MARILYN S. FLYNN was appointed Dean of the USC School of Social Work in 1997, and since that time has achieved an $18 million increase in the school's research funding. The school has also constructed a new building and expanded the faculty to an historic high.

Flynn was formerly Director of the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research, and Director of the School of Social Work at Michigan State University. She has held several positions of national leadership in the Council on Social Work Education and is founding President of the St. Louis Group, which represents all North American Schools of social work in research extensive universities. She is also recent past president of the California Association of Deans and Directors of Social Work Programs.

Flynn's research interests include application of computer and communications technology, cross-cultural perspectives on service delivery, social program design, and strategic planning. In 1999, she established the James E. Flynn Prize for Research, an internationally competitive award that recognizes a scholar whose interdisciplinary studies have significantly shaped modern social policy. The prize carries a $10,000 honorarium and is the first of its kind in the social work profession. She also introduced the USC School of Social Work's International Social Welfare Prize for outstanding work in human rights. The first prize was given to Madame Kim Dae Jung, First Lady of Korea.

Dean
Ph.D. University of Illinois at Urbana
M.S.W. University of Illinois at Urbana
B.A. Roosevelt University

Show full bio

Hide full bio