Helen E. Petracchi

Associate Dean for Academic Affairs

Helen Petracchi earned her PhD in Social Welfare at the UW –Madison, where she also earned her M.S.S.W. degree. Dr. Petracchi’s scholarly interests lie in improving the professional delivery of social services to vulnerable populations. To this end, she has focused on identifying the service needs of vulnerable populations and developing, delivering, and evaluating innovations in social work education to prepare social work students more effectively for practice. Dr. Petracchi’s commitment to social work education is evidenced by her competitive selection as a Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) Scholar (2017 – 2018) and her work with the CSWE Commission on Accreditation (now Board of Accreditation) where she served first as a site visitor (beginning 2009), then a Commissioner (2017-2023) and now continues as a Commissioner Site Visitor to programs in the process of initial accreditation. Dr. Petracchi was recently named as a member of the CSWE Commission on Educational Policy (2023-2026). Her work has been published in the Journal of Social Work Education, the Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare, the Journal of Teaching in Social Work, The Journal of Community Practice, Research on Social Work Practice, The Journal of Baccalaureate Social Work, as well as Professional Development: The International Journal of Continuing Social Work Education, The Journal of the Global Community, Families in Society, Children and Youth Services Review, The Journal of Computers in Human Services, the Journal of Technology in Human Services, Journal of Continuing Social Work Education, and the Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment.

Research Interests

Social Work Education: History and Contemporary Critical Issues
Social Work Accreditation and Reaffirmation
Distance Education and Distance Learning
Service Learning in Higher Education
Research on pedagogy e.g. most effective pedagogical approaches in teaching social workers
Effective preparation of doctoral students for social work in higher education

Accepting Graduate Students: Yes

Graduate Student Advisees

Gina Keane, Current
Bailey Nichols, Current
Parris Baker, Associate Professor, Social Work, Gannon University
Hyun-a Song , Assistant Professor, Chongshin University, Seoul, South Korea

B.Phil Student Advisees (the B.Phil., initiated in AY 2008, is an Honors Degree Jointly Awarded by the School of Social Work and the University of Pittsburgh Honors College)

Bridget Bailey, MSW (completed PhD at The Ohio State University); Currently an Assistant Professor at West Virginia State University
Stephanie Pinsky, MSW (Columbia University)

Courses Taught

PhD Program

Seminar on Social Work Education
Seminar in Social Welfare Policy

MSW Program

Social Welfare: History & Contemporary Welfare Policy
Foundations of Generalist Practice
Foundations of Social Work Practice with Diverse Populations
Residential & Day Treatment Services for Children & Youth

BASW Program

Social Welfare Policy Analysis
Introduction to the Field of Social Work
Practicum Seminar & Lab I & II

Representative Publications

Jacobson Lopez, D., Yuan, Y., Petracchi, H.E., Joseph, A., Hawk, M. (In Press). Social Work Faculty Perceptions: The Need for Inclusive LGB Policies Within Social Work Education. Sexuality Research and Social Policy.

Woo, J., Shook, J., Goodkind, S., Ballentine, K., Engel, R.J., Kim, S., Petracchi, H.E. (2022). Do wage increases help? Wage increases and material hardships among low-wage hospital workers. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment. doi: 10.1080/10911359.2022.2036282

Mulvaney, E.A., Petracchi, H.E., & Engel, R.J. (2021). Lessons Learned: Developing an Undergraduate Hartford Partnership Program in Aging Education. Journal of Baccalaureate Social Work, Vol. 26 (1), pp. 1-13, doi: 10.18084/1084-7219.26.1.1

Song, H. & Petracchi, H.E. (2020). The Effects of College Savings on College Enrollment and the Mediating Role of Parental Expectations and Discussions about College among Students from Low-income Households. Children and Youth Services Review, Vol. 108, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740919306759?via%3Dihub

Wexler, S., Engel, R. J., Steiner, E., & Petracchi, H.E. (2020). “It is Truly a Struggle to Survive”: The hardships of living on low wages. Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services. doi: 10.1177/1044389420928270

Petracchi, H.E., Weaver, A., Schelbe, L., & Song, H. (2016). Service Learning in Baccalaureate Social Work Education: Results of a National Survey of Accredited Programs. Journal of Social Work Education, Vol. 52(3), pp. 325-336.

Levinson, S.G., Engel, R.J., Petracchi, H.E., & Caldwell, K.J. (2016). Integrating Video Documentary into the Social Work Classroom: A community Assessment. Journal of Teaching in Social Work, Vol. 36(2), pp. 160-175.

Song, H. & Petracchi, H.E. (2015). Adaptation Needs of International Social Work Students: A Proposed Paired-Mentoring Approach. Journal of Social Work in the Global Community, Vol. 1(1), pp. 1-16.