As we celebrate the 55th anniversary of the NASW Code
of Ethics, we recognize social workers who advance its
values, principles, and standards through education,
practice, and professional review.
Allan Barsky, JD, MSW, PhD
Allan Barsky has served on the NASW National Ethics
Committee (NEC) since 2007, serving as chair from 2011
to 2014. He was instrumental in the nationalization of the
professional review process and currently chairs the Code
of Ethics Review Task Force (COERTF), established to
review various technology aspects of the current NASW
Code of Ethics.
• Dr. Barsky is a professor of social work/professional
ethics at Florida Atlantic University.
• Barsky’s contributions to the field of ethics include
helping to nationalize NASW's professional review
process and to develop a framework for managing
ethical issues that blends traditional ethical analysis
with conflict resolution strategies and skills.
• His publications include: “Ethics and Values in
Social Work” (Oxford University Press), “Clinicians
in Court” (Guilford Press), and “Conflict Resolution
for the Helping Professions” (Oxford University
Press); also, a regular column, “Ethics Alive,” in the
New Social Worker magazine.
Elizabeth DuMez, MSW,
ACSW
DuMez managed NASW's Office of Ethics and
Professional Review from 1985 to 1999 and facilitated the
1996 revision of the NASW Code of Ethics. She also
developed the Wichers Ethics Education Fund which
supports professional development programs for social
workers focused on building knowledge about the Code of
Ethics.
• DuMez taught at several universities and colleges
including George Mason University, Northern
Virginia Community College and her alma mater,
Catholic University of America. She also taught
abroad in England.
• DuMez worked for CSWE in Alexandria, VA as an
Education Program Specialist from 1984-85.
• Her publications include: Celebrating Social Work:
Faces and Voices of the Formative Years (with
photographs by Donato Sardella). CSWE:
Alexandria, VA.
Natalie Holzman, MSW, LCSW
Natalie Holzman has been a champion for the NASW
professional review process for several decades, serving
in various roles on the Illinois Chapter Ethics Committee
including as chair from 2000 to 2007. She continues to be
a leader in NASW’s professional review adjudication
program, and is currently an active member of the
National Ethics Committee.
• Holzman is a private practitioner in Chicago with a
background in both adult and adolescent psychiatry,
as well as child welfare.
• She is an experienced educator, having taught clinical
courses as an adjunct faculty member at Loyola
University’s School of Social Work.
• Holzman continues to conduct workshops focusing
on social-work ethics, clinical social-work
supervision, and social-work licensing preparation.
Ruth Lipschutz, LCSW, ACSW
Ruth Lipschutz has personified excellence in ethics for
over 25 years, serving in various roles with the Illinois
Chapter Ethics Committee and the National Ethics
Committee. She chaired the NEC from 2009 to 2011, has
served on various task forces, and continues to be a leader
in NASW’s professional review mediation program.
• Lipschutz has a private practice and offers ethics
consultation and training to social workers. She is a
bilingual, licensed clinical social worker with
certification in ethics, mediation, transformational
imagery, hypnotherapy, Eye Movement
Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), and
Thought Field Therapy (TFT).
• She has extensive experience in the areas of ethics,
addictions, school social work, community mental
health, eating disorders, traumatology, program
development and implementation, supervision,
consultation and Alternative Dispute Resolution.
• Locally and nationally, Lipschutz has presented
workshops for more than 25 years and has written
numerous ethics articles for the NASW Illinois
Chapter Newsletter and currently serves as a
member-at-large on the NASW Illinois Chapter
Board.
Frederick Reamer, PhD
Frederic Reamer is the widely acclaimed and highly
honored guru of ethics education for NASW, leading the
way in developing and conducting training and seminars
throughout the US and abroad. He has served as Chair of
the Rhode Island CEC since 1988 and currently chairs the
NASW & ASWB Technology Standards Task Force.
• Dr. Frederic G. Reamer has been a professor in the
graduate program of the School of Social Work,
Rhode Island College since 1983. His research and
teaching have addressed a wide range of human
service issues, including mental health, health care,
criminal justice, public welfare, and professional
ethics.
• Reamer has served as Director of the National
Juvenile Justice Assessment Center of the U.S.
Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and
Delinquency Prevention (1979-1981); and as Senior
Policy Advisor to the Governor of Rhode Island
(1987-1990). Since 1992, he has served on the State
of Rhode Island Parole Board.
• Reamer has published 20 books and more than 100
journal articles and book chapters. Reamer also
served as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Social
Work Education (1990-1994); Associate Editor of the
NASW Encyclopedia of Social Work (20th edition);
and currently serves as Associate Editor of the
Encyclopedia of Social Work Online (Oxford
University Press and NASW).
Kim Strom-Gottfried, PhD
Kim Strom-Gottfried has an extensive history of
committed service to NASW’s professional review
process including serving as a past chair. She conducted
and published the only official research on NASW’s
ethics complaints process. She was recently appointed as
a member of the Code of Ethics Review Task Force
(COERTF).
• Dr. Kim Strom-Gottfried is the Smith P. Theimann
Jr. Distinguished Professor of Ethics and Professional
Practice at the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Social
Work.
• Strom-Gottfried teaches in the areas of direct
practice, higher education, and management. Her
scholarly interests focus on ethics, moral courage,
and social work education.
• Strom-Gottfried has written over 60 articles,
monographs and chapters on professional ethics
misconduct, and adjudication. She is the author of
Straight Talk about Professional Ethics and The
Ethics of Practice with Minors, and the co-author of
the texts Best of Boards, Direct Social Work Practice
and Teaching Social Work Values and Ethics: A
Curriculum Resource.