Edward Cohen
Edward Cohen, Ph.D., is Professor in the School of Social Work. He has held several past leadership
positions at SJSU including Assistant Director for Academic Affairs of the School
of Social Work and Department of Public Health & Recreation, Special Advisor to
the Connie L. Lurie College of Education, Interim Director of the Silicon Valley Center
for Global Studies, and Graduate Program Coordinator in the School of Social Work.
Prior to joining SJSU, he served as the Director of the Center for Social Services
Research at U.C. Berkeley and, in this role, developed and provided oversight for
multiple federal, state, and local grants. He also had many years of experience as
a practicing social worker, manager and administrator in challenging environments
such as hospitals, government agencies, and health care management. Dr. Cohen has
an active research portfolio in the fields of child, adolescent and family mental
health and
substance use recovery services, international social work, and services to justice-involved
individuals and families. His most recent effort has been a multi-site evaluation
of a family-based prevention program addressing child maltreatment and substance use
problems. He has been the recipient of over $5 million in sponsored grant funding,
as either Principal Investigator or Co-Investigator, which included a multi-year grant
from USAID on international social work development in Vietnam; a collaborative effort
with Justice Studies on immigrant victims of crime; federal and state grants in child
welfare; and a Fulbright Scholar grant. He has published extensively in peer-reviewed
journals and is first author of a monograph about social work development in Vietnam.
Dr. Cohen has taught graduate courses in research methods and international social
work, and regularly involves students in current research projects which are highly
collaborative with governmental and community agencies.
