Alberta J. “Bert” Ellett, a University of Georgia associate professor of social work, has been named a Fellow of the Society for Social Work and Research. Fellows are members of the SSWR noted for their individual accomplishments, leadership and contributions to science. Ellett is among the first to be chosen for the newly established honor and the only Fellow from Georgia. 

“Dr. Ellett’s research has helped to promote the professionalization of child welfare staffing practices, which will promote better outcomes for children and their families,” said Maurice C. Daniels, professor and dean of the School of Social Work. “We are delighted that the Society for Social Work Research has named her as one of the inaugural Fellows.”

Since joining the School of Social Work in 2000, Ellett has been the principal investigator of research and instructional grants that total more than $8 million. A nationally recognized expert on child welfare, she is known for her research on how child welfare organizations can retain and promote the development of competent staff. 

In 2003, Ellett completed the largest and most extensive survey to date of turnover and retention of child welfare workers in Georgia. The report resulted in development of a set of procedures used by the Georgia Department of Family and Children Services to select and retain student interns and professional staff. Ellett also identified factors indicative of workers’ intention to remain employed in child welfare, and developed measures of those factors. These measures are now used by researchers in more than a dozen of the most populous states in the country. She has presented more than 70 papers at national conferences and published 20 articles in refereed journals.

In addition to her research, Ellett was co-editor of the Journal of Public Child Welfare from 2004 to 2010 and editor-in-chief from 2011 to the present. Ellett’s instructional experience includes teaching courses on child abuse and neglect, and foster care and adoption. As a UGA faculty member she has advised more than 250 social work graduate students.

The Society for Social Work and Research is a nonprofit professional organization devoted to the promotion of human welfare through research and research applications. Its members number more than 1,300 worldwide.