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Pamela Kovacs

Pamela Kovacs

Associate Professor
Phone: (804) 828-2607
E-mail: pjkovacs@vcu.edu

A versatile profession

“Social work is a versatile and wonderful profession. Our core values and knowledge, and skills in assessment and intervention, working with individuals, families, groups or communities, prepare us to work with people and policies in many settings.

“I am challenged and inspired working with students in the classroom or in the field, watching them face their fears, enter into people’s lives often at very stressful times, and take risks even when they are not sure they know enough. Experiencing students’ curiosity and passion in their work with people and their courage as they look within themselves via multiple self-awareness assignments, together with our profession’s focus on social justice makes me proud to be teaching social work.”

Education

  • Ph.D. – Florida International University, Miami, Fla.
  • M.S.W. –  Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Mass.
  • B.S.W. – University of Vermont, Burlington, Vt.

Research interests

  • End-of-life care
  • Gerontology
  • HIV/AIDS
  • Social work in health care
  • Volunteerism
  • Field instruction and learning styles

Courses taught

  • Multi-paradigmatic Qualitative Methods and Analysis
  • Clinical Social Work Practice I
  • Clinical Social Work Practice II
  • Social Work Practice and Health Care
  • Field liaison

Selected publications

  • Cagle, J.G., & Kovacs, P.J. (in press). Education: A complex and empowering social work intervention at the end of life. Health & Social Work.

  • Bronstein, L., Kovacs, P.J., & Vega, A. (2007). Goodness of fit: Social work education and practice in health care. Social Work in Health Care, 45(2), 59-76.

  • Kovacs, P.J., Bellin, M.H., & Fauri, D.F. (2006). Family-centered care: A resource for social work in end-of-life and palliative care. Journal of Social Work in End-of-Life & Palliative Care, 2(1), 13-27.

  • Bellin, M.H. & Kovacs, P.J. (2006). Fostering resilience in siblings of youth with a chronic health condition: A review of the literature. Health & Social Work, (31)3, 209-216.

  • Miller, J., Kovacs, P.J., Wright, L., Corcoran, J., & Rosenblum, A.F. (2005). Field education: Student and field instructor perceptions of the learning process. Journal of Social Work Education, 41(1), 131-145.

Professional affiliations

  • Council on Social Work Education
  • National Association for Social Workers
  • National Hospice Organization Council of Hospice Professionals
  • Richmond Bioethics Consortium
  • Society for Social Work Research
  • Virginia Association for Hospices
  • Virginia Organization of Health Care Social Workers