Social Work Professor Receives Adventist Family Ministries Award

The Arthur and Maude Spalding Medallion was awarded to Alina Baltazar at the Adventist Conference on Family Research and Practice on July 20, 2024, in recognition of her years of involvement in Family Ministries—teaching, researching, presenting, publishing, and serving for many years as a member of the steering committee of the Adventist Conference on Family Research and Practice.

This award is the highest recognition presented by the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Family Ministries and was named after Arthur and Maude Spalding, who served as the first directors of the General Conference Home Commission after it was voted by the General Conference Committee in 1919. The Spalding Medallion was first awarded in 1990 to Delmer Holbrook. He and his wife, Betty, were the first directors of the Home and Family Service (now Family Ministries) when elected in 1975 at the General Conference Session held in Vienna, Austria.

“Alina has been an invaluable part of our School of Social Work over the past 11 years,” Curtis VanderWaal, chair of the School of Social Work at Andrews University, said. “As Master of Social Work program director, she worked tirelessly to advocate for and support students as they applied for and moved through their MSW degree. She is largely responsible for developing our online MSW degree as well as initiating dual degree partnerships with the Master of Public Health and the Master of Business Administration degree programs.” 

Reflecting on the award, Baltazar affirmed, “I realized that if you just keep working at what you love to do you may eventually get recognized for it.”

Baltazar has been a licensed clinical social worker for more than 27 years and has practiced medical and psychiatric social work and psychotherapy. After completing her BA in psychology at Andrews University, she went on to receive her Master of Social Work degree from the University of Michigan, with a focus on aging. She holds a PhD from Michigan State University in human development and family studies. Baltazar has published and presented extensively in the areas of domestic violence, pastoral family stress, parenting, mental health and parental influences, and religiosity’s influence on youth health risk behavior. Baltazar also serves as a part-time psychotherapist at Life Coach Psychology in Berrien Springs, Michigan, through telehealth.

This summer, Baltazar is transitioning to a new position. She is now the MSW program director at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, California.

This article was last updated on Augusts 12, 2024.