On Jan. 14, Kathy Taylor, Child Welfare Training & Advancement Program (CWTAP) teaching associate and field faculty advisor, will receive the 2021 Martin Luther King Jr. Community Volunteer Recognition Award. The tribute recognizes the distinguished service of community members in the six health science schools: dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, public health, medicine and social work.
The majority of Kathy’s career has been spent in child welfare where she uses her outstanding organizational, management and teaching skills to advance the professional development of social work practitioners. “I am so honored, yet humbled to receive such a distinguished award,” says the award recipient. “This work has always been who I am, and of the utmost importance to propagate justice for all.”
In 2015, she became a teaching associate and field faculty advisor for CWTAP where she develops curriculum, teaches and conducts trainings in child welfare practices for students, creates student and staff recruitment plans, works with students to develop their practicum learning contracts and helps them transition to the job market.
Before joining the School, Kathy worked in a variety of capacities with the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services Children’s Administration, most recently as a stateside disproportionality program manager. She also worked as a regional disproportionality program manager, area administration and family voluntary services supervisor. She has an MSW and a BA in sociology, both from the University of Washington.
The virtual award ceremony honoring Kathy begins at 11:00 a.m. on Zoom. The School community is invited to attend. A second event to celebrate all six health science schools’ distinguished service awardees, including Kathy, begins at 12:30 p.m. Estell Williams, an acute-care surgeon at UW Medicine, is the guest speaker. Her presentation is entitled: Where do we go from here.
The annual MLK Community Volunteer Recognition event, sponsored by the UW Health Sciences Administration and the UW Medical Center, commemorates Martin Luther King Jr., and his legacy of strength, resilience and compassion, which has sparked civic responsibility and action around the globe. The School's recognition event is co-sponsored by its Diversity Council, Office of the Dean, Office of Field Education and the NASW Washington chapter. Please contact Khalfani Mwamba if you have questions.
We offer our warmest congratulations to Kathy and the other awardees, and hope that many members of our community will join us Thursday morning when all the awardees will be spotlighted on this website.