Empowerment Series: Becoming An Effective Policy Advocate

About Bruce Jansson

Bruce S. Jansson (M.A. University of Chicago and Harvard University; Ph.D. University of Chicago) is the Driscoll/Clevenger Professor of Social Policy in the Department of Social Work at the University of Southern California (USC). He joined the USC faculty in 1973 after working in Pennsylvania and Michigan as a community organizer and planner for tenant rights. His scholarly interests focus on advancing mezzo micro and macro policy advocacy in social work as well as examining the history and practice of social welfare policy. Dr. Jansson invented the term policy practice which has become a required content area by the Council on Social Work Education. He recently developed the first multi-level policy advocacy framework that discusses policy advocacy at micro mezzo and macro levels. He also has served as the Moses Distinguished Research Professor at the City University of New York Graduate Center. Dr. Jansson has written two books for Cengage: BECOMING AN EFFECTIVE POLICY ADVOCATE now in its ninth edition and THE RELUCTANT WELFARE STATE (9th Edition). Additional books include THE SIXTEEN TRILLION DOLLAR MISTAKE: HOW THE U.S. BUNGLED ITS NATIONAL PRIORITIES FROM THE NEW DEAL TO THE PRESENT (2001) IMPROVING HEALTHCARE THROUGH ADVOCACY and SOCIAL WELFARE SECTORS AND ADVOCACY. He has authored four research articles that develop measurement scales to measure the extent health professionals engage in patient and policy advocacy as well as predictors of their levels of engagement and is currently working on a book on inequality.