Kelly Bass will be New Chair of USD Department of Social Work
Bass has been at USD since 2016, serving as an associate professor of social work and directing the Master of Social Work program as well as the university’s Child and Adult Advocacy Studies Certificate program.
He received a doctorate in Social Work in 2015 from the University of Tennessee, and a Master of Social Work degree in 2001 from the University of Nebraska-Omaha. In 2018, Bass completed the Management Development Program at Harvard University. Before coming to USD, Bass served as faculty and chair of the undergraduate social work program at Presentation College in Aberdeen, South Dakota.
Bass has extensive research experience and has also provided mental health services at a community mental health center. He has procured grants from the Association of Social Work and has been a collaborator with USD’s statewide telehealth programs providing information and guidance regarding opioid abuse in South Dakota.
Bass is a board member of the National Alliance on Mental Health, South Dakota Chapter. He is also a member of the Council of Social Work Early Childhood Mental Health and Developmental Neuroscience National Task Force and serves the national social work association by helping to review and shape licensing and regulations for the field, as well as serving as a site visitor determining accreditation and re-accreditation assessments for social work bachelor and master’s programs at universities and colleges across the country.
