Dr. Jeannette Takemura

Dean of School of Social Work
Columbia University

Jeanette C. Takamura is the first female and the 17^th dean of the Columbia University School of Social Work, the first established school of social work in the nation.  Since she assumed the deanship of the School, its global, national, and local education, research, and service collaborations and initiatives have grown significantly.  Over the last five years a  Global Health Research Center for Central Asia; a university-wide, multidisciplinary Population Center; a Center for Research on  Fathers, Children, and Family Well-Being; the Dominican Republic Family Health Center; and the SUUBI/SUUBI MAKA Programs in Uganda have been established  by senior faculty, contributing to noteworthy improvements in the quality of life  of persons otherwise at-risk.  Under her leadership the School has collaborated with scholars, institutions, and government agencies to develop programming and implement research  in Jordan, China, Malaysia, Mongolia, Great Britain, France, a number of other African nations, and throughout the United States.

 Prior to joining Columbia, Dean Takamura served as Assistant Secretary for Aging in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from 1996-2001 during the second term of the Clinton Administration.During her tenure as Assistant Secretary and as the head of the U.S. Administration on Aging, Dr. Takamura led the development of a modernized Older Americans Act and initiated the design and proposal of a new national program -- the National Family Caregiver Support Program.  In November 2000 the National Family Caregiver Support Program proposal was adopted as a Presidential initiative, identified as a U.S. Senate priority, and was subsequently signed into law as a part of the Older Americans Act.  To ensure program and fiscal accountability in aging programs and services, she established the National Aging Performance Outcomes Measurement Program.  Finally, in what has been called one of the largest peacetime efforts to generate vertical and horizontal collaboration within the federal government, Assistant Secretary Takamura secured the participation of and led more than 40 Executive Branch agencies in identifying national public policy and program directions for the 21^st century.  For her efforts, she received the Secretary’s Distinguished Service Award and the Lucy Stone Achievement Award from the White House.

 Dean Takamura is an elected fellow of the National Academy on Social Insurance and also of the National Academy for Public Administration.  She was an invited principal of the Council on Excellence in Government and has served on numerous national and international advisory boards, commissions, and working groups.  Dean Takamura was also the chairman of the board for the American Society on Aging and a commissioner on the National Commission for Quality Long Term Care. Most recently, she served on the Obama Transition Team, specifically the Agency Review Team for the Department of Health and Human Services. In 2009, she was honored by the Japanese Government with The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon, for her outstanding contributions to the promotion of social welfare policies and programs and the status of Japanese Americans. Earlier in her career, she held other professorships at U.S. universities. Her doctorate in social policy was received from The Heller School at Brandeis University.