Associate Professor, BSSW Program Director
University Hall 3148
(205) 934-8673
Research and Teaching Interests: Social work education, simulation, interprofessional education, technology in social work, social welfare history, public health social work
Office Hours: By appointment
Education:
- BA, University of Wisconsin – Madison, Psychology and Social Welfare
- MPH, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Public Health
- MSW, University of Alabama, Health Care
- PhD, University of Alabama, Social Work
Dr. Hitchcock is a licensed social worker and has 10 years of practice experience in the areas of health care and community mental health. Prior to her career in social work, she served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Senegal, West Africa (’91-’93), working with women’s groups in rural communities to promote health-related prevention activities such as vaccinations and anti-malaria programs.
Dr. Hitchcock’s research and teaching interests include social work education, technology and social media, social work history, and public health social work. Her dissertation research focused on the development of the federal program for children with special health care needs (CSHCN) under the US Children’s Bureau during the 1930s. One of her current research projects examines the role of social media literacies in professional social work practice.
In 2012, she received the SAGE/CSWE Award for Innovative Teaching for her work incorporating different social media assignments into her social work courses. If Dr. Hitchcock is not in her office, you will find her on Twitter @laurelhitchcock.
Scholars @ UAB Profile Dr. Hitchcock's blog: Teaching Social Work Dr. Hitchcock's CV
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Recent Courses
- Social Work Values Lab/SL
- Social Work Practice II (Practice with Small Groups, Communities and Organizations)
- Human Behavior and the Social Environment II
- Social Work in Public Health
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Select Publications
- Baker, L. R., & Hitchcock, L. I. (2017). Using Pinterest in Undergraduate Social Work Education: Assignment Development and Pilot Survey Results. Journal of Social Work Education, 53(3), 535-545. https://doi.org/10.1080/10437797.2016.1272515
- Hitchcock, L.I. & Stuart, P.H. (2017). Community-based Care in New York following the Polio Epidemic of 1916. Journal of Community Practice, 25(1), 90-111. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10705422.2016.1269249
- Hitchcock, LI & Young, J, "Tweet, Tweet!: Using Live Twitter Chats in Social Work Education and Practice," Social Work Education: International Journal 35 (No. 4, 2016): 457-468.
- Laurel Hitchcock, "It All Started with a Tweet… Thoughts on Incorporating Twitter into Field Education,"Field Educator 4.2 (Fall 2014).
- Meredith Tetloff, Laurel Hitchcock, Andrew Battista, and Deborah Lowry, "Multimodal Composition and Social Justice: Videos as a Tool of Advocacy in Social Work Pedagogy," Journal of Technology in Human Services 32 (Issue 1-2, 2014): 22-38.
- Laurel Hitchcock and A. Battista, "Social Media for Professional Practice: Integrating Twitter with Social Work Pedagogy," Journal of Baccalaureate Social Work Education 18 (Special Issue, 2013): 33-45.
- C.M. Edwards, D.W. Rich, J.M. Newell, and Laurel Hitchcock, "Trans-disciplinary teaming in early intervention: A collaborative perspective between speech-language pathology and social work," The Communication Sciences & Disorders Review 26 (No. 1, 2012): 16-22.
- Laurel Hitchcock and Beverly Mulvihill, "Extending and Improving Care for Children with Special Health Care Needs: The Early Years of Title V, 1935-1941," Maternal and Child Health Journal 15 (No. 2, 2011): 139 – 147.
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Academic Distinctions and Professional Societies
- Faculty Fellows in Engaged Scholarship, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2014-2015
- Service Learning & Community Engagement Faculty Service Award, University of Montevallo, 2013
- SAGE/CSWE Award for Innovative Teaching, June 2012
- Association of Baccalaureate Social Work Program Directors
- Council on Social Work Education
- National Association of Social Workers
- Student Groups