Throughout the 2022-2023 academic year, the College of Social Work held an art competition called Color the College to celebrate the values of social work. The event welcomed art entries from students, alumni, faculty, staff and friends of the college to create artwork that personally expressed one or more social work values that would be displayed in the college’s administrative suite in University Center C, Suite 2500.
On Friday, May 5, 2023, the FSU College of Social Work celebrated spring graduates and its annual Award Recipients at a celebration in the social work lobby of University Center, Building C.
Spring graduates included 41 BSW graduates, 145 MSW graduates and two doctoral graduates, Chris Collins and Melissa Murphy.
At the event, awards were presented to exemplary students, faculty and field educators nominated internally for their efforts and dedication at the College of Social Work.
“When it comes to survivors and victims, there has been this perception that when they are no longer being exploited, that ‘they are free,” explained Erica Howard, an advocate in Northeast Ohio for Empower Her Network.
For more than 25 years, Pamela (Pam) W. Graham MacDill served as a dedicated faculty member and administrator with the FSU College of Social Work before retiring in 2020. After a battle with lung cancer, she passed away in 2023.
Children who need life-changing heart transplants in Florida will be able to receive free support to help improve medication adherence, which can potentially reduce the frequency of organ rejection over the next two years, thanks to a National Institutes of Health (NIH)/National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) award for $1.67M to Scene Health (formerly emocha Health), a leading video medication adherence platform.
This year, Kristel Avilus, a former “Pace girl,” was named the new associate executive director for the Pace Center for Girls Leon in Tallahassee, Florida. She is the first girl to become a director in the Pace Center for Girls 38 year history.
She is a licensed clinical social worker and earned her Master of Social Work degree (2018) from the FSU College of Social Work. She was previously the social services manager, representing the first Pace alumna to serve in a management role for the Leon Center.
Florida State University has chosen alumna Lisa Magruder as the next leader of the Florida Institute for Child Welfare.
Magruder, the institute’s associate director of research since 2020, takes over the director’s role from fellow FSU graduate Jessica Pryce. Pryce, who served as director for six years, will lead the institute’s Alliance for Workforce Enhancement initiative.
At the Florida Perinatal Mental Health Conference – Making a Difference Together, Sharon Ross-Donaldson received the 2022 Excellence in Perinatal Mental Healthcare Award.
The award recognizes an individual for their work providing excellent clinical care, training, advocacy, and leadership in perinatal health in Florida and nationally.
Mallory Adams was interested in politics and policy even as an undergraduate at Southeastern University. She was set to take her LSATs and apply to law school when her thesis advisor, both a social worker and attorney, pointed out how congruent her interests were with the field of social work.
"She was, of course, totally right. I am so thankful for her advice," she recollected. "I was drawn to social work due to the wide variety of practice areas and diverse roles through which social workers advocate in their communities."
Kyra Adams (MSW 2012, BSW 2007) knew she wanted to work with mothers and babies even when beginning her journey in higher education. While at Tallahassee Community College she learned about majors that would allow her to make a difference in the lives of mothers and babies and recalls that social work just made sense as the best option to create change.
