Keith Adamson is recognized for his Distinguished Service to the social work profession

Associate Professor Keith Adamson is being honoured this week at the Ontario Association of Social Work (OASW) Annual General Meeting. During Social Work Month, he was selected as the Ontario recipient of the 2026 Canadian Association of Social Workers (CASW) Distinguished Service Award, a prestigious national honour that recognizes exceptional contributions to the social work profession across Canada.  

Associate Professor Keith Adamson

The Distinguished Service Award is given to those who: 

• exemplify social work values and the profession’s ethical principles,  
• are a positive influence and have persistently contributed to social work practice and education,  
• demonstrate leadership within the field and outside the profession,  
• contribute to promoting and advancing the professions of social work 
• demonstrate an ongoing commitment to reconciliation, advocacy and social justice, 
• have practiced for at least 10 years, and  
• contributed to volunteer roles, board positions, or similar efforts. 

Adamson served as OASW president from 2014 to 2018. But that is just one of many key roles he has played in supporting and advancing the social work profession. He has helped advance social work’s involvement in interprofessional education among the professional healthcare Faculties at U of T. He has led innovations in the classroom by involving service users in curriculum development and delivery, and is now working with the Council of Social Work Education on the development of a new Specialized Curricular Guide on Service User Involvement in Social Work education. He has also worked to advance social work’s role in team-based primary health care, an initiative with the potential to help address the human resource crisis in Canada’s healthcare system. 

Adamson joined the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work in 2017 and is now the Director of its Master of Social Work program. He was previously a Deputy Director at the University of Toronto’s Centre for Teaching Support & Innovation. Prior to joining the Faculty, he had over 20 years of progressive senior management experience in clinical, management and professional practice leadership roles as well as expertise in Clinical Governance. 

Congratulations to Dr. Adamson on being recognized with this Distinguished Service Award!