Laurel Hitchcock

Dr. Laurel Iverson Hitchcock is an Associate Professor in the Department of Social Work at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She completed her PhD in Social Work and MSW at the University of Alabama, and has a Masters in Public Health from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.  She has been a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker (LICSW) in Alabama since 2000. Dr. Hitchcock has over ten years of experience as a social worker in the areas of health care and community mental health. Prior to her career in social work, Dr. Hitchcock served as a Peace Corp Volunteer in Senegal, West Africa (’91-’93), and as an AmeriCorps Volunteer with the Jefferson County Department of Public Health’s Healthy Start Program in Birmingham, AL (’94-’95).  Her research and pedagogical interests include social work education, technology and social media, social welfare history and public health social work. Her current research projects include an examination of simulation in social work education; the effectiveness of technology-infused assignments in social work courses; and the role of technology in social work education.  In 2012, Dr. Hitchcock received the SAGE/CSWE Award for Innovative Teaching for her work incorporating social media into social work pedagogy.  She is the co-director for the Institute for Healthy Engagement and Resilience with Technology  (iHeartTech) at the University at Buffalo's School of Social Work with her colleague Dr. Melanie Sage, and she blogs at www.laureliversonhitchcock.org.