The School of Social Welfare commemorates the extraordinary life of alum Leslie Hartrich Leighninger (1943-2024).
Dr. Leighninger was recently honored as a Pioneer of Social Work by the National Association of Social Work Foundation. She applied political and historical lenses to American social work through two major publications, The Policy-Based Profession: An Introduction to Social Welfare Policy Analysis for Social Workers (co-authored with Philip R. Popple) and Social Work, Social Welfare, and American Society (co-authored with Popple and Leighninger's husband, Robert D. Leighninger, Jr.). The Leighningers co-founded the Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare.
A former psychiatric social worker and community mental health outreach worker, Dr. Leighninger eventually served as Baccalaureate Program Director of the School of Social Work at Western Michigan University, Associate Dean at Louisiana State University School of Social Work, and Director of the Arizona State University School of Social Work.
"She was a person of high integrity with a quiet but forceful commitment to social work ideals," shares James Midgley, Professor of the Graduate School and Dean Emeritus of the School of Social Welfare.