Safyer Named Interim Dean of School of Social Work

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Andrew W. Safyer, associate professor of social work, has been named interim dean of the School of Social Work. He succeeds Lawrence Shulman, who stepped down as dean on Aug. 30 to return to the faculty.

Safyer has served since 2001 as associate dean for academic affairs and director of the master of social work program in the School of Social Work. He also has served as associate dean for program development and acting associate dean for academic affairs. A member of the UB faculty since 1998, he previously was associate professor of social work at Boston University.

A nationally recognized researcher in adolescent mental health, his work focuses on prevention programs for at-risk youth and their families. Safyer is a co-investigator on a $2.9 million project funded by the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Alcohol and Alcohol Abuse that is working in partnership with several Buffalo agencies to test the effectiveness of a prevention program for children of parents with alcohol problems.

From 1992-97, he was a fellow at the Center on Work and Family at Boston University, where he was principal investigator for a demonstration research project to foster health development in urban, economically disadvantaged adolescents in order to strengthen their relationships with their families and their communities.

He also has served as a research associate in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, where he took part in a longitudinal study of adolescents and family development. While there, he developed a microanalytical coding system to capture emotional expression through voice and speech content. The system has been used since to explore the adaptive function of emotions during adolescence and early adulthood.

Safyer is the recipient of the National Institute of Mental Health Faculty Scholar Award, a highly competitive award presented to M.D.- or Ph.D.-level mental-health professionals to allow them to further their clinical research training.

He is co-editor of The Clinical Supervisor: The Journal of Supervision in Psychotherapy and Mental Health, and the author of numerous articles that have appeared in publications that include Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, Social Work Research, Social Workers' Desk Reference and the Journal of Social Service Research.

Safyer received master's and doctoral degrees in social work and psychology from the University of Michigan, a master's degree from Rutgers University and a bachelor's degree from SUNY College at Purchase.