Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes, professor and associate dean for faculty development and academic affairs in the School of Social Work, plans to retire in June.
The coronavirus pandemic has exposed millions of Americans to the racial and economic inequalities found in communities across the United States. But social workers have been trying to draw attention to these issues for decades, says Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes, a professor in the Boston College School of Social Work who plans to retire in June after more than 20 years of service to the university.
“It’s a little disappointing that it takes something like this to make inequalities visible,” says Pitt-Catsouphes. “But social workers have a special responsibility to document inequity and reconstruct systems to make individuals, families, and communities more resilient.”
Pitt-Catsouphes dedicated her career to examining the factors that affect the employment experiences of older workers, including whether they are compensated fairly, treated with respect, and provided opportunities to develop their skills. She co-founded the Center on Aging and Work at Boston College in 2005 and directed the center for 10 years, during which she led a multidisciplinary network of scholars and practitioners who developed strategies and conducted research to promote quality of employment for older workers.
“We wanted to change the conversation among employers so they could see older adults as bringing some value to the workplace,” says Pitt-Catsouphes, who is also the associate dean for faculty development and academic affairs in the School of Social Work. “As people near the end of their careers, they still have the opportunity to contribute to employer values.”
COVID-19 has wrecked the economy, throwing millions of people out of their jobs. But the pandemic has proved particularly catastrophic for older workers. The latest jobs report found that the unemployment rate for workers 65 and older surged to 15.6 percent in April, which marks the highest rate of joblessness for this population since the Bureau of Labor Statistics started to track the data in 1948.
Pitt-Catsouphes and her research colleagues at the center discovered that older workers who lost their jobs during the Great Recession found it more difficult to re-enter the workforce compared to younger workers. The findings, she says, hint at the trouble older workers might face as they look for new jobs or return to work in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
“In the coming months, as workplaces reopen, it will be important to consider new employment challenges for older workers who are not able to continue to work remotely,” says Pitt-Catsouphes. “How, for example, will they wrestle with their own preferences and with employer expectations related to returning to the office given COVID-19 risk factors? And how will age bias affect the success of older workers’ efforts to gain re-employment?”
“I hope that all of our graduating students feel comfortable articulating a career plan while also keeping an open mind about the almost endless opportunities to practice in different settings. The flexibility of a master’s of social work degree is an amazing gift. ”
Pitt-Catsouphes predicts that social workers will soon be tapped to lead interdisciplinary teams focused on solving complex social problems like unemployment, obesity, and homelessness. She co-founded the Center for Social Innovation in the School of Social Work in 2011 to pair researchers with community members to solve some of the most pressing challenges in the world.
“Social workers have always understood that solving complex social issues requires some training in psychology and public policy,” says Pitt-Catsouphes, who directed the doctoral program in the School of Social Work from 2015 to 2018. “But there’s a growing recognition that what might have seemed like a straightforward problem in the past reflects the kind of complexity that social workers have been trained to appreciate.”
Pitt-Catsouphes, who received her master’s degree from the School of Social Work in 1980, advises newly minted social workers to explore their professional options. Before she returned to the school in 1999, she founded the Work and Family Researchers Network, which facilitates collaboration among scholars who study the interplay between work and family, and served at the Tri-City Community Action Program, an agency dedicated to eradicating poverty in the Massachusetts towns of Malden, Medford, and Everett.
“I hope that all of our graduating students feel comfortable articulating a career plan while also keeping an open mind about the almost endless opportunities to practice in different settings,” says Pitt-Catsouphes. “The flexibility of a master’s of social work degree is an amazing gift.”
After she retires in June, Pitt-Catsouphes will be named a professor emerita. She plans to work closely with Gautam N. Yadama, dean of the School of Social Work, to find ways to stay connected to the university. Perhaps, she says, she will sit on the dissertation committee for a doctoral student, or contribute to a future research project pro bono.
Pitt-Catsouphes acknowledges that she will miss the culture of Boston College, which, she says, is rooted in a world view that calls community members to live in service to others.
“I’ve always felt that Boston College is as closely aligned to social justice as any university could get,” she says. “What better environment to work in?”