Gary Cuddeback named dean of VCU’s School of Social Work

By Mike Porter

Gary Cuddeback, Ph.D., has been named dean of Virginia Commonwealth University's School of Social Work, effective today. Cuddeback has served as interim dean since July 2023.

Cuddeback was named following a national search. The VCU Board of Visitors will officially consider the appointment at its December meeting.

Cuddeback joined the School of Social Work as associate dean for research and professor in summer 2021. He became interim associate dean for Faculty Affairs in spring 2022. At VCU, Cuddeback has advanced the school's research support and infrastructure, supported faculty research interests and created collaborations across the university and with local and state agencies.

Cuddeback's research focuses on people with severe mental illnesses, mental health services, the intersection of mental health and criminal legal systems, and evidence-based interventions.

"I'm honored by this appointment as I believe there has never been a better time to be part of VCU's School of Social Work, one of the largest accredited, comprehensive social work programs in the nation," Cuddeback said. "I'm excited for the opportunity to continue working with this program's outstanding faculty and staff to advance innovative, impactful solutions that address real-world challenges and to prepare the next generation of leaders with an interdisciplinary, experiential education."

Fotis Sotiropoulos, Ph.D., VCU's provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, said that throughout Cuddeback's career, he has proven to be a prolific scholar, an impactful researcher and an effective administrator.

"As the interim dean of the School of Social Work, Dr. Cuddeback has earned respect across both the campus and the community as a social work professional and has demonstrated dynamic skills as a collaborative leader," Sotiropoulos said. "He is also revealing himself to be a visionary social work practitioner, understanding the forces shaping the future of social work, including that of technology like generative AI."

Before joining VCU, Cuddeback spent over 18 years at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a professor and served in a variety of leadership positions, including the Berg-Beach Distinguished Professor of Community Social Work at the School of Social Work. Cuddeback was a research fellow at the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research and a research professor with UNC's Department of Psychiatry at the School of Medicine, where he was director of the Community Outcomes Research and Evaluation Center.

Cuddeback earned a bachelor's degree from Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina; two master's degrees from the University of South Florida; and a Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee.