Mingyang Zheng is an Assistant Professor at Radford University, School of Social Work.
He received his M.S.W. from Boston University in 2013 and his Ph.D. in Social Work
with a minor in Biostatistics from the University of Minnesota in 2021. He has experience
in practicing social work in the US and China. His research interests include long-term
services and supports in community settings, mental health among older adults, and
program evaluation and assessment. In his spare time, Mingyang enjoys watching basketball
games (Go Lakers!), experimenting with new recipes (often fails miserably), and hanging
out with his two daughters (has no choice).
Selected Publications:
Toft, J., Soffer-Elnekave, R., Calhoun, M., Otis, J., Mendel, J., Zheng, M., Lightfoot, E., & Choy-Brown, M. (accepted). Working Conditions, Professional Discretion
and Resistance of Front-Line Social Workers. Social Work.
Toft, J., Soffer-Elnekave, R., Zheng, M., Calhoun, M., & Lightfoot, E. (2025). The Pressures of Neoliberal Managerialism:
Challenges and Opportunities for Social Work Supervisors.
Zheng, M., Frasier, P. Y., & Philippi, H. G. (2025). Why health care students say “no” to geriatric
care: Insights from the theory of planned behavior. Gerontology & Geriatrics Education
Zheng, M. & DeLiema, M. (2024). Why Plan Ahead? A Focus Group Investigation on Barriers in
Advance Financial Care Planning. Journal of Financial Counseling and Planning. DOI:
10.1891/JFCP-2023-0061
Vang, C., Sieng, M., & Zheng, M. (2023). Conceptualizing loneliness among a Hmong older adult group: Using an intersectionality
framework. Asian American Journal of Psycholog.
Zheng, M., Kane, A. R., & Lightfoot, E. (2022). Helping older residents Remain in low-income
housing: Predictive validity of the Live Well at Home-Rapid Screen (LWAH-RS) in a
real-world application. Journal of Gerontological Social Work.
Lightfoot, E. & Zheng, M. (2021). Mentoring social work PhD students to help re-imagine long-term care. Journal
of Gerontological Social Work.
Kane, A. R., & Zheng, M. (2020). Long-term services and supports. In Franklin, C. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Social
Work. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.