Congratulations to the winners of this year's Rivitz Award, GSSWSR Doctoral students Megan McCoy, for her dissertation proposal titled "Creating Welcoming Environments? Senior Center Discourse and LGBT Older Adults", and Carrie Young for dissertation proposal "A Qualitative Exploration of Social Workers' Perceptions of the Value of Service Learning Courses in Graduate Social Work Education for their Professional Practice".
The Rivitz Award was established with an endowment from Mr. Maurice Sall in memory of his daughter, Joan Sall Rivitz (MSS, 1963; PhD, 1972). The Award is for one year and is $5,000, which may be shared among winners if more than one receives the award. It is intended to help gifted students to move quickly toward completion of the dissertation. It is awarded annually to a Continuing Enrollment student who has submitted a proposal which is outstanding, as judged by the Director of the Doctoral Program, the Director of the GSSWSR, and an elected member of the Doctoral Committee. Competition is limited to those students who have completed the preliminary examination during the three preceding academic semesters.
The Rivitz Award is made on the basis of the quality of the proposal and according to the following criteria:
1. Significance of the contribution to furthering knowledge in social work and social welfare, both theoretically and practically
2. Creativity
3. Theoretical sophistication
4. Methodological adequacy
5. Writing skill