Jillian Jimenez

Author and historical researcher in areas of social policy development, mental health, and Children Youth and Families

Jillian (Mary Ann) Jimenez, an expert in social policy and its development in American history, made a direct and lasting impact on California social work through her twenty-one years of teaching hundreds of social work students and helping them develop master's theses, which contributed to the profession's body of knowledge. An avid researcher and believer in the power of the written word, Dr. Jimenez was the editor of the peer-reviewed journal of Narratives, Reflections and the author of the text, Social Policy and Social Change: Toward Social and Economic Justice.

Dr.Jimenez was a persistent critic of current social policy with regard to poor and disadvantaged populations. Her keen intellect and widely-read publications provided important information and talking points for many in the social work profession who are involved in a myriad of practice and policy areas, including child welfare, mental health, women’s mental health, poverty program policy development, and legislative advocacy.

She was viewed as a leader in anticipating legislative attacks on welfare and poverty programs and populations and successfully mentored many faculty members to recognize such attacks in order to mount timely mobilizations in the social work communities. Perhaps most importantly, as Professor of Social Policy, she was instrumental in instilling in hundreds of BASW and MSW students the importance of policymaking activities and outcomes in social work practice and the provision of basic human services.

Bringing an interdisciplinary anchor of research and study to her students, Dr. Jimenez taught American History at Pitzer College before devoting her career to social policy for underserved communities at San Diego State University and California State University, Long Beach.

Dr. Jimenez won numerous awards, including a Graves fellowship for teaching excellence, and a Silberman grant for research on the history of African American grandmothers. Her first book, Changing Faces of Madness, explored the treatment of mentally disordered persons in the colonial period.

She earned an MA in Literature from UCLA, an MSW from San Diego State University, and PhDs in Social Policy and American History from Brandeis University.