focused on issues of access, affordability, and availability of cutting-edge programs for the social work profession. Some key leadership roles include: president of Network for Social Work Management; advisory board member - Global Institute of Social Work – Singapore; vice president and program chair - National Association of Deans and Directors; commissioner, Commission on Accreditation, Council on Social Work Education; secretary general - International Consortium for Social Development; vice president, NASW - Nevada Chapter; chair, Technology Conferences of the College of Social Work, University of South Carolina; chair, Council on Conferences and Faculty Development, Council on Social Work Education; commissioner, Commission on Professional Development, Council on Social Work Education.
BIOGRAPHIC INFORMATION
Goutham Menon earned his MBA in 2018 at the School of Business, University of Nevada, Reno; his PhD in Social Work in 1997 from the School of Social Work, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; his MSW in 1988 from the Madras School of Social Work, University of Madras, India; and his BA in 1985 from Loyola College, University of Madras, India. He began his social work career in India as a case worker at the Schizophrenia Research Foundation (India).
After graduating from UIUC, Menon has held faculty and administrative positions (1996 to present) at the University of Texas at Arlington, University of South Carolina, the University of Texas at San Antonio, the University of Nevada at Reno (Professor & Director), and at Loyola University, Chicago (Professor/Dean & Special Assistant to the President). After an academic sabbatical at LUC, Menon is back as faculty focusing on teaching, scholarship, and key service projects for the profession. Since 2023, Menon has been serving as CEO of the Network for Social Work Management.
AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS
Because of his leadership in social work and higher education, Menon was awarded the Jim Billups International Social Development Leadership Award for commitment to Peace, Social Justice, and Social Development by the International Consortium for Social Development. Menon was inducted into Alpha Sigma Nu as an honorary member who distinguishes himself in scholarship, loyalty, and justice. He was inducted to Phi Kappa Phi in 1997.
SIGNIFICANT PUBLICATIONS
Menon, G.M., Mondros, J., Smyth, N. J., & Teasley, M., Hostetter, C. (Summer 2022). Editorial: Pivoting the profession as we approach the quasquicentennial. In Advances in Social Work. [Special Issue], 22 (2), i-viii, DOI: 10.18060/26630.
Mukherjee, D., Menon, G.M. (2013). Technology and its role in good governance. In Ramanathan, C. S. & Dutta, S. (Ed.), Governance, Development, and Social Work (pp. 201-214). New York: NY: Routledge.
Rubin, M., Menon, G.M., & Vanek, M. (2012) Relevance of competency-based education to work with individuals with serious mental illness. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 22 (2), p. 213-233.
Felke, T. P., & Menon, G.M. (2011). Using technology for international education and research. In Lynne Healy & Rosemary Link (Eds.). Handbook of International Social Work. Oxford University Press.
Menon, G. M. (2002). Technology based groups and flash campaigns. In Steven Hick and John McNutt, (Eds.), Social Work Advocacy and Community Organizing on the Internet. (pp. 153-161) Lyceum Books: Illinois.
Menon, G. M., & Raymond, F. B. III, (February, 2002). Social work education and practice: Issues for the profession in the new millennium. Electronic Journal of Social Work, 1, (1), Article 1. Retrieved February 20, 2002 from:
http://www.ejsw.net/Issue/Vol1/Num1/Article1.pdf. (Website no longer in operation)
Menon, G. M., & Miller-Cribbs, J. (2002). Online social work practice: Issues and guidelines for the profession. Advances in Social Work, 3, (2) 104-116.
Menon, G. M. & Coe, J. A. (2000). Social work education and technology: Recent empirical studies. Research on Social Work Practice, 10 (3) 397-399.
Menon, G. M. (1998). Gender encounters in a virtual community: Identity formation and acceptance in cyberspace. Computers in Human Services, 15 (1) 55-69.