SP2 congratulates 2025 award winners  

Kate Ledwith, DSW, LCSW

Kate Ledwith, DSW, LCSW is a graduate of both the Master of Social Work and the Doctorate in Clinical Social Work programs at the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy & Practice (SP2). She completed her undergraduate work in sociology at Tulane University. Her area of expertise is social work and mental health. Dr. Ledwith has extensive experience working at Penn Behavioral Health as the employee assistance program psychotherapist, providing psychotherapy and case management services using a brief treatment model. Additionally, she performed duties related to crisis management, quality assurance, and program development. Dr. Ledwith played a key role in integrating the Mental Health Parity Act into the current policies and service provisions at Penn Behavioral Health. She also has community mental health experience in Philadelphia. Currently Dr. Ledwith is in private practice, where she sees outpatient clients for both brief treatment and ongoing psychotherapy. She is a lecturer at SP2 and teaches Advanced Clinical Practice and clinical electives. Her areas of interest include attachment, termination, and the role of social workers in the therapeutic relationship.

Kim McKay, PhD, LSW, MEd

Kim is a full-time lecturer teaching in both the Master of Social Work and Master of Science in Social Policy programs. Kim has a PhD in social work and an MEd in human sexuality studies from Widener University, as well as an MSW in social work and BS in child and family development from the University of Utah. Kim has 20+ years of social work experience, including case management, administration, supervision, policy, and clinical work. They have taught undergraduate and graduate students in social work programs for more than a decade. Kim has taught many courses throughout the social work curriculum, with a particular focus on the integration of gender and sexuality. Kim loves teaching and working with students. Kim has presented their work at national and international conferences for organizations including the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR), the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors, and Therapists (AASECT), the American Public Health Association (APHA), and the International Social Work and Sexualities conferences in Montreal, Canada (2018) and Olten, Switzerland (2016).

Jennifer C. Jones, MSW, PhD, LCSW 

Jennifer C. Jones, MSW, PhD, LCSW, is a 54 y.o., multiracial Black, queer, fairly able-bodied, cisgender woman with U.S. citizenship. In 2021, she co-founded Rising Caps Collective with Aisha Mohammed, LMFT, supporting expansive healing to address traumatic legacies of colonization, slavery, and capitalism. Jennifer works with Lykos Technologies (formerly MAPS Public Benefit Corporation) as a JEDI consultant and a MDMA-Assisted Therapy educator. Since 1998, Jennifer has practiced trauma psychotherapy using Gestalt Therapy principles, an economic human rights framework and harm reduction lens with individuals identifying as lgbqa; transgender or gender non-binary; BIPOC; sex workers; substance users; experiencing class oppression; neurodiverse and/or HIV positive. Prior to 2021, she served as the Chief DEI Officer of Philadelphia FIGHT Community Health Centers and as a faculty member and the Executive Director of the Gestalt Training Institute of Philadelphia (GTIP). Jennifer earned her undergraduate degree in comparative literature from Northwestern University College of Arts and Sciences, her MSW in clinical social work from Smith College School for Social Work and her social work doctorate from Bryn Mawr College Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research. As a parent who believes a just world is possible, Jennifer is committed to the unity of the global poor and dispossessed organizing across color lines to fight for everyone’s economic human rights.

Walter Palmer, JD

Walter Palmer is the founder and director of The Palmer Foundation and a lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy & Practice, where he has taught foundation courses in American Racism and Institutional Racism and Social Change since 1990. Palmer has won the distinction of “teacher par excellence” throughout his many years of teaching. He created the Black People’s University of Philadelphia (1954-1984) as an early prototype for preschool and adult independent and alternative education for contemporary America. Palmer is the founder and President of the Board of Trustees for The Walter D. Palmer Leadership Learning Partners Charter School. He is also the founder of The Black Men at Penn. During the era of the civil rights and Black Power movements, Palmer was recognized nationally as the premiere grassroots organizer for successfully organizing city, state, and national political campaigns, protest campaigns, and grassroots community projects. Palmer is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania School of Cardio-Pulmonary Care. He was a Director of Cardio-Pulmonary Care at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia from 1957 to 1967. He is a current Fellow in the Philadelphia College of Physicians. He received his Juris Doctorate degree from Howard University. He received his bachelor’s degree in secondary education from Cheyney State University and was certified in history and social studies. Palmer has amassed over 1,000 medals, plaques, trophies, and certificates of acknowledgement and appreciation in community services, academics, athletics, health, law, social justice, and leadership. In 2005, the Walter Palmer Leadership Charter School was named after him and in 2007 the Walter Palmer Library and Museum was dedicated.