Press Releases, Student Life

NCC Professor Receives Award for Excellence in Clinical Social Work

Nash Community College Humanities and Social Sciences Professor Marbeth Holmes of Franklin County is the recipient of the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill Mary Jane Burns Book Award for Excellence in Clinical Social Work. Holmes will graduate from the UNC School of Social Work in May with a Masters degree.
The Mary Jane Burns Book Award for Excellence in Clinical Social Work was established in 2013 to honor the memory of Mary Jane Burns, MSW ’74, by members of her book group. Mary Jane Burns was a clinical social worker who demonstrated compassion, professionalism, devotion to her clients, a deep understanding of clinical practice, and commitment to education in her field.
Marbeth Holmes began working at Nash Community College in August 1998. In 2004, she was recognized as Nash Community College’s J. Edgar and Peggie T. Moore Excellence in Teaching Award recipient. In 2008, she established the Jimmy and Mary Charles Holmes Endowment Scholarship Fund at Nash Community College in memory of her parents. She is a member of the North Carolina Council of Teachers of English and the National Council of Teachers of English. She was inducted into Who’s Who of America in 2009.
Her recent clinical placements have been at the Duke University Infectious Disease Clinic and the Duke University Addictions Program where she has worked with patients with triple diagnoses living with HIV, Substance Use Disorder, and a variety of mental health disorders. In the context of the placement, she has also served as a behavioral healthcare provider on an Institutional Review Board (IRB) research study facilitated by the Duke Center for Health Policy and Inequalities.
Holmes holds an Associate in Arts degree from Louisburg College, a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Meredith College and a Master of Arts in English from Abilene Christian University, all with honors. She is the 2013 recipient of the UNC-CH Carroll Heins Scholarship to study at the Psychoanalysis Center of the Carolinas learning how childhood development, unconscious conflict and psychological trauma influence memory, symptoms, relationships, and a sense of self.