Debra Gage, clinical full professor in the School of Social Work, was elected chair of the Arkansas Social Work Licensing Board on June 8, 2020. She served as vice-chair prior to that and was originally appointed to the board by Gov. Asa Hutchison in 2015. She was reappointed to the board in 2019, and her term will expire on June 30, 2021.

Hurd also recently received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Association of Arkansas Workers Arkansas Chapter on March 28, 2020.

Hurd serves as the principal investigator of the Arkansas Academic Partnership in Public Child Welfare. This is a statewide child welfare education and training project sponsored by the Arkansas Division of Children and Family Services. The partnership serves the entire state of Arkansas and has representation from eight universities.

Additionally, Hurd has been awarded over 9 million dollars in external grants in the last three years. She has been with the University of Arkansas for over 26 years. During this time, she has received funding from the U.S. Department of Education, the University of Arkansas Women's Giving Circle, and the Hispanic Women's Organization of Arkansas. Hurd is a University of Arkansas graduate, with a B.A. in Social Work, a Master of Public Administration degree, and a Ph.D. in Health Sciences.

Hurd, along with School of Social Work colleague, Sara J. Collie, presented in Paris, France in 2019 at the Institute for Social and Economics Research, Advanced Research in Business Management, Economic Policy, Humanities and Social Sciences. She also was a panelist at The Social Science of Success:  Social Sciences Grant Writing Workshop sponsored by Fulbright College.

Hurd also serves on the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Humanities, Arts, and Social Science, and a manuscript reviewer for Common Ground Publishing.