Stuart A. Kirk

Stuart A. Kirk recently retired as a distinguished professor of social welfare at the University of California, Los Angeles, where his academic research focused on the interplay of science, social values, and professional politics in the helping professions. He is the coauthor or author of nine books, many chapters, and over one hundred articles published in social welfare, psychology, psychiatry, and other journals. Among his books are Science and Social Work, The Selling of DSM, Making Us Crazy, and Mad Science, which have been translated into French, Italian, and Japanese. He has also published op-ed columns in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and Newsweek magazine. A psychiatric social worker early in his career, evaluated programs designed for those with severe behavioral problems in several states. He was dean of the School of Social Welfare at the State University of New York at Albany and a professor at Columbia University School of Social Work before joining the Department of Social Welfare at UCLA, where he served as director of the PhD program for eight years and as chair of the department for three years. Professor Kirk resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with his wife, three cats, and four motorcycles.