Raymond Sanchez Mayers will retire from his position as associate professor at the School of Social Work this summer and continue in a part time capacity next year.
Dr. Sanchez Mayers received his PhD from Brandies University’s Heller School for Social Policy and Management and his MSW from Barry University in Miami. He was recruited to Rutgers to serve as Director of the Camden program in 1989. Subsequently, he served in various administrative roles, sometimes simultaneously, including Associate Dean for Camden, Director of the BASW program on the Camden and New Brunswick campuses, Associate Dean for Operations on the Newark, New Brunswick, and Camden campuses, Field Director for the Southern Region, Disabilities Coordinator for the School of Social Work, Judicial Officer, and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, among other roles. He was the lead teacher for a number of courses, including Methods of Research I and II, Financial Management, Social Work Practice II, Fundraising and Marketing, and other courses. He developed the online courses for Research I and II, Financial Management, and two courses focused on Latinos. In 2017, he received a Council on Social Work Education Faculty Award for Innovation in Research Instruction, as well as an Innovative and Creative Teaching Award from the School of Social Work.
Dr. Sanchez Mayers has published three books: Hispanic Substance Abuse (edited with Barbara Kail and Thomas Watts), Dilemmas in Human Services Management (with Fred Souflee and Dick Schoech), and Financial Management for Nonprofit Human Services Organizations (third edition to be published soon). In addition, his work has appeared in Journal of Applied Social Sciences, Journal of Family Relations, Journal of Drug Issues, Children and Youth Services Review, Administration in Social Work, and other publications. He has also presented over 60 papers at professional conferences. Dr. Sanchez Mayers has served on the board of numerous nonprofits as well as the Association for Latino/a Social Work Educators, where he also served as board treasurer.
In 2015, with enthusiastic support from the School, he started LISTA (Latino/a Initiatives for Service, Training, and Assessment) as an area of emphasis in the MSW program. He also developed two online required courses for the program – Latinos: Culture, Community, and Social Welfare, and Social Work with Latinos. In 2017, he received a grant from the Rutgers Office of Global Programs to develop a short course in Puerto Rico. In this effort he was assisted by Associate Professor of Professional Practice Rebecca Davis and Assistant Professor Laura Cuesta. In 2020, Associate Professor and Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Laura Curran and Dr. Sanchez Mayers received a grant from the New York Community Trust to support the development of a certificate program for LISTA. It became a certificate program in 2020. Professor of Professional Practice Elsa Candelario has been working with him on further developing the LISTA certificate program since July 2020 with the assistance of a field coordinator, Sara Diaz, and a field intern, Susan Moromisato. Currently, Prof. Candelario and Dr. Sanchez Mayers, along with Dr. Curran, are developing two new LISTA courses: Spanish for Social Workers and Latino Behavioral Health. Along with his wife, Fontaine, a long-time instructor at the School of Social Work, he plans to set up an endowed scholarship fund for LISTA students.
