Capt. Rosalind L. Walton-Russell is a clinical social worker in the United States Air Force Medical Corps and an associate professor in the department of social work at Texas College, where she has taught for nearly 30 years. Capt. Walton-Russell holds a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from San Francisco State University and had initially hoped to pursue a career in clinical nursing. Due to the lack of available nursing coursework, she instead pursued a Master of Social Work in social welfare, mental health, and pupil personnel at the University of California Berkeley, graduating in 1977. Throughout her career, she has continued to prioritize professional development with a variety of business development courses, and she recently started studying toward her Doctor of Philosophy.
In addition to her other work, Capt. Walton-Russell has been a medical social worker and the director of East Texas Home Care Services since 1996. She has worked with other skilled nursing facilities and home healthcare agencies throughout her career, spending more than a decade as a consulting social worker for various providers and serving as a director and consultant for East Texas Nursing Homes from 1990 until 1998. She began her clinical career in 1982 as a hospital medical social worker at the University of Texas Health Center, rising to become the acting director before her departure in 1989. Before transitioning to direct patient care, Capt. Walton-Russell was one of eight co-founders of Unbiased Nonsexist Interethnic Training and Education, or UNITE, and was proud to be able to provide jobs and intersectionality-aware education and networking opportunities to other women through the organization for more than 45 years.
Capt. Walton-Russell has held organizational leadership roles with the East Texas Association of Black Social Workers, Grace Community Health Care Ministry, and others and is sitting president and chair of the advisory committee for the Andrews Center for Behavioral Healthcare Provider Network. She is also passionate about history, helped co-found the Wood County African American Historical Society, and is working on a book about the history of the Southside community in Mineola, Texas. Capt. Walton-Russell credits her career success to her military service and the personal and professional growth it encouraged in her, as well as to the values instilled in her by her parents and grandparents. In recognition of her contributions, she has been the recipient of numerous community service awards and accolades from the United States Navy, the secretary of the Air Force, and the president of the United States.
