多萝西·卡明斯 was a gifted social worker who served San Francisco and Central Valley children for more than three decades. With her husband, renowned psychologist Nicholas A. Cummings, she pioneered the integration of medical and behavioral health care in shared settings.

多萝西·卡明斯 died in December 2023 at age 96. 为了纪念她, the Cummings Foundation for Behavioral Health this summer committed $500,000 to 正规博彩十大网站 to create the Dr. 多萝西米. 卡明斯授予社会工作教授一职.

The foundation hopes its gift will help address a significant need in the Central Valley and beyond.

“There’s a behavioral health crisis in this country, driven in part by a shortage of practitioners. The Cummings Foundation and Pacific are involved in a solution to that problem,安迪·卡明斯在86年解释道, foundation board chair and 多萝西·卡明斯’ son.

The Cummings Professorship is the first endowed faculty position in the 卫生科学学院. The holder will facilitate behavioral health training in the school while developing care initiatives to serve vulnerable local populations.

“It’s so exciting to dedicate this professorship to my mother. She contributed so much to making behavioral health more visible, more accessible and giving people more of a reason to be passionate about it,安迪·卡明斯说.

多萝西·卡明斯 was raised in Indiana during the Great Depression. 她就读于加州大学, 加州大学伯克利分校, 她在哪里认识了尼古拉斯·卡明斯, and later earned a master’s degree in social work. She held various positions while simultaneously working to support her husband’s academic and professional pursuits.

After leaving the workforce for more than a decade to raise her two children, she returned to full-time employment as a school social worker—a vocation to which, 她的儿子说, 她带来了一套不可思议的技能.

“She was completely unflappable; nothing ever fazed her,他说. “她就是这样的人, solving things that most people would feel overwhelmed by and always leading by example with a positive, 充满希望的态度.”

阿曼达·西, chair and director of Pacific’s Master of Social Work program, points to the current need for practitioners like 多萝西·卡明斯 to bridge a widespread care gap. 韦斯特指出，全国范围内, while 74% of children go to a health care provider, 只有4%的人去看心理医生.

的差距, 她解释说, is caused by several factors including a shortage of providers, lack of access to care and the stigma surrounding mental health.

在像中央山谷这样的半农村地区, nearly 80% of behavioral health services are provided by social workers. West said she is delighted that the Cummings Professorship will address the national shortage of qualified practitioners by attracting the best in the field to train Pacific students.

“This gift will enable us to hire a faculty member who makes an impact not only through teaching, but by doing re搜索 to help implement services in the community, and by helping students grow through hands-on engagement,韦斯特说。. “This will benefit Stockton and Sacramento while also sustaining a very student-centered environment at Pacific, with opportunities above and beyond what we offer in the classroom.”

The 卫生科学学院 is part of the Pacific Health Care Collaborative, 创新的牙科组合, medical and behavioral health services on the university’s 萨克拉门托校园. 今年秋季开业, the collaborative brings together students and faculty from multiple health disciplines to serve the community in a coordinated effort. The Cummings Professorship will ultimately enable the collaborative to include a behavioral health component.

“This gift opens up so many possibilities for Pacific,尼科莱塔·布格尼亚说, 健康科学学院的创始院长. “It will help us recruit and retain professors with the highest levels of expertise in behavioral health, 集思广益创新护理解决方案, 培养更多的学生，最终, 让更多的人获得医疗服务.”

Andy Cummings is grateful that his mother’s legacy will help the university continue the work she so skillfully championed.

“我母亲是一个真正的问题解决者, and I think she’d be proud to see how Pacific is equipping students to solve a significant problem and pay forward what they are receiving,他说.

“Pacific is really a thought leader on this topic. It’s such a win-win situation to serve the community and provide a training ground for students, 这一点非常重要. Honestly, social work is the future of behavioral health.”

To learn more about supporting the Master of Social Work program and others in the 卫生科学学院, 联系916的拉娜·沃茨.325.4656 or lwatts@eagle1027.com.