Joan Asseff, LCSW-S, is the Assistant Dean for Master’s Programs, clinical associate professor, a licensed clinical social worker, board-approved supervisor for the state of Texas, and a Health Interprofessional Education Fellow with UT’s Center for Health Interprofessional Education (CHIPE). She has served and held leadership positions in gerontology, healthcare, housing stability, financial empowerment, program development, interprofessional collaboration, and mental health. Joan has extensive social work experience in the practice areas of hospice, skilled nursing, home health, inpatient psychiatric care, grief and loss counseling, and intensive case management with older adults and their caregivers. She was a Director of Social Services for two large skilled nursing facilities in the Austin area for a decade.
In 2017, Joan joined the Steve Hicks School as a full-time faculty member and was selected to lead the school’s interprofessional collaboration with a nationally based property management company. Along with graduate and undergraduate students under her supervision, Joan co-developed an eviction-prevention program to serve residents facing financial instability. From 2020 to 2022, Joan developed and led the Earl Maxwell Scholars Program, funded by the St. David’s Foundation. In this role, she partnered with social service agencies that do not employ social workers to host practicum students and integrated social work programs into their service provision.
Thanks to additional funding from the St. David’s Foundation in 2022, the school named Joan as co-director for the Gerontology Resources and the Aging Community in Education (GRACE) Program. Working to grow the number of social workers serving older adults, Joan provides practicum instruction and partners with gerontology focused agencies to create internships. She provides mentorship and professional development opportunities for GRACE students and graduates serving older adults and their caregivers. Joan also teaches healthcare and gerontology focused courses, liaises for students in practicum, and advises students in the placement process.
Promoted to Assistant Dean for Master’s Programs in 2024, Joan directs recruitment, curriculum, assessment, advising, and student success in the MSSW and dual degree programs. She is co-chair of the Steve Hicks School’s re-affirmation of accreditation process with the Council on Social Work Education and represents the MSSW program on committees at the school and university level. She also regularly shares her work through local, statewide, and national presentations and published and online platforms.