Debra McPhee

Dean, Graduate School of Social Service

Dr. Debra M. McPhee has been Dean of the Fordham University Graduate School of Social Service since 2013. She has more than 25 years of leadership experience in academia, professional social work practice, and the private sector and has worked throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. She holds a Master in Social Work from Columbia University and a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto. Her funded research and scholarship include 

work in the areas of international healthcare policy, child welfare, welfare reform, interprofessional collaboration, and social work/higher education. Dr. McPhee has held deanships at two academic institutions. In between, she served as the Chief Operating Officer for a health education and technology company in Silicon Valley. 

In addition to her current academic leadership responsibilities, Dr. McPhee has held multiple leadership roles with the national accrediting body, the Council of Social Work Education (CSWE), including serving for six years as Chair of the Commission on Educational Policy & Accreditation Standards (COEP) and a member of the CSWE Board of Directors. 

She is a member of the Board of Trustees for Catholic Charities of New York. A member of the National Association of Deans & Directors of Schools of Social Work, the New York Association of Deans and Directors, Social Work Collective to Advance Research (SCoAR), and the National Association of Catholic Deans & Directors.