Kia Bentley, Ph.D.

Associate dean, School of Social Work
Director, Ph.D. Program PFF instructor – GRAD 605, social sciences

Kia Bentley, Ph.D., is the associate dean of the School of Social Work. Her research interests include social work practice with people with serious mental illness and their families; psychopharmacology and social work; collaborative and community-based mental health care; strengths, partnership, empowerment and rehabilitation models of practice; social justice, advocacy and human rights in mental health; community-based research and practice evaluation; women's issues; and social work education, including curriculum, assessment and career planning.

She has been an active accreditation site visitor and chair for the Council on Social Work Education, in which she formerly served two terms on the Women’s Commission and one on the Commission on Accreditation. She is also currently on the editorial board of the “Journal of Social Work Education” and is a charter member of the editorial board of “Best Practices in Mental Health.”

Bentley received her Ph.D. from Florida State University School of Social Work, a M.S. in Social Work from the University of Tennessee School of Social Work and a B.A. in Social Work from Auburn University.