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Tory Cox, Ed.D, LCSW, PPSC, serves as the Asst. CA Title IV-E Project Coordinator for the California State University, Long Beach School of Social Work; manages the Title IV-E child welfare grant’s budget; and oversees the school’s distance education program. He is the Program Coordinator for the afterschool and school-based mental health program “Strengthening Youth Resilience,” teaches practicum seminar (596A/B and 680A/B), and previously taught SW 665: School Social Work. At ������, Dr. Cox has co-facilitated multiple training courses for students, faculty, practicum instructors, and community collaborators on topics such as Trauma-Informed Supervision, Law & Ethics, Radical Hope, Solution-Focused Counseling, Motivational Interviewing, and Implementing CRT in Practicum Education.

From 2015-2021, Dr. Cox was a Clinical Associate Professor and Associate Director of the Virtual Academic Center’s Field Education program at the University of Southern California’s Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work. In 2020-21, he was the Co-Principal Investigator of HRSA’s $3.5 million Scholarships for Disadvantaged Students grant and in 2018, he earned his Ed.D in Organizational Change and Leadership. He was the former Lead of the COBI Fellowship in Social Innovation, which won the CSWE/SAGE 2016 Award for Innovative Teaching in Social Work Education, and has co-created numerous school syllabi, including “Threat Assessment and Management.” 

He is an interim Co-Editor for the International Journal of School Social Work, the lead editor for a book in progress titled Emerging Trends in School Social Work, and was the lead editor for The Art of Becoming Indispensable: What School Social Workers Need to Know in Their First Three Years, which won the 2022 SSWAA National Book Award. From 2019-2022, he was a Consulting Editor and Author for the Encyclopedia of Macro Social Work published with CSWE’s Special Commission on Macro Social Work, NASW and Oxford University Press. 

He has authored and co-authored numerous articles and book chapters, including the 2025 book chapter “Call to action: Urging healing-centered engagement and transformational leadership across systems” in N. Sun (Ed.) Healing-centered leadership and anti-racist social work across systems and the 2024 article “Infusing social justice into the signature pedagogy: A decision-making model emphasizing anti-racism, diversity, equity, and inclusion (ADEI) in social work field education” in the Journal of Ethnic & Cultural Diversity in Social Work Special Edition: The Future of Race, Ethnicity, and Culture in Social Work – Challenges and Opportunities. Dr. Cox also co-edited the 2016 OUP text titled School Social Work: National Perspectives on Practice in Schools, which won a national book of the year award.

From 2012-2015, he was the Assistant Director of Field Education for USC’s campus-based program and a macro concentration field coordinator. He also served as Vice Chair for the Social Change & Innovation Department from 2014-2018 and was an elected member of the school’s Curriculum Council from 2012-2014. 

Dr. Cox was an Editorial Board member for NASW’s Children & Schools journal; the Vice President for End Abuse, Long Beach (EALB); a former president of the California Association of School Social Workers, and a former Standards and Practice Chair for the School Social Work Association of America.  He received the Abuse Prevention Award from EALB in 2013 as well as commendations from local, state, and federal legislators for his work in training future social workers. In 2010, Dr. Cox received the "Social Worker of the Year" award from NASW-CA's Region I, Long Beach Unit and “Most Inspirational Professor” from the ������ School of Social Work.

Dr. Cox was a school social worker from 1998-2010 with the Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD), serving as a Field Instructor for MSW student interns, among other duties, from Cal State Long Beach, UCLA, and Cal State Dominguez Hills social work programs. As the Lead School Social Worker for LBUSD from 2006-2010, he helped lead a team dedicated to prevention and intervention across the district through federally funded grant programs, community collaborations, attendance initiatives, and site-based direct practice.

In his social work career, Dr. Cox has been a Licensed Clinical Social Worker specializing in private practice, a Director of the Stevenson/YMCA Community School in Long Beach, and a Foster Care Social Worker and Recreation Director for Ettie Lee Homes for Youth, a group home agency.