Jim Bembry is an associate professor of social work.
Teaching from Experience
As if nearly 20 years of teaching and scholarship werent enough, Jim Bembry brings a lifetime of experience to future social workers in his classroom.
Bembry, an associate professor of social work, now realizes that his interest in the field began during his own childhood growing up in a tough Philadelphia neighborhood. At one point, I got into enough trouble to be sent away for over a year, he says, During that time, I met a teacher who gave me a lot of wise advice and helped me learn that I couldnt fight my way through everything.
Bembry took that advice to heart and soon put his life back together. A few years later, while a junior majoring in sociology at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, he was offered an opportunity that confirmed his interest in helping other young people overcome the same difficulties he faced in his own childhood. He volunteered to work with troubled students in Worcesters public schools, where he served as a part-time counselor for three to four schools, meeting with several students at each school. I couldnt have been very effective, says Bembry, reflecting on the experience, but the kids came to school on the days that I met with them and that was a definite improvement.
After graduation, Bembry worked for two years as a residential counselor at a facility in Virginia before returning to school for a masters degree in social work from Temple University. His field placements at Temple included time spent teaching undergraduates, but he was a practicing social worker for seven more years before he began teaching full-time.
Bembry began teaching at UMBC 16 years ago while finishing his doctorate at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. He currently teaches the methods courses in both practice and research for social work majors–a combination that even he admits is unusual in his field.
Melding theory with experience and practice, however, has been a hallmark of Jim Bembrys career. His research continues to examine how to address the needs of underserved and at-risk young people. Currently, he is leading an evaluation of a state program that promotes discussion between state agencies that provide services for children and youth. The programs directors hope that Bembrys evaluation will allow them to obtain long-term federal funding that will allow them to offer more coordinated state responses to issues such as school safety and adolescent pregnancy.
