Ruth G. McRoy is a Research Professor and the Ruby Lee Piester Centennial Professor Emerita at the University of Texas at Austin School of Social Work. Since 2005, she has been a Visiting Research Professor at the Boston College Graduate School of Social Work.

During her 25 years on the UT Social Work faculty, McRoy served for 12 years, as the Director of the Center for Social Work Research, Director of the Diversity Institute and since 2002, Dr. McRoy was also Associate Dean for Research. She was also a member of UT's Academy of Distinguished Teaching Professors.

A practitioner, researcher, trainer and lecturer in the field for over 30 years, her work has focused on such topics as transracial adoptions, family preservation, disproportionality, open adoptions, older child adoptions, and post-adoption services. As part of the federally funded Collaboration to AdoptUsKids project, McRoy and her research team at the University of Texas at Austin just completed two nationwide studies on barriers to adoption and factors associated with successful special needs adoptions. From 2007-2012, McRoy will be conducting a five year evaluation of the Collaboration to AdoptUsKids. She is currently a member of the North American Council on Adoptable Children (NACAC) Board and is a Senior Research Fellow and a member of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute Board.

McRoy has authored or co-authored eight books, including: Transracial and Inracial Adoptees: The Adolescent Years (with L. Zurcher), Special Needs Adoptions: Practice Issues, Openness in Adoption: Family Connections (with H. Grotevant), Intersecting Child Welfare, Substance Abuse and Family Violence: Culturally Competent Approaches (with R. Fong, and C. Ortiz-Hendricks) and numerous articles and book chapters on child welfare issues. Her recent honors include the 2004 Flynn Prize for Social Work Research from the University of Southern California, the 2005 George Silcott Lifetime Achievement Award from the Black Administrators in Child Welfare, the 2006 Distinguished Achievement Award from the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) and the 2006-2007 University of Texas at Austin Graduate School's Outstanding Alumna Award.