As many of our readers are no doubt aware, Professor of Social Work and Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Michigan Carol Thiessen Mowbray passed away on August 23, 2005. She was co-director of the School of Social Work ~SSW! Center for Poverty, Risk, and Mental Health. Since this issue includes a paper by Carol and her colleagues on "Neighborhood Research from a Spatially-Oriented Strengths Perspective", we wanted to acknowledge her many contributions to community psychology, social work and mental health services research. In many ways she embodied the values we embrace in community psychology, combining science and practice with policy and advocacy. In the end, perhaps her most enduring legacy is that she continues to be recognized by mental health consumers as having been their champion. It is fortunate that in 2005, shortly before her untimely death, she was awarded the Harold Hildreth Award from APA Division 18-Psychologists in Public Service, the highest honor conferred by that division, for her many contributions in the area of psychosocial rehabilitation. In addition, the United States Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association, formerly the International Association of Psychosocial Rehabilitation Services ~IAPSRS!, renamed its Early Career Research Award the Carol T. Mowbray Award in her honor.
Her work is nationally and internationally recognized as among the very best on community integration and recovery for adults with serious mental illnesses, especially homeless people and those with co-occurring substance-use disorders. Later in her career she also developed a special emphasis on women who are mentally ill-especially mothers and their children, and advocated for their basic civil and human rights. She was among the very first to develop and evaluate effectiveness of interventions for disadvantaged mentally ill populations, especially consumer-run and supported education programs.
Mowbray earned her BS in psychology and mathematics and her MS in psychology from Tufts University, and her doctorate in developmental psychology from the University of Michigan. Before returning to Ann Arbor, she began her illustrious career as an academic at the Wayne State University School of Social Work, and was a clinical professor of ecological0community psychology at Michigan State University. Her unique perspective on mental health services was honed and refined when she spent nearly a decade as Director of Research and Demonstration Projects for the Bureau of Program Development and Quality Assurance at the Michigan Department of Mental Health. From 1996 -2001, Mowbray was Associate Dean of Research at the University of Michigan School of Social Work. She was also a mentor to countless doctoral students, junior faculty members and colleagues during her career. As her contribution in the current issue exemplifies, her legacy lives on.