Reflecting on 25 years as an ICSD Member: An interview with Jo Ann R. Regan, PhD, MSW

September 22, 2026

In our member interview series, we speak to the people who make up ICSD’s international community, sharing their stories, their contributions to social development and the connections they have built through membership.

In this interview, Jo Ann R. Regan, PhD, MSW, reflects on more than 25 years with ICSD—from a conversation at her first conference that led to her first faculty position, to the international partnerships that continue to shape her work. Now Dean of the National Catholic School of Social Service at The Catholic University of America and a newly appointed ICSD Board Member at Large, she shares what membership has meant to her and how she hopes to help others find similar opportunities.

  1. Please tell us a little about yourself, your current role, and your main areas of interest or expertise in social development.

I am the Dean of the National Catholic School of Social Service at The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, USA, a role I’ve held since 2020. Before that, I served as Vice President of Education at the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), the national association for social work education in the US, where I led accreditation, faculty development, and international collaboration through the Katherine A. Kendall Institute for International Social Work Education. My work centers on social work education, workforce development, and international social development, with a particular focus on culturally responsive and indigenous approaches to practice. I was a 2021 U.S. Fulbright Scholar in the Czech Republic and now serve as a Fulbright Scholar Alumni Ambassador.  I co-developed our Rome Institute on International Social Work Issues at our Rome campus, which brings together U.S. and international faculty and students from Italy, Korea, India, Peru, and the Czech Republic each summer.

 

  1. What first drew you to the ICSD? and how long have you been involved with the organisation?

As an international adoptee from the Philippines, and having lived abroad as part of a military family, I’ve always been drawn to international social development issues, which is the kind of work ICSD has championed as an interdisciplinary community of practitioners, scholars, and students since 1978. ICSD conferences have been a great place to meet international colleagues and learn from them, and that global perspective has shaped my social work practice and worldview ever since.  I became involved in ICSD as a social work doctoral student, when I attended my first ICSD conference in Portugal, which was over 25 years ago!

  1. How has being part of ICSD benefited you personally or professionally?

ICSD’s international scope has let me build partnerships with universities, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers across Europe, Africa, Asia, and Latin America.  These relationships have deepened my appreciation for culturally responsive approaches to social development and reinforced how much international cooperation matters for shared global challenges. Being part of a network committed to strengthening community capacity and promoting social, economic, and environmental well-being worldwide has continually pushed me to think beyond any one country’s system. The conferences themselves have simply been wonderful to attend as they provide a mix of scholarship, cross-cultural exchange, and genuine collegiality which makes them something I look forward to every time.

  1. Is there a particular ICSD experience, connection, or opportunity that has been especially valuable or memorable for you?

One that stands out goes back to my very first international conference, an ICSD conference in Portugal, which I attended as a doctoral student. During a bus tour at the conference, I struck up a conversation with Dean Frank Raymond, former President of ICSD and at the University of South Carolina (USC). That connection led directly to my first faculty job in social work education at USC. It’s a good reminder of how much ICSD’s informal, cross-institutional spaces can shape a career, sometimes as much as the formal sessions do. I have always been grateful for the opportunity to attend the ICSD conferences and this experience demonstrates the benefits that come from being able to participate in these conferences. I was also able to do my first international presentation and publish in the ICSD journal.

 

  1. You have recently joined the ICSD Board. What do you hope to contribute in this role?

As a Member at Large, I want to bring my experience in organisational governance, strategic planning, and international programme-building to the Board’s work. My work co-founding the Rome Institute showed me what it takes to build sustainable international programming, and I’d like to apply that same strategic and logistical experience to ICSD’s conferences, publications, and partnerships. I’m also eager to serve as an ambassador for ICSD, strengthening membership (particularly with students), engagement and the organization’s visibility, including through its consultative status with ECOSOC and its growing engagement with United Nations processes. I also want to help grow the North American branch of ICSD by re-engaging universities and other practitioners to get involved through membership and involvement in ICSD activities. I am grateful for the network of colleagues I have gained from my ICSD membership so I want to extend that network for others in the social development profession!

  1. What do you see as some of the most important social development issues or opportunities that ICSD should be engaging with over the next few years?

Building on the legacy of the World Summit for Social Development and the commitments in the Doha Political Declaration and the Sustainable Development Goals, I see real opportunity in expanding access to behavioral health and trauma-informed care globally; strengthening the social work workforce pipeline; centering indigenous and culturally grounded healing frameworks, and deepening ICSD’s UN engagement so that social development voices – the interdisciplinary practitioners, scholars, and students ICSD represents – are heard more directly in global policy discussions on social, economic, and environmental well-being.

  1. What would you say to someone considering becoming an ICSD member?

ICSD offers something increasingly rare – a genuine international network for building knowledge for social development worldwide, where you can trade ideas across regions and disciplines rather than staying within your own country’s system. Beyond the biennial conferences and the SDI journal, it’s the worldwide network of social work educators and practitioners that makes membership valuable, and, as my own experience shows, sometimes those informal connections open doors you wouldn’t expect. If you’re serious about social development work having global relevance, ICSD gives you both the relationships and the platform to make that real.