Harry Hunter is an associate teaching professor in the University of Southern California’s Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work. He holds a doctoral degree in industrial/organizational (I/O) psychology, a master degree of social work, and a master degree of business administration. Professor Hunter develops course curricula and teaches in the school’s MSW and DSW programs.
Professor Hunter’s clinical expertise, leadership, and accomplishments are reflected in the areas of addiction rehabilitation, mental health treatment, employee assistance programming, and community development in the state of Michigan and the city of Detroit. For more than 25 years, he has served in many diverse leadership roles, including director of the State of Michigan Employee Assistance Program, psychiatric hospital administrator of Harbor Oaks Hospital, behavioral medicine director of Health Alliance Plan, executive director of the Intake Assessment & Referral Center for Genesee County, and group vice president of Eastwood Clinics/St. John’s Hospital. In addition, his coursework in business and I/O psychology has given him new insight into addressing structural sources of stress in organizations such as job design, role conflict, communication, and organizational culture.
Professor Hunter has a broad range of research interests. His dissertation on workplace depression screening signaled his interest in providing practical tools to address workers’ mental health needs in the workplace. His interests also include more traditional I/O psychology areas, such as the impact of leadership styles on employees’ motivation and productivity, work-family issues, and workplace factors that impact employees’ health. He also is deeply interested in issues that have an impact in the community, especially ones that are relevant to economic inequality and the challenges facing older adults. Professor Hunter presented a social impact proposal entitled “Social Exclusion of Older Adults” at the L’école Pratique de Service Social (EPSS), Paris, France. His presentation addressed the exclusion in France faced by individuals who are no longer working. This creative proposal focuses on harnessing the energy of younger adults in the workforce to support helping older adults to remain in their homes as long as possible. In 2020, this social impact proposal was published as an article in Health & Social Work.
Professor Hunter’s contributions to organizational and community development are varied. Since 2002, he has volunteered as a peer reviewer with the Council on Accreditation (COA) based in New York City and has positively impacted the structure and function of a score of human service organizations in the United States, Canada, and Trinidad. He served as an elected official from April 18, 2014, to May 1, 2017, on the Citizens District Council in the City of Detroit, which provided him with the opportunity to shape decisions impacting the resurgence of Detroit’s historic Brush Park midtown neighborhood, which wanted to avoid some of the negative effects of gentrification.
Professor Hunter received the Spirit of Detroit Award from the city council for his “exceptional achievement, outstanding leadership and dedication to improving the quality of life.” His undergraduate institution, Georgia Southern University (Armstrong Campus) in Savannah, GA, selected him as one of their 2011 Notable Alumni. On August 31, 2011, he was elected a member of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology.