Mery Diaz, DSW ’11

Mery F. Diaz, DSW, LCSW, was born and raised in Washington Heights in New York City and is a second-generation immigrant of Ecuadorian and Dominican heritage. Dr. Diaz holds a master’s degree in social work from the Wurzweiler School of Social Work at Yeshiva University and a doctorate in clinical social work from Penn’s School of Policy & Practice (SP2). Since 2012, Dr. Diaz has been a faculty member in the Human Services Department at the New York City College of Technology of the City University of New York. She was promoted to full professor in the fall of 2023. She is a licensed clinical social worker who has previously worked with children, adolescents, and families in various settings.

At City Tech, Dr. Diaz teaches courses focusing on child and adolescent health, women’s health, and counseling skills. She serves as the faculty liaison for CREAR Futuros, a peer-mentoring program grant-funded by the Hispanic Federation to support first-year undergraduate Latinx students. Dr. Diaz is also a founding member of City Tech’s Hispanic Serving Institution steering committee and has participated in the First-Year Learning Communities Initiative and Research Lab. Additionally, she holds a residency teaching autoethnographic research at Rutgers University’s doctor of social work program.

Currently, Dr. Diaz serves as co-editor-in-chief of the Sage journal Affilia: Feminist Inquiry in Social Work, which is ranked 14th out of 44 in Social Work journals and 21st out of 44 in Women’s Studies. Her own scholarship focuses on the racialized, classed, and gendered school experiences of young people and their well-being; critical feminist theory and practice; and social justice issues. She is also a co-editor of Narrating Practice with Children and Adolescents (2019) published by Columbia University Press and has published multiple peer-reviewed articles, chapters, and conference proceedings. Dr. Diaz is currently working on a forthcoming text on group work with Oxford University Press. In 2023, she was selected as a Black, Race, and Ethnic Studies Fellow as part of a Mellon Foundation-funded initiative designed to enhance Black, race, and ethnic studies scholarship and teaching. In addition, she is developing a Girlhood Studies curriculum at her institution. Dr. Diaz also serves as the co-chair of the Board of Directors for the Dance Project of Washington Heights and on the Advisory Board of Washington Heights Choir School, two nonprofit arts-based organizations.

“When I consider the reasons for attending SP2, I think back to the School’s mission — a long-standing commitment to social justice and educating students committed to taking an active role in fighting oppression. The School’s mission resonated with me then and continues to do so now. In our national, and global context, it is a mission constantly being put to the test. I do not take lightly that graduating from SP2 was instrumental in opening doors, but also in shaping the critical scholar, teacher, and mentor I am and strive to be every day with this mission in mind.”