Paula Nieman, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor-in-Residence and BSW Program Director

Paula Nieman is an assistant professor-in-residence and director of the Bachelor of Social Work Program at the University of Connecticut School of Social Work.

Dr. Nieman’s research and teaching interests include social work history and education; direct practice and program oversight with individuals experiencing homelessness and mental illness; group work with youth; case coordination for children and youth in foster care; and the recruitment, training, and supervision of foster parents.

Dr. Nieman joined the UConn faculty in 2021. She teaches Field Seminar I and II, Social Work Research, and Senior Seminar, and advises up to eight MSW students each year as an academic advisor and field liaison. She is especially interested in supporting students’ development as reflective practitioners, helping them integrate classroom learning with practicum experiences, and preparing them for meaningful, ethical, and critically informed social work practice.

Dr. Nieman has presented widely at national conferences, including the Council on Social Work Education Annual Program Meeting and the Association of Baccalaureate Social Work Program Directors’ Annual Conference. Her presentations address topics such as neoliberalism and managerialism in BSW practice, the development of professional identity among early-career social workers, emotional dimensions of practice, and innovative pedagogical approaches such as experiential learning assignments and community-based research projects. She has also presented on supervision practices, political engagement in social work education, and strategies for fostering critical reflection and resistance within the undergraduate social work curricula.

Dr. Nieman earned her Ph.D. in social work from the University of Connecticut. Her dissertation explored the lived experiences of early-career BSW practitioners, examining how organizational structures and broader social, political, and economic forces shape their practice experiences and emerging professional identities. She also earned an MS in social work from Columbia University School of Social Work and a BA in psychology from Bowdoin College, as well as additional honors study in social psychology at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.

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