Associate Professor, School of Social Work Jane McPherson develops, evaluates, and advocates for human rights-based approaches to social work practice in the U.S. and around the world. She also conducts archival research exploring how local Georgia histories of charity and social work entwine with ideologies of white supremacy and capitalism, and asks questions about how these histories still echo in social work practice today. As an arts activist, McPherson was an organizer for One Million Bones, a nationwide anti-genocide initiative that created and laid one million handmade bones on the National Mall. A licensed clinical social worker (LCSW), McPherson worked for 20 years in child protection, bereavement, mental health, maternal-child health, infant mental health, and torture treatment before becoming a professor. Dr. McPherson’s ongoing project--Complex Cloth--documents multiple histories related to UGA School of Social Work, the profession of social work in Athens, and the historic mill building that the School now occupies at 279 Williams Street in Athens, Georgia.
