CalSWEC Appoints Dr. E. Maxwell Davis as New Director

Following a national search, the California Social Work Education Center (CalSWEC) is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. E. Maxwell Davis as the new director of the Mental Health Program, effective September 1, 2015. 

The Mental Health Program allocates more than 140 stipends to MSW students in accredited schools of social work in California. She replaces Gwen Foster, who retired this past February after six years of outstanding service. Maxwell received her PhD in social work at the University of Southern California with a graduate certificate in Gender Studies.  She also graduated from Case Western Reserve University with a master’s degree in social administration with a concentration in health social work and Smith College with a BA in Women’s Studies.

For the past seven years, Maxwell was an Assistant Professor at the California State University, East Bay, in the Department of Human Development and Women’s Studies.  Throughout various roles at CSUEB, Maxwell was actively involved faculty governance and curriculum development with an emphasis on training and relationship building.  She was also principal investigator for three projects that dealt with assessing community engagement and its impact on student learning outcomes at CSUEB, perceptions of risk and HIV prevention among young African-American women on campus, and the social context of alcohol misuse among HIV-Positive African Americans. 

Prior to CSU East Bay, Maxwell was an adjunct assistant professor at CSU Dominguez Hills where she taught a course on social welfare research. While working toward her Ph.D at USC, she was a principal research associate at The Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science examining alcohol use among HIV-positive people of color.  She next accepted a position as a postdoctoral research fellow in the NIMH AIDS Research Training Program at the University of California, Los Angeles and managed a study that examined the impact of the Medicare Part D drug benefit program on access to medication and services among dually-eligible HIV-positive individuals in Los Angeles County.