Biography for Michelle Mohr Carney

Michelle Mohr Carney is a senior academic leader with more than a decade of experience leading complex, multi-campus academic units at large public research universities. She currently serves as Dean of the School of Social Welfare at the University of Kansas, as well as a professor in the school, where she provides strategic leadership across research, teaching and learning, accreditation, community engagement, and education innovation.

Carney is recognized for leading effectively through complexity and change. She strengthens academic quality while centering people, culture, and long-term institutional sustainability. Her leadership is grounded in clear academic priorities, shared governance, transparent communication, and data-informed decision-making. She has built and strengthened research infrastructure; launched and scaled research centers and collaboratives; aligned faculty workload, hiring, and strategic planning with funded growth and academic priorities; and advanced community-engaged and translational scholarship through partnerships with public agencies, tribal nations, and rural communities.

An experienced academic innovator, Carney has led comprehensive curriculum redesign and expanded online, hybrid, and multi-campus programs to increase access without compromising rigor. She has successfully overseen accreditation and compliance processes, modernized academic policies to support student progression and completion, and scaled programs for adult and professional learners.

Carney brings deep experience in stewardship and system-level leadership, including fiscal management, organizational restructuring, and crisis leadership. At KU, she helped design and launch Jayhawk Global, establishing a scalable framework that links academic quality, enrollment strategy, and financial sustainability.

A nationally recognized scholar, her research focuses on eliminating interpersonal and family violence through system-level change, with a strong emphasis on translating research into practice and policy.