Teach of the Year: John R. Belcher, PhD, MDiv, LCSW-C

If John R. Belcher, PhD, MDiv, LCSW-C, wrote a handbook on being a good teacher, it would begin with the basics: Love teaching, be sincerely interested in students, and come alive in the classroom.

Belcher’s handbook would quickly move on to the less obvious, but equally important lessons—maintain a balanced perspective and a balanced ego. “I try not to take myself so seriously that I forget I was once a student myself,” says Belcher, who teaches qualitative methods, psychopathology, social policy, mental health policy, and other courses in the School of Social Work. “I also try to remember that one day the student I am teaching now is likely to become one of my colleagues.”

The latter corollary comes from Paul Ephross, PhD, MSW, one of several senior faculty members whom Belcher credits with influencing his teaching style. Another influence was Howard Altstein, PhD, MSW, also a professor in the social work school. “Howard modeled how I should act as a doctoral chair. He said, ‘Always make sure that your students are ready for defense: Never let them defend until they have discussed their project with everyone,’” Belcher recalls. 

Peter Smith, PhD, one of Belcher’s former students and now a clinical social worker at Pastoral Counseling Services of Maryland and a faculty member at the Clinical Social Work Institute in Washington, D.C, says one reason he chose Belcher for his dissertation chair was his pastoral counseling experience. “He did not make the dissertation process easy, but he made it completely meaningful. He seemed to know intuitively when to push, when to challenge, when to praise, and when to critique,” says Smith.

SSW doctoral candidate Steven Herr, LCSW-C, ABD, who directs the Children’s Outcome Management Center in the Division of Services Research in the Department of Psychiatry at the School of Medicine, credits Belcher with a “profoundly positive impact in the development of my career choices as a teacher, a researcher, an administrator, and a clinician.”

Herr adds, “Dr. Belcher is able to take the foundation principles of academia, among all the complexity and diversity of a classroom in higher education, and motivate students to serve and grow as professionals to ultimately improve the quality of life in all of us. His reputation with students is literally outstanding.”

In addition to teaching, Belcher, who came to the School in 1987, has a counseling practice with the University of Maryland Group Faculty Practice in Baltimore and is a senior therapist at the Heritage Family Life Institute and Counseling Center in Severn, Md. He is also a prolific scholar, with recent articles appearing in Family Therapy, Social Work in Mental Health, Journal of Psychology and Christianity, and Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly.

Belcher enjoys teaching as much as he likes research and counseling work. “I profoundly enjoy it, and my rewards come in several ways,” he says. Talking to former students, who remember something he taught them, or advice he gave, and then learning how his former students apply those skills to their work is especially gratifying to the 2005 Teacher of the Year.