Her areas of research involve community-engaged scholarship, field education, mental health, and social work pedagogy. She has fostered community university partnerships including an ongoing relationship with the Somali Family Service Centre and international student practica. Schwartz is currently involved in teaching a research course where students engage in community-based research and a study funded by a grant from the government of Canada exploring the benefits to the community from campus engagement. She co-authored Research for Social Justice: A Community-Based Approach. She earned her PhD from Columbia University in New York.