School News
High Marks for New York Cocktail Reception
Alumni and friends gathered at the Penn Club in Midtown Manhattan on Friday evening, November 16 for an SP2 cocktail reception. The first of many such receptions in the upcoming year, the New York event previewed the School’s upcoming Centennial celebration and highlighted the newest degree program, the Clinical Doctorate in Social Work. The event, hosted by Dean Gelles and the School’s Board of Overseers, also gave alumni the opportunity to network with School administrators and each other: alumni representation spanned from the Class of 19xx to 200x! Stay tuned to learn more about a reception near you.
Promising Practices in Out-of-School Time Professional Development
On December 6, the Out-of-School Time Resource Center convened an Institute entitled “Promising Practices in Out-of-School Time (OST) Professional Development.” Part of a 3–year grant to enhance regional OST professional development (PD) efforts, the Institute hosted administrative staff from Philadelphia Safe and Sound, the School District of Philadelphia, Public/Private Ventures, the Center for Youth Development at the United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia Department of Human Services, the Philadelphia Youth Network, EducationWorks, the Starfinder Foundation, Mazzoni Center, and Communities in Schools.
The OSTRC Institute addressed 1) Defining professional development; 2) Identifying goals and objectives; 3) Integrating staff needs and input; 4) Professional development standards; 5) Designing and implementing workshops; 6) Additional professional development formats; and 7) Evaluating professional development. Participants also received a comprehensive binder featuring a new OSTRC paper entitled “Promising Practices in Out-of-School Time (OST) Professional Development,” an extensive annotated bibliography on the topic, and related articles and publications.
Next steps in the overall project include working with individual organizations to enhance and evaluate their PD activities, conducting PD focus groups with area staff, and conducting similar Institutes at regional and national conferences.
NEW SP2 STAFF
Deena Caswell
Lisa Colby, MSW
Cheryl Gaffney
Connie Hoe
Angel Hogan
Laura Nickrosz
New Staff at SP2
Deena Caswell
Administrative Coordinator – Field Center for Children’s Policy, Practice and Research
Deena began at SP2 on Monday November 26 in a dual role. She is responsible for the coordination of Field Center programs and activities, and will be planning and coordinating events for the School’s upcoming Centennial celebration. Before joining SP2, Deena spent the last two years in event planning for Wharton's Executive Education program. She received her B.A. from Smith College.
Lisa Colby, MSW’00
Senior Research Coordinator - Out-of-School Time Resource Center
Lisa is the Senior Research Coordinator at the Out-of-School Time Resource Center (OSTRC). She holds a Masters of Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice from Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas. Prior to joining the OSTRC, Lisa worked as a consultant at the Best Practices Institute where she supported and managed the ongoing implementation of performance based contracting for foster care at the Philadelphia Department of Human Services. Lisa enhanced her research skills while working in the Policy and Research Department of the Administrative Office of the Pennsylvania Courts and at the Center for Research on Youth and Social Policy.
Cheryl Gaffney
Business Manager – Research
As the Business Manager for Research at SP2, Cheryl works with Dr. Ram Cnaan, Associate Dean of Research, and is responsible for the pre-award grant process and staffing the graduate group in social welfare. Previously, she worked at Rutgers University, spending three years at the Eagleton Institute of Politics in New Brunswick, and then two years at The School of Criminal Justice in Newark. She recently received her Masters in Public Administration from Rutgers, School of Public Affairs and Administration, in Newark.
Connie Hoe
Program Coordinator – The Feldman Initiative
Connie assumed the position of Program Coordinator for the Feldman Initiative this past summer. She is a 2007 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania MSW program, and holds a BA in Psychological and Brain Sciences from Johns Hopkins University. Prior to beginning the MSW program, she was a Research Assistant at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry unit.
Angel Hogan
Administrative Coordinator – DSW Program
Prior to becoming the Administrative Coordinator for the DSW program, Angel worked for the General Secretary of American Friends Service Committee, and as a Manager at Hilton Inn at Penn. She has a BA in English, and is a writer who hosts local short story competitions every other month.
Laura Nickrosz
Administrative Assistant – Admissions
Prior to assuming the position of Administrative Assistant for the SP2 Admissions Office, Laura worked for Green Real Estate as an Executive Assistant to the CEO. She is a 2006 graduate of Penn State, where she received a BA in French Language and Literature, with a concentration in Internal Communications.
Social Work History Course Publishes Op-Ed piece
In November, Mark Stern and the members of his SWRK 601 (History and Philosophy of Social Work and Social Welfare) course authored an Op-Ed piece on the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) that Congress expanded and Bush vetoed. The piece, which was the collaborative effort of the twenty five students (see list below) in the class, appeared in the Tallahassee Democrat on November 13, 2007. Click here to read the full article.
Mark Stern's Fall 2007 SWRK601 Class
STUDENTS: AMY R. BASTIANELLI, ELIZABETH M. DAILEY, NOEMI DE LA TORRE, KIM DOVE, LACRESIA T. ELLIOTT, STACEY J. FARBER, BROOKE A. FINA, ANNIE E. FUNKE, MIA HARGROVE, JEAN-ANN M. HAYWARD, VICTORIA K. HOUGHAM, JULIE M. HOWARD, STEPHANIE N. KING, DONNA L. LAROYA, YOON SHIN LEE, JANET M. LIGHT, SARAH R. MAZER, FAITH L. MICHIE, EMILY M. NEALIS, ERIN LORRAINE NEILL, STEPHANIE M. PARISI, AMY F. ROGOL, EMILY E. SIMON, TINA WADHWA, ABIGAIL MASON WOODWORTH
Fidelity Promotes Student Philanthropy
December 13, 2007 | Boston Globe
Katherina Rosqueta of the Center for High Impact Philanthropy discusses Fidelity's new initiative that seeks to promote student philanthropy.