Bryn Mawr College

Students In The News

2013 Graduate Student Award Recipients
On Thursday, April 25th, 2013 the college celebrated the many achievements of more than 100 students from the Undergraduate College, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and the Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research at the Student Awards Ceremony. The 2013 GSSWSR student awards and recipients are as follows:

Troy Jackson, MSS candidate - Dr. Kevin J. Robinson Award - established in Kevin's honor and given to a graduating GSSWSR student who embodies the values of honesty, integrity and commitment to social justice, equality, and fairness that exemplified Dr. Robinson's personal and professional life.

Bart Graham, MSS candidate - Shahbanu Goldberg, MSS '00 Award - established in Shahbanu's honor and given to a graduating GSSWSR student whose commitment to service to the School and the Social Work profession reflects Ms. Goldberg's commitment to service to the School and to the profession and to her deep caring of the values of justice and inclusiveness.

Rachel Salzberg, MSS candidate - McPherson Award for Excellence

Policy Trip to DC
Thirteen GSSWSR students, accompanied by Jenny Campbell, Ph.D. Lecturer, went to Washington DC to discuss the passing of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), and to explore policy careers. Students helped prepare for the trip, contacting agencies to arrange their visits. Two of the six visits included meetings with GSSWSR alums.

The agencies visited included: NASW, The Human Rights Coalition (HRC), The Corporation for National and Community Services (VISTA), National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV) and Wider Opportunities for Women (WOW). The students also met with Allyson Schwartz’s Legislative Director and toured the Capital.

Social Work Day at the United Nations
Bryn Mawr GSSWSR Eight MSS Students visit the United Nations

The entire month of March is dedicated to the social work profession, with social work educators and practitioners celebrating the value and services social workers provide.
Given the current global financial disarray, the theme selected for 2013 is Social Workers promoting social and economic equalities as outlined by the global agenda developed collaboratively by three international organizations: the International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW), the International Federation of Social Work (IFSW), and the International Council of Social welfare (ICSW).

Jessica Lee, PhD Candidate, awarded the Turning Point Prize
Women for Social Innovation has awarded Jessica Lee the Turning Point Prize. The Prize is seed money given annually an emerging “social innovator” who develops a creative solution to a problem affecting a segment of women, girls, and families in Greater Philadelphia. Lee's project is the "The Philadelphia Burmese Women’s Initiative," which will address refugees' barriers to health care through community-based participatory programming.

GSSWSR Research Associate, Rufus Sylvester Lynch presenting at CWLA Conference
Stoneleigh Fellow and GSSWSR Research Associate, Rufus Sylvester Lynch, will be presenting at the 2013 Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) National Conference. The focus for the conference is Making Children and Families a Priority: Raising the Bar.

Sarah M. Farash, PhD Candidate, recipient of LEND graduate fellowship
Sarah Farash, LSW was accepted as the Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) Social Work Trainee at the University of Rochester Medical Center, Strong Center for Developmental Disabilities. The LEND program is a paid, graduate fellowship that includes a weekly seminar focused on advocacy and research topics in childhood developmental disabilities and related disorders. The seminar curriculum also includes a family experience component. Sarah will be paired with a Spanish-speaking family in the Rochester area in order to observe their children’s experiences navigating the Rochester area education and health care systems. Additionally, the LEND fellowship includes monthly meetings with an interdisciplinary group of PhD students and culminates with an independent research project overseen by a faculty mentor. After completing the first year of the fellowship, trainees may apply for up to a two-year research extension.
LEND
University of Rochester Medical Center's LEND program

Students receive PSCSW Awards for Clinical Excellence program
Tina Hallquist was the recipeint of the First Prize award for her paper, Systems of Loss: Attachment Based Trauma and the Context of Urban Violence. Hallquist's practice instructor was Leda Sportolari. Medb McGearty was the Third Prize award recipient for her paper, Trauma Informed Attachment Styles of Clients and Implications for Individual Psychotherapy. McGearty's practice instructor was David Landsman-Wohlsifer. The PSCSW Awards for Clinical Excellence were established by the Pennsylvania Society for Clinical Social Work to acknowledge the outstanding clinical work of students. The Awards are presented annually to students who submit a paper for review by distinguished judges. The program is open to all graduating Masters of Social Work students in Pennsylvania.

Commencement 2012 in Pictures

Convocation given by March Ryan, MSS '12
The last two years, the Bryn Mawr Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research has been an intersection of our private and public worlds. Our community has engaged in the process of discovering what American Sociologist, C. Wright Mills, called the “sociological imagination.” To possess the sociological imagination means to question the institutions and ideologies that make up our sociocultural world and that leave their mark on our human existence.(read complete speech)

Bryn Mawr students attend 12th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in Chicago, IL
April 23-25, 2012 - Graduate students, Corrie Tice, Jessica Lee and Jessica Schaffner Wilen, and Undergraduate students, Rachel Kutten ’13 and Gloria Kuoh ’12, were among a select group of students from colleges and universities throughout the world to attend the 12th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates. Faculty Advisor to the student delegation was Darlyne Bailey, GSSWSR Dean and Special Assistant to the President for Community Partnerships. This year, the World Summit themed, "Speak Up, Speak Out for Freedom and Rights" focused on human rights, individual activism and youth involvement. Students had the opportunity to ask questions of the Nobel Peace Laureates during the scheduled programs and moderated sessions. Visit the blog for more information.
Photos: Top Right-Dean Bailey with cohort from Soka University;, Middle Left-Bryn Mawr participants with Dalai Lama, Tibet; Bottom Right-Bryn Mawr participants with Lech Walesa, Poland.
More Photos

2012 Graduate Student Award Recipients
On Thursday, April 19th, 2012 the college celebrated the many achievements of more than 100 students from the Undergraduate College, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and the Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research at the Student Awards Ceremony. The GSSWSR student awards and recipients are as follows:

• Jessica Lee, PhD candidate received The Shahbanu Goldberg, MSS'00 Award for service to both the School and the profession.
• Lia Pongonis, MSS candidate and Barbara Toews, PhD candidate, received The McPherson Award for Excellence.

• Layna Glover, MSS candidate and Marcy Resnick, MSS candidate, received The Kevin J. Robinson Award for both personal and professional commitment to social justice for all.
  2012 Awards Ceremony

Magrielle (Maggie) Eisen recipient of Emerging Leader Fellowship from Stoneleigh Foundation
Magrielle (Maggie) Eisen, MSS candidate, has received an Emerging Leader Fellowship (ELF) from the Stoneleigh Foundation! With the Health Federation of Philadelphia as her community partner, this award will fund her project to forge medical-legal partnerships to benefit children in Philadelphia’s Community Health Centers. Maggie’s research will undertake the outreach and development of a plan to create a model tailored specifically to children and families who receive medical care at community health centers. Maggie will graduate May 2012 with her MSS and the MLSP degrees. Because of the strength of her proposal and the unique combination of social work, policy work, and legal work, Maggie was chosen out of 12 candidates, earning the highest scoring from the review committee.

Jessica Lee, PhD candidate, selected as Schweitzer Fellow
Jessica Lee has been selected as a Schweitzer Fellow! Jessica’s project will provide medical support services to refugees with high medical needs, focusing on mental health. Jessica is graduating this year from our masters program yet you will still see her here as she continues to work on her doctoral degree. Having successfully completed her prelims and, yesterday, her orals, Jessica anticipates her dissertation will be a community based participatory research study on health care utilization among Bhutanese refugees. The funds from the Fellowship award will be used to cover the cost for interpreters and translations. Jessica’s community partner is the Nationalities Service Center.

Marguerite Kearney '12 recipient of the Saul Scheidlinger Scholarship
Meg Kearney was chosen from a number of applicants (more than 20) from all over the country, from a range of disciplines. The Saul Scheidlinger Scholarships were established in 1999 to celebrate more than 60 years of dedication to groups and group psychotherapy and the leadership and devotion to The American Group Psychotherapy Association (AGPA) by Saul Scheidlinger, PhD, CGP, DFAGPA. AGPA, founded in 1942, is a dynamic, thriving community of mental health professionals of all disciplines dedicated to advancing knowledge, and research, and providing quality training in group psychotherapy and other group interventions, consultation and direct services nationally and internationally. It serves as the national voice specific to the interests of group psychotherapy. Its 3,000+ members and 31 Affiliate Societies provide a wealth of professional, education, and social support for group psychotherapists in the United States and abroad.

Jessica Schaffner Wilen awarded the Doris Duke Fellowship from the Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago
Jessica Schaffner Wilen, PhD Candidate, was awarded the Doris Duke Fellowship from the Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago. The award provides $50,000 over two years to support her dissertation research on the topic of "A Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis of Psychosocial Interventions for Adults who were Sexually Abused as Children". As a Doris Duke Fellow, Jessica will attend several meetings a year at the University of Chicago with other fellows and their academic mentors.

Social Work Day at the UN (2012) was a gathering place for people around the world who are working to make a difference. For 28 years students, practitioners, and educators have been convening at the UN to learn more about the UN, innovative projects and issues related to International Social Work and the critical role Social Work plays in the international arena. On Monday, March 26^th, 2012, 24 Bryn Mawr GSSWSR MSS students participated in Social Work Day at the UN and had the opportunity to hear about the The Global Agenda and how social workers, educators and social development practitioners have committed themselves to supporting, influencing and enabling structures and systems that positively address the root causes of oppression and inequality. (more photos)

2011 Spring Policy Trip to Washington, DC
Eleven MLSP students traveled to Washington DC to meet with policy makers to discuss issues currently being debated at the state and federal levels in the United States as well as met with agency administrators to learn about social work careers in the policy arena.

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GSSWSR Students attend CARE Conference

GSSWSR students, as well as undergraduate students, joined  several hundred other volunteers, activists, supporters and students from around the US and the world at the 2011 CARE National Conference and International Women's Day Celebration, March 8th -10th in Washington D.C.
CARE is a leading humanitarian organization dedicated to fighting poverty and social injustice. CARE places special emphasis on investing in women and girls, because experience has demonstrated that their empowerment benefits whole communities.
Watch a video of MSS Students Sara Grainger, Sheri McDonald and Kyra Turner-Zogbeckor talking of GSSWSR and their work with CARE in the field. (video)

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Kimberly Wenke and Erin McKenna, students in David Wohlsifer's Psychopathology Class participated in the faculty/student poster session for the 2010 American Family Therapy Academy Annual Conference in June in Colorado

Presenters:Kimberly Wenke & David Wohlsifer Title: An Examination of Suicide in East Asian Culture from a Family Systems Perspective
Presenters: Erin McKenna & David Wohlsifer Title: Family Based Psychoeducation for Returning Service Members: Understanding Neurobiology and Psychopharmacology of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as it Applies to Family Reintegration Services

Laura McHugh Convocation Address
(snippet) I believe that all of us here today, who have the distinct privilege to attend an institution like Bryn Mawr, have an important legacy to live up to, and I find that Bryn Mawr continues to provoke in me, as I hope it does in you, a sense of urgent social responsibility to utilize my own capabilities to seek out new, more innovative solutions to the problems that we face in our country and our world today.  I am definitely looking forward to embarking on that journey in collaboration with all of you present here this afternoon. I urge you to recognize, and embrace, the unique opportunity presented by your time here at Bryn Mawr. (read more)

Linda Houser, doctoral candidate in Social Work and Social Research, has accepted a post-doctoral appointment at the Center for Women and Work at Rutgers University.  Linda will be conducting research on workplace conditions and inequalities to inform policy recommendations for the Council on Gender Parity of the New Jersey State Employment and Training Commission.  She will also continue to develop her dissertation research, entitled “Situating Child Care Concerns: Child Care Instability in Neighborhood and State Policy Contexts.” (June 2009)

Wesley Bryant, who will receive his Ph.D. in Social Work and Social Research at commencement, has been awarded a highly prestigious post-doctoral fellowship at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work, Washington University in St. Louis. Wesley's fellowship is for two years and is part of the school's participation in the Social Work Training in Addictions Research (STAR) Program funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Wesley will spend his time at George Warren Brown continuing research from his dissertation entitled "African American Male Youth Violence and Internalized Racism."

To submit news about yourself for publication on the web, contact Peggy Robinson 610-520-2605 or probinson@brynmawr.edu

2008 McPherson Award Winners

This spring, Joshua Noble ‘08 and Romana Lee-Akiyama received McPherson Awards in recognition of their distinguished records of community service. Josh provided leadership in revitalizing the School’s Student Association, served as a state policy organizer for the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, and, prior to coming to Bryn Mawr, worked as a project administrator for the ACLU’s Capital Punishment Project.

Romana, who will be entering her final year at the School, helped launch the School’s Southeast Asian Pacific Islander student group. She also has served as Director of Development Programming for the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation and recently assumed a position as Interim Deputy Director at the National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development.

Articles:

WSJ: "Social Work - A Best Career"

The July 11, 2006 edition of the Career Journal section of the Wall Street Journal named social work as one of the eight best careers. Read the WSJ's interview with a hospital social worker in Chicago, Illinois.

Students Interning in Community Health

A seven-week community health internship links the training of health and social service professionals with the provision of services to underserved communities.

Student Cohort Profile

Profile of 2009 Entering MSS Class

The College’s President, Jane Dammen McAuliffe, welcomed the incoming class, letting them know that they were joining an academic community that offered excellence, opportunity and agency—the responsibility to make things happen. 

Approximately seventy-five percent of the cohort will complete the program as fulltime students and the remainder chose part-time study.   Ten percent have opted to complete the Master of Law and Policy degree concurrently with MSS study, and a similar number have chosen to do the Child and Family Wellbeing Specialization.

One of the strengths of the education at Bryn Mawr is the diversity of experience and perspectives found in our student population.  Students range in age from the early twenties to the late fifties, with 43% being 25 years and younger and 24% being 40 and older.  Thirteen percent are male.  Twenty-three percent of this class has identified themselves as members of underrepresented racial, ethnic and cultural groups.   Additionally, a number have studied and/or volunteered abroad in such places as Eastern Europe, southern and eastern Africa, Central and Latin America, the Gulf Coast, Appalachia, and abroad in Eastern Europe.  The majority of students come from Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, with 20 % relocating to attend Bryn Mawr. 

Entering students have work or volunteer experience in the areas of family and children’s services, inpatient and outpatient mental health, court appointed advocacy, TSS services, education, and services to persons affected by HIV/AIDS.  People changing to social work from careers in other fields comprise nearly 20% of the class; they have been working and volunteering in such areas as law, regional planning, marketing, human resources and health care.

Should you wish to contact a current student to learn more about Bryn Mawr's program, please call the Office of Admissions at 610-526-5152 or email us at admissions@brynmawr.edu.