Faculty Spotlight – Dr. Megan Ebor
Megan T. Ebor, Ph.D., MSW is an Assistant Professor at SDSU in the School of Social Work. She recently started working during the 2021-2022 school year. Her teachings include health and mental health disparities, community capacity building, civic engagement, research methods, social work practice with organizations and communities, diversity and social justice in social work, program development, implementation, and evaluation. She received her BA in Sociology, MSW, and Ph.D. in Social Welfare at UCLA. Her major research area is focused on social and behavioral change communications. She uses film as a tool to help translate research at the intersections of aging, race, and mental health. She examines health outcomes for older racial and ethnic minority women and communities of color. This research is guided by her interest to find ways to improve sexual-health outcomes for African American women and older adults.
When she was a Junior at UCLA, she took a social welfare summer course and realized that she wanted to pursue a career in social work. She said, “It was such a natural fit to who I was, and my values and my beliefs. I was just over the moon to discover this field of service”. She felt overjoyed about being a social worker because it fits so closely to who she is. She then proceeded to further her education in both the field and the profession. After she finished her education and prior to joining the SDSU Social Work community, she was a researcher at UCLA with an interdisciplinary team of researchers. Their main focus was on HIV, health interventions, and community-based research. She then had an award-winning documentary, called Even Me, which addresses the rise of HIV among older adults of color.
When asked what kind of plans she looks forward to in the future, she says she would like to establish herself within the San Diego Community. She does this because it is very important to her since she does do community-based research and outreach. Although she has already started making connections within the San Diego community, she believes that she needs to do this because it is included in her research and part of who she is as a human being to stay connected with the community. In 2 to 4 years from now, she sees herself being connected and embedded within the community of San Diego. She says she wants to continue getting to know the community and the various organizations that do social justice work. She wants to publish her existing research because it is important to make sure to communicate with communities. She wants to be able to amplify the voices within the community to inform interventions that we develop for the community.
Word of Encouragement from Professor Ebor
“It’s not about making things hard or difficult, but it’s about making things meaningful and long-lasting”
“I want to see them (the students) win because when we win as social workers, the whole world wins”
