Dr. Rufus Sylvester Lynch, ACSW
Dr. Lynch is a Forensic Macro Practice NASW Social Work Pioneer, former Dean of the Whitney M. Young, Jr. School of Social Work at Clark Atlanta University, and the leader of the FATHERIST Movement in Pennsylvania. He has lectured at over a dozen colleges and universities; authored or co-authored over 30 published manuscripts in professional books and/or scholarly journals; and has actively participated in over 200 professional conferences, workshops, and training institutes. Lynch has served in senior staff positions in the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches of Pennsylvania’s State Government, serving Lt. Governor Ernest P. Kline, House Speaker K. Leroy Irvis, and Chief Justice Robert N. C. Nix, Jr., and has experience in private industry, higher education, and non-profit management.
Ten years after graduating from the University of Pittsburgh, Graduate School of Social Work, Dr. Lynch received the Distinguished Alumni Award as a social work practitioner. In 2010 Dean Lynch was recognized as an NASW Social Work Pioneer for his contributions to the evolution and enrichment of the social work profession. In 2015, he was elected as a National Board Member of the National Association of Social Workers. In July 2016 he was acknowledged as a Steller Innovator for his pioneering project “The Integration of Responsible Fatherhood within Foster Care Service Delivery and Other Children and Youth Servicing Systems” by Ashoka Changemakers and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Children’s Well-being Initiative.
Throughout his career Lynch has been defined as a highly talented professional with a national reputation as a successful and visionary leader with an impressive history of positive and proactive contributions to human and institutional development; a champion of forward-thinking, with a social conscience for implementing actions that have a positive impact on people, society, government and the systems that serve them; and, creator of programs, policies, initiatives, and entities that impact society by means that improve the status quo and creates a better future for all.
Lynch holds a B.A. degree in Sociology from Morgan State College, a Master’s degree in Social Work (MSW) from the University of Pittsburgh, with a concentration in Community Organizing and Planning, an Advanced Certificate in Social Administration from the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Work, and a Doctoral Degree in Social Policy and Administration from the same University, now known as the School of Social Policy and Practice, University of Pennsylvania. He is a graduate of Dunbar High School in Baltimore Maryland and is married to his wife, VeRita, and together they have 4 children and 6 grandchildren.