Erin Mayhorn

Erin Mayhorn, DSW, is the Child Welfare Development Program Manager at the University of Kentucky College of Social Work, where she leads workforce development initiatives focused on preparing and sustaining a skilled child welfare workforce across the Commonwealth. She oversees the Child Welfare Prepare, Retain, Engage, and Partner (CW PREP) program and the Child Welfare SUSTAIN program, both designed to support students and professionals pursuing careers in public child welfare through financial assistance, academic support, and career readiness programming.

Dr. Mayhorn brings nearly two decades of experience in child welfare practice, higher education, and program administration. Her career began in frontline child protective services with the Kentucky Department for Community Based Services, where she later advanced into a supervisory role. She has extensive experience working with children and families involved in abuse and neglect cases, as well as mentoring and developing future social workers entering the field.

As both a faculty member and program leader, Dr. Mayhorn has taught across undergraduate and graduate social work programs, with a focus on child welfare practice, ethics, and workforce readiness. She is also a proud alum of the CW PREP program, having completed her educational journey without student loan debt through child welfare workforce initiatives- a perspective that continues to shape her commitment to student success and access.

Her work centers on strengthening partnerships between universities and public agencies, improving student-to-workforce pipelines, and enhancing retention of child welfare professionals through innovative programming and strategic systems development.