Bio: 

Mark W. Lamar is Associate Professor of Professional Practice and the Executive Director of Field Education at the Rutgers University School of Social Work. He works closely with field education staff and faculty on the school’s Newark, New Brunswick, and Camden campuses who assist over 1,300 students interning to become professional social workers, in more than 1,000 health care, advocacy, governmental, education, and social service organizations.

Professor Lamar directed the Daniel Jordan Fiddle, Jr., Fellowships from 2016 to 2018, selecting fellows, overseeing or supervising their field internships, meeting with Fiddle Foundation board trustees and the organization’s founder, consulting with autism services agencies, developing trainings for fellows with autism service experts and practitioners, and establishing the Autism Resource Guide at Rutgers.

Currently, he coordinates the social work clinical team that is participating with Rutgers GSAPP, the School of Nursing and the Rutgers Behavioral Health Center on a five year, SAMHSA funded grant to create an ARC Learning Community to increase the theoretical knowledge and interventive impact of interdisciplinary, trauma informed care providers.

Mark Lamar has taught every year in the MSW program at Rutgers since 1997, first as a part time lecturer and later as a member of the faculty.

From 2001 to 2006, he served as an Assistant Adjunct Professor at the Rider University College of Business Administration in Lawrenceville, NJ, where he taught Health Care Policy and Health Care Economics

Prior to his faculty appointment at Rutgers, Mr. Lamar served from 1986 to 2013 as Executive Director of the Family Guidance Center Corporation, in Mercer County, NJ. He directed a nonprofit organization with an annual budget of $6-$7 million annually and 95 staff (clinical social workers, licensed professional counselors, board certified child and adult psychiatrists, advance practice psychiatric nurses, NJ certified special education teachers, National Council on Consumer Credit (NCCC) and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) certified financial and housing counselors, and administrators.) Family Guidance Center Corporation provided 12 month, NJ Department of Education approved classified education services, children’s day treatment, outpatient mental health, outpatient and IOP addictions treatment, HIV/AIDS services, Impaired Driver Resource Center (IDRC) classes, and housing counseling, financial counseling, and Social Security Representative Payee services to over 5,000 people each year.

Mr. Lamar led Family Guidance Center through two corporate mergers, multiple triennial reaccreditations by the Council of Accreditation (COA), the purchase and renovation of a 100 year old elementary school, the development of an interagency services collaboration funded by the United Way of Greater Mercer County, the creation of a development department, and the establishment of an endowment fund. He also led the organization through a strategic plan for cultural competence and bilingualism in Spanish and English.

Mr. Lamar began his professional social work career providing psychotherapy to individuals and families, and play therapy to children at counseling agencies in central New Jersey and Rhode Island. He provided mental health consultation to Headstart, and he provided clinical and administrative supervision to clinical staff and field instruction to MSW social work students from Rutgers University, Boston College, and the University of Texas at Austin.

Mr. Lamar received his Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the Rutgers University Graduate School of Management and his Master of Social Work (MSW) degree from Rutgers School of Social Work, concentrating in casework. He earned his BA in History at Boston University. Additionally, he completed the Human Resources Employment Law Program of the Employers Association of New Jersey, and the certificate program for Non-Financial Managers at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.

Professor Lamar attained his ACSW certification from the Academy of Certified Social Workers in 1978, has been a New Jersey Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) since 1994, and an NASW- NJ Certified Clinical Social Work Supervisor since 2006.

In the community, Mark Lamar was vice president, Executive Forum, United Way of Greater Mercer County, a member of the Resource Investment Committee of United Way of Greater Mercer County and the United Way Campaign Cabinet, where he served as a member of the Speakers’ Bureau. He was vice president and treasurer, New Jersey Family Service Association, and he served as chair of the Professional Advisory Committee to the Mercer County Mental Health Board. He was also a member of the Mercer County Gang Task Force and a member of the Minority Concerns Committee of the Mercer County Youth Services Commission.

Mr. Lamar served as a board trustee of the Puerto Rican Community Center in Trenton, from 2002 to 2013, completing terms as president, vice president, and secretary. From 2011 to 2013, he served as an advisory board member for the Trenton-based Institute of Wonderful Women Working for Empowerment.

Since 2016, Mr. Lamar has served as a volunteer Race Buddy with the New York Road Runners’ “Run for the Future” program, running alongside new runners from New York City high schools, while they compete in their first 5K races at the annual Percy Sutton Memorial Race in Harlem.

He is a member of the National Association of Social Workers and the American Association of University Professors.