After serving USC’s College of Social Work for more than 27 years, faculty member Naomi Farber will retire on May 15, 2025. Farber joined the college faculty in 1998 as an assistant professor and for many years directed the college MSW and PhD programs.   

Farber holds a Bachelor of Arts from Grinnell College in Iowa and a Master of Social Work with a concentration in interpersonal practice in health settings from the University of Michigan School of Social Work. She earned her Ph.D. with a combined policy and clinical concentration from the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration. 

Prior to joining the University of South Carolina, she was an assistant professor at the Bryn Mawr College Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research.  

Farber has been a cornerstone of graduate education and research at the college for more than two decades. She is a faculty affiliate with USC’s Department of Women and Gender Studies and a member of the University’s Research Consortium on Children and Families since 2000. She is also an associate of the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, a role she has held since 1987 and is a Distinguished Fellow at the Paul Baerwald School of Social Work and Social Welfare at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. 

Farber has taught master’s and doctoral students at the college since 1998, serving in a wide range of leadership and instructional roles. Along with directing the MSW program, she holds key administrative positions including Interim Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs and Doctoral Program Director. She served as lead instructor for two core graduate courses and taught five doctoral and eleven master’s-level courses throughout her tenure.

Her commitment to graduate education extends well beyond the classroom. Farber has provided extensive advising and career counseling to both MSW and doctoral students, chairing 15 doctoral dissertations and serving on 15 doctoral committees across campus. She co-authored publications and conference presentations with numerous graduate students as collaborative scholarship. 

Farber's excellence in teaching has been repeatedly recognized by students. She’s a two-time recipient of the College’s MSW Instructor of the Year award and was honored with the “Two Thumbs Up” award for teaching. She was named an Honorary Member of the Phi Alpha National Social Work Honor Society. Her contributions to graduate instruction have included the development of innovative teaching materials, syllabi and student assessment tools. Notably she led a comprehensive MSW curriculum revision that resulted in the creation of several new graduate courses. 

“Dr. Farber has been an instrumental part of my academic and personal journey. Her unwavering support, encouragement, and kindness have made a lasting impact on my life and my confidence in pursuing my goals,” says student and Farber fan Autumn Brown. “I’ll never forget being touched by such a sweet soul and I wish her the best in her future endeavors.” 

“After 27 years of dedicated service to our College, Dr. Farber leaves behind a significant legacy as a social work educator and scholar,” said Dean Teri Browne. “Her teaching, advising and mentorship of MSW and PhD students and graduates has been profound.”  

Farber’s many other accomplishments include a research award as a co-principal investigator of a National Institute of Mental Health /National Institutes of Health Office for a study focused on developing a multi-level HIV/STD prevention strategy for high-risk youth.  

She is the author of two books on adolescent pregnancy. Her publication Adolescent Pregnancy: Past, Present and Future Trends and Issues examines findings associated with a decline in adolescent pregnancy and childbearing around the world. She also authored Adolescent Pregnancy: Policy, Programs and Prevention Services which provides social workers with tools to identify pregnancy risk levels in adolescents and implement pregnancy prevention strategies. 

In addition to her books, throughout her career Farber authored numerous scholarly journal articles based on her research on early parenthood, family formation and the life trajectories of single mothers at the intersection of poverty and race.  Her work also includes the history of the profession of social work and most recently the importance of viewpoint diversity in education and practice. Her research has been featured in Social Service Review, Social Problems, The Journal of Teaching in Social Work, Clinical Social Work, AIDS and Behavior and other peer-reviewed journals. 

Farber contributes significantly to Columbia’s Jewish community. She is a member of the board of directors Beth Shalom Synagogue and a presidential appointee for the Jewish Federation of Columbia. She received the Distinguished Service Award from the Columbia Jewish Federation and has been recognized in Who’s Who In Medicine and Healthcare for 29 years.   

Farber considers her most significant contribution to the college to be her role as both teacher and program director.  

“My greatest impact is in supporting the educational mission of the College through both master’s and doctoral education as a teacher and program director. As director of the doctoral program, I led the transformation of the program from a focus on teaching to research through curriculum revision,” she says.  “I was the dissertation chair of 15 doctoral students. As MSW director I facilitated the process of revising the curriculum to specializations, including development of all courses.” 

“We are very grateful to Dr. Farber for her outstanding leadership in our college,” said Browne. “We know that her many contributions to teaching, research and community engagement will have an enduring legacy within the University of South Carolina and beyond.”