Click here to enter the readership raffle.
Being a Penn alum has many benefits. Each month, we highlight a benefit available to the SP2 alumni community. A full list of alumni benefits can be found on the Penn Alumni site.
Penn Alumni Travel Program
Travel the world with the Penn Alumni Travel Program and explore sites like the Alaskan wilderness, the pyramids of Egypt, and the African Serengeti. Most trips include a Penn faculty host with expert knowledge of the destination. For more information, click here.
Printed Alumni Directory
A printed SP2 alumni directory is being compiled in conjunction with the launch of the School’s Centennial Campaign. SP2 has chosen Harris, Inc. to produce this special alumni publication. Watch for important information about the Directory in the next several months.
Become an Alumni Ambassador!
The Alumni Ambassadors program offers alumni opportunities to volunteer at the School. This flexible program allows you to choose which activities and opportunities best match your interests and your schedule. For more information, or to become an Alumni Ambassador, click here.
Job Announcements
Sign up for the Career Services job listserv (there are separate listservs for clinical and macro job opportunities). If you would like to advertise a job announcement to our alumni through the Career Services listserv please email the information to Alumni Relations. To sign up for the Career Services listserv, click here.
Join QuakerNet – Penn’s Online Community!
A classmate may be trying to get in touch with you! The online community is password protected and available only to registered Penn alumni. By registering, you will be able to update your own profile, as well as search the directory for the contact information of your classmates. If you haven’t yet registered for the online community, click here to do so today. If you have questions about the online community, please contact Emily Brueckner at embrueck@sp2.upenn.edu.
Need to Contact SP2 Alumni Relations?
We have a new user-friendly email address: alumnirelations@sp2.upenn.edu Send alumni questions, comments, and concerns to this address and we'll make sure it gets to the appropriate person.
"100 for 100" Centennial Campaign
SP2 Review
The SP2 Review is online. If your printed copy hasn’t arrived in the mail yet, click here for the PDF.
Editor's Welcome
Whether you’re a regular reader of Penn Matters or a first-time visitor to this SP2 publication, welcome to the March/April issue of the online magazine! Here on campus, spring has arrived, and new beginnings abound. The daffodils and cherry trees on Locust Walk are blooming. Our graduating students are getting ready to embark on new social work, social policy, and non-profit/NGO careers. The Alumni Weekend and Reunion schedule of events offers alumni the opportunity to renew friendships and connections that may have faded in the years since graduation.
And—on a smaller scale—the Alumni Relations Office has a new tool for sending out emails and maintaining electronic correspondence with alumni. For example, we now have an easy way of tracking which emails bounce back to us or are sent to an undeliverable address. If we have a non-working email address for you, we’ll send you a postcard so that you can update your record.
Speaking of new beginnings, our first issue of Penn Matters—then called Sociolog Online—was published just over two years ago. Since then, we have been tweaking Penn Matters to make it as useful as possible to the SP2 community. As a result, there have been some months without a new issue of the magazine. Our goal is to provide you with up-to-date information on a timely basis without taking up space in your inbox for just a few announcements. As we continue to perfect these details, please feel free to share any feedback or suggestions you may have on how Penn Matters can better serve the SP2 community.
If you haven’t already done so, enter our readership contest for the chance to win a limited-edition SP2 travel mug. Thank you for reading Penn Matters!
Sincerely,
Emily Brueckner, MSW’05
Editor, Penn Matters
Feature Article
Class of 2008 Completed Record-Breaking Class Gift Campaign
On March 7, 2008, the Class of 2008 made history at the School of Social Policy & Practice. They completed their five week Class Gift Campaign and raised $20,571 to sponsor the renovation of the Caster Basement Hallway. The Class surpassed their goal of $20,000 and also achieved 86% participation among members of the graduating class. The total includes a $10,000 gift from Ms. Marjorie Gordon Schaye, CW’75, a member of the SP2 Board of Overseers. At the beginning of the Campaign, Ms. Schaye offered to match every student gift dollar for dollar up to $10,000. But when the members of the Class of 2008 raised over $8,000, Ms. Schaye offered the full $10,000 in recognition of the tremendous energy and dedication exhibited by the Class during their Campaign. Additional gifts from friends, faculty, and professors helped the Class exceed their dollar goal.
Click here for complete article
School News
Alumni Weekend and Reunion 2008 Schedule Announced
Celebrate being a Penn Alum and return to campus on May 16 – 17 this year. The complete schedule of SP2 events is available on the Alumni Weekend website and registration is now open.
Click here for complete article
SP2 Alumni Directory Project Underway
If you haven’t already heard the news, SP2 has partnered with Harris Connect, Inc. to produce a Centennial Edition Alumni Directory. This guide will be the most comprehensive and up to date listing of alumni ever published at the School. Alumni will be listed alphabetically and by class year, geographic location, and area of practice, making it an excellent networking tool and resource for all SP2 graduates.
Click here for complete article
Mary Mazzola named Associate Dean for Enrollment Management
On January 29, 2008, Dean Richard Gelles announced the appointment of Dr. Mary Mazzola as Associate Dean for Enrollment Management at the School. Dr. Mazzola has served as the Director of Admissions and Recruitment for over five years, and continues to be responsible for the enrollment management functions for all degree programs offered at the School. In the last three years, the school has added three new programs and the student population has grown by 33%. As Dean Gelles notes, “The demands on our recruitment and admissions program have grown exponentially as the school has grown and reshaped itself, and Mary’s promotion to Associate Dean is well deserved.”
Partnering to Recruit Male Mentors
The Black Men at Penn School of Social Work, Inc. along with FAMILY (Fostering Adopting and Mentoring to Improve the Lives of Youth) Inc. were asked to partner with United States Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) and his office in finding ways to recruit male mentors for at-risk youth. On January 7, 2008, The Black Men at Penn School of Social Work, Inc. joined the CIGNA Foundation, Big Brothers and Big Sisters, and The United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania to participate in a panel discussion organized by the Senator's office on the benefits of mentoring.
Faculty Notes
Our full- and part-time faculty are leaders in research and practice. They are experts in fields such as gerontology, child welfare, family violence, international social work, homelessness, mental health and health. This section of our newsletter will keep you up to date on the most recent research accomplishments of the School of Social Policy & Practice faculty.
Roberta Iversen, Ph.D., organized a Symposium about work and social work entitled "Shifting the Research Focus to Include Individuals and Institutions: The Perils and Prospects of Improving Today's Low-Wage Jobs" at the Society for Social Work and Research conference on January 20, 2008. Symposium papers were presented by Susan Lambert (U. Chicago), Jennifer Swanberg (U. Kentucky), Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes (Boston College), and Roberta Iversen (Penn); Julia Henly (U.Chicago) was discussant.
Chad Dion Lassiter, MSW, was the faculty recipient of the Twelfth Annual Community Involvement Recognition Awards, presented by Penn’s 2008 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemorative Symposium on Social Change Executive Planning Committee. The awards honor members of the Philadelphia region whose active service to others best exemplifies the ideals Dr. King espoused.
Carol Wilson Spigner, DSW, was appointed chairperson of the DHS Community Oversight Board by Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter on January 24, 2008. The COB was re-established to report on progress of the City's child welfare agency in making the reforms recommended in May of 2007 by the Child Welfare Review Panel. Spigner also served as co-chair of both the Panel and the initial COB established by Mayor John Street. An assessment of progress was released to the public which indicated progress and significant continued challenges. The report received extensive press coverage.
Alumni News
Phillip Beltz, MSW’93, was named by the Suffolk Times (Southold, NY) as the 2007 Public Servant of the Year. Click here for the full articles.
Joshua Gold, MSW’97, currently serves as CEO and founder of Auctionwire, a company in Canada that runs high profile charity and celebrity auctions to raise money and awareness for charities and social causes. In October, he received the prestigious award of Dell Entrepreneur of the Year which carries a $30,000 prize. Most recently, he is in the process of launching a website called GivingRoom.com which allows people to come together and give, time, resources, education, and knowledge to support social and charitable causes.
Rebecca Maher, MSW’94, is working for a school based health program that serves seven schools in the Jasper County, S.C. area. In the program, she works with two family nurse practitioners and a nutritionist (the county does not have social workers directly in the Schools). Through this role, she has brought a number of social work programs to the school, including organizing talks on sexual abuse, providing anger management group therapy, and initiating case management meetings with the administration and guidance departments. Any faculty, students or alumni who have ideas about growing this program or partnering with Rebecca to further the causes of the students with whom she works are encouraged to contact Rebecca at rebeccamaher@excite.com.Future Leaders
Crystal Lucas was the student recipient of the Twelfth Annual Community Involvement Recognition Awards presented by Penn’s 2008 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemorative Symposium on Social Change Executive Planning. The award honor members of the Philadelphia Region whose active service to others best exemplifies the ideals Dr. King espoused.
Becky Weinstein, a first year student in the MSW program, will have a manuscript titled, "Testing a New Measure of Sexual Health Knowledge and Its Connections to Students' Sex Education, Communication, Confidence, and Condom Use" published in the International Journal of Sexual Health. The manuscript is co-authored with Jennifer L. Walsh and Dr. L. Monique Ward from the University of Michigan, and presents results from Ms. Weinstein’s Senior Honors Thesis during her undergraduate career at the University of Michigan.
Upcoming Events
Spirituality and Cancer: The 11th Annual Spirituality Research Symposium
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
1:00 – 3:30 pm
Medical Alumni Hall, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
1st Floor, Maloney Building
3400 Spruce Street, Philadelphia
This event is part of the Mind, Religion, and Ethics in Dialogue lecture series, and features:
Jun J. Mao, MD, MSCE, Assistant Professor of Family Medicine and Community Health at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine: Complementary Therapies and Prayer Use among Cancer Survivors
Chanita Hughes-Halbert, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine: Spiritual and Religious Issues among African Americans at Increased Risk for Cancer
Kava Schafer, M.Div, MA, Staff Chaplain, Oncology, University of Pennsylvania Health System: Spiritual and Religious Experiences of People Living with Blood Cancers
This event is free and open to the public. Registration is requested but not required. For more information call 215-662-3041 or visit www.mindreligion.com
Penn’s Relay for Life (SP2 April Community Action Event)
April 4 – 5, 2008
Relay For Life® is the signature event of the American Cancer Society: participants “help raise money and awareness to support the ACS in its lifesaving mission to eliminate cancer as a major health issue.” Please join this great cause and help represent SP2 to the larger Penn community!
Join team SP2.
For more information, contact Kate Walker [MAIL TO: katewalka@gmail.com], SP2 Student Council Secretary and Community Action Representative.
Field Center for Children’s Policy, Practice and Research Community Symposium
Bang for Your Buck: Public Child Welfare and the Pursuit of Accountability
Wednesday, April 9
8:30 am – 10:30 am
University of Pennsylvania Law School
Levy Conference Center
3400 Chestnut Street
Fred Wulczyn, PhD, Research Fellow at the Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago will present the Field Center’s final community symposium of the year. . In this critical presentation, Dr. Wulczyn will explore accountability within the child welfare system from a variety of perspectives. Dr. Wulczyn directs the Center for State Foster Care and Adoption Data, is the recipient of the 2006 Peter Forsythe Award for Leadership in public child welfare, and served on Mayor Street’s Child Welfare Review Panel. His recent writings focus on racial disparities in the foster care system, adoption in the post-AFSA era, and fiscal reform. Dr. Wulczyn is the author of Beyond Common Sense: Child Welfare, Child Well-being, and the Evidence for Policy Reform.
Advance registration is required: to register, email fieldctr@sp2.upenn.edu or call 215-573-9779. The program is free and social work CEUs are available for a nominal charge
SP2 Alumni Weekend and Reunion 2008
May 16 – 17, 2008
For detailed information about the schedule of events, see the article above or go to the Alumni Weekend website. Register online.
Kickoff Fundraising Event for the Open Mind Grant for Africa
in Honor of Louise Shoemaker
Hosted by the Christian Association at the University of Pennsylvania
Friday, May 30, 2008
6:00 – 8:00 pm
The LGBT Center at the University of Pennsylvania
3907 Spruce Street, Philadelphia
Tickets:
Before May 1st: $55, $40 students and staff
After May 1st: $75, $60 students and staff
Join the Christian Association in honoring Dr. Louise Shoemaker, SW’65, former Dean of the School of Social Work, for her commitment to social justice issues. The Christian Association is raising $100,000 to establish the Open Mind Grant for Africa in Honor of Louise Shoemaker to award financial grants to undergraduates or social work students to pursue studies or projects that will further social justice in Africa and raise awareness of African issues. For more information on the Kickoff Event and the Open Mind Grant, click here.
Editor's Note
We are always seeking to better serve our alumni and offer a more convenient way to share news with the Social Policy & Practice community. Penn Matters Online offers a way to highlight happenings and information in a timely manner. It acts as a supplement to the printed Penn Matters , which will still be mailed to you every September. We welcome your feedback and suggestions about Penn Matters and Penn Matters Online. Please email Alumni Relations with questions, comments, feedback, and suggestions.
Penn Matters Online is created using Cascading Style Sheets according to W3C web standards for compliance and accessibility. It is accessible for Braille, aural, and handheld readers, and the layout is fully resizable through your Internet browser preferences. For your convenience when printing, all images will be omitted and the text will be set to a 12 point Arial font. Please contact Lizza Robb with any questions or suggestions.
Emily M. Brueckner, MSW’05
Editor, Penn Matters