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School of Social Work Names New Director

07/10/2019

Noelle Fearn, Ph.D., has been appointed as director of the School of Social Work by Dean Thomas Burroughs, Ph.D., of the College for Public Health and Social Justice. Her appointment began on Monday, July 1.

Noelle Fearn, Ph.D.

Fearn, professor of criminology and criminal justice, has directed the undergraduate and master’s programs in criminology and criminal justice for the past five years. A SLU faculty member since 2007, she also holds a secondary appointment in the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Under her leadership, the undergraduate criminology and criminal justice program has won two national awards from the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, including its Community Engagement Award in 2018 and Program of Year in 2019.

“Everyone looks forward to working with Dr. Fearn as she guides the school into the next decade,” Don Linhorst, Ph.D., former director of the School of Social Work and professor of social work, said. He praised Fearn’s attentiveness to the school’s social work programs, as well as her commitment to engaging with national leadership groups in criminal justice and crimonology to enhance the school’s programs.

Fearn’s research interests include correctional treatment of offenders, juvenile justice processing and outcomes, sentencing and punishment outcomes and women and the criminal justice system. She is co-principal investigator on the “SMART Prosecution – Youthful Offender Program” grant funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, and is principal investigator of an “Evaluation of the St. Louis County Drug and DWI Courts” funded by the Saint Louis University President’s Research Fund.

The Saint Louis University College for Public Health and Social Justice is the only academic unit of its kind, studying social, environmental and physical influences that together determine the health and well-being of people and communities. It also is the only accredited school or college of public health among nearly 250 Catholic institutions of higher education in the United States.

Guided by a mission of social justice and focused on finding innovative and collaborative solutions for complex health problems, the College offers nationally recognized programs in public health, social work, health administration, applied behavior analysis, and criminology and criminal justice.