PHILADELPHIA -- Hailed as one of the foremost leaders in adoption today by the Child Welfare League of America, Carol Wilson Spigner has been given the organization's Pioneer in Adoption award. Spigner is a professor in the School of Social Work at the University of Pennsylvania.

"Carol is one of our most distinguished professors, and it is a tribute to her work serving children to be recognized with such a prestigious award," said Richard Gelles, interim dean of the School of Social Work.

Prior to her arrival at Penn, Spigner served as the associate commissioner of the Children's Bureau at the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services during the Clinton administration, where she was responsible for administering federal child-welfare programs.

She has held professorships at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of California, Los Angeles. Spigner has published a variety of articles in the areas of cultural competency, permanency planning and relative care.

Previously, Spigner has received awards from the University of Southern California, the National Association of Black Social Workers and the National Association of Public Child Welfare Administrators.

She received her undergraduate degree from the University of California at Riverside and her graduate and postgraduate degrees from the University of Southern California. She joined the University of Pennsylvania in 1999 and became a full faculty member in 2000.