Beth Angell

Dr. Beth Angell is dean and professor of social work at the U-M School of Social Work. She began her appointment on July 1, 2022.

Angell’s research focuses on behavioral health, particularly on serious mental illness and its intersection with substance abuse and criminal justice involvement. Some of the topics of her research studies have related to treatment seeking, treatment engagement and adherence; consumer-provider interactions and relationships; sources and consequences of stigma; and mandated or involuntary treatment. Her projects have been funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, the NARSAD Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Mandated Community Treatment, the New Jersey Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services, and the Chicago Community Trust.

Angell was inducted as a Fellow in the Society for Social Work and Research and has served on a consensus study for the National Academies of Engineering, Science, and Medicine, entitled the Committee on the Science of Changing Behavioral Health Norms. Angell’s work also has been published in a variety of journals in the fields of social work, psychiatry and the sociology of mental health.

Prior to joining the University of Michigan, Angell held faculty positions at the University of Chicago Crown School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice (2000-2008) and Rutgers University School of Social Work and the Institute for Health, Health Care Policy, and Aging Research (2008-2018). From 2018-2022, Angell served as dean and professor at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Social Work.

Angell received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of North Carolina. She earned a Master of Science degree in social work with a subconcentration in severe and persistent mental illness, followed by a doctorate in social welfare, both from the University of Wisconsin. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania School of Policy and Practice from 1999-2000