FSU Social Work Leaders at #WIL2018

With more than 450 attendees at this year’s Women in Leadership Conference at FSU, there was scores of remarkable female leaders from a wide variety of professions and from the co-sponsoring organizations of the event – the College of Communication and Information, College of Social Work, College of Business, and the Jim Moran School of Entrepreneurship. A dozen College of Social Work alumni, faculty and students participated as panelists for this much-anticipated, inspiration event.

Alicia Armstrong - Starting Your Own Business Panel

Alicia Armstrong (MPA, 2013; MSW, 2010; B.S., 2008) is the founder of Perky Petz, LLC, one of northern Florida’s largest pet sitting companies. She is also currently an adjunct professor at the FSU College of Social Work, and volunteers with Tallahassee Memorial Hospital’s Animal Therapy Program.  She also currently serves as an adjust professor with the FSU College of Social Work.

Carol Campbell Edwards - Building Capacity for Diversity Workshop

Carol Campbell Edwards, MSW, LCSW, (MSW, 1985; BSW; 1984) is a licensed clinical social worker. She is an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Florida State University College of Social Work. At FSU, Carol is the Faculty Diversity Committee Chair, and member of the Student Affairs Committee and Academic Affairs Committee. Additionally, she serves as the faculty advisor for the FSU Power of We Campaign and the FSU Hiking Club. She is also currently president-elect for the National Association of Social Workers Florida chapter.

Monique Ellsworth - Developing Leadership Skills Workshop

Monique Ellsworth (MSW, 2013) is the Executive Director of the Kearney Center and the Chief Operating Officer of CESC, Inc. She received her Master of Social Work degree from Florida State University. CESC, Inc. is the nonprofit organization that operates The Kearney Center, an emergency shelter and services center for individuals experiencing homelessness and economic hardship.

Fran Gomory - Developing Leadership Skills Panel

Fran Gomory is the Director of the MSW Program at the FSU College of Social Work and is an Associate Teaching Professor. Through teaching and leadership, she endeavors to prepare students for the social work profession to best serve their clients and communities. As the head of the MSW program, Fran makes it her goal to ensure a supportive learning environment focused on excellence. She is the recipient of the Professor of the Year award twice (2012, 2016) at the College of Social Work. She received her MSW from Hunter College in New York City, and her B.A. in social psychology from Binghamton College.

Kat Jacobs- Financial Planning Workshop

Kat Jacobs is a doctoral student at the FSU College of Social Work. She is currently the Program Coordinator for the Tobacco Free Florida Cessation program at FSU Area Health Education Center (AHEC). Since starting her doctoral degree, Kat has worked for the Financial Therapy Center managing the entrepreneurship project. Additionally, Kat is a teaching assistant for a graduate level social work course in financial therapy.

Cat Keen - Confidence, Emotional Intelligence and Finding Your Voice! Workshop

Cat Keen (MSW, 2005; BA 1999) is the National Service Programs Director for Volunteer Florida, the Governor’s Commission on Community Service. She serves as a neighborhood board member for Leon County’s Council of Neighborhood Associations and President Elect of the Board of Directors for America’s Second Harvest Food Bank of Big Bend.

Yasmin Khan - Financial Planning Workshop

Yasmin Khan is a current graduate student at Florida State pursuing a dual master’s degree in Social Work and Business Administration. Yasmin has more than seven years of experiences in the nonprofit setting. she currently serves as a Project Coordinator for the Entrepreneurship Project within the FSU College of Social Work’s Financial Therapy Center.

Robyn Metcalf - Leading Millennials Panel

Robyn Metcalf (MSW/MPA, 2015; BSW, 2013) is the Open Doors Statewide Director, which is a pilot program operated in 19 counties in Florida to provide immediate and on-going care to victims of sexual exploitation and sex trafficking. As the Open Doors Statewide Director, Robyn is responsible for the planning, executing and compliance by all parties related to the successful implementation of the Open Doors Outreach Network.

Karen Oehme - Men as Partners Panel

Karen Oehme (JD, 1987) has been working at Florida State University since 1998, and has been the director of the Institute for Family Violence Studies since 2007. She graduated from FSU College of Law in 1987. Karen specializes in building innovative, national-scale research-based training projects that add to the scholarly knowledge base about universal prevention strategies.

Ellen Piekalkiewicz - Engaging your Community Panel

Ellen Piekalkiewicz is the Director of the Center for the Study and Promotion of Communities, Families and Children (The Center) within the FSU College of Social Work. The Center was created in 2017 to generate and sustain transformational knowledge for effective policies, services, and usable research for the promotion of communities, families, and children. Ellen has more than 30 years of experience working in public policy, legislative and governmental affairs, and disability rights.

Jessica Pryce - Building a Network of Mentors & Allies Panel

Dr. Jessica Pryce (MSW, 2009) is the director of the Florida Institute for Child Welfare based in the FSU College of Social Work. In this role, she provides evidence-based recommendations to Florida’s legislative policymakers. At the Institute, she also strives to continually build cross-system collaborations and interdisciplinary partnerships with the goal of informing policy and improving Florida’s child welfare system.

Cheryl Rowland - Main Panel

Cheryl Rowland, MSW, LCSW, (MSW, 1982; BS, 1981) is a licensed clinical social worker currently working with the Family Medicine Residency Program at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital. She is the founder and moderator of A Day of Dialogue: Women of Interest Speaker Series. Cheryl serves on the College of Social Work’s Leadership Council. She is also the founding chair for Women for FSU and the brainchild behind Backstage Pass to the Best of FSU.

Jennifer Spaulding-Givens - Work Life Balance & Personal Health Panel

Dr. Jennifer Spaulding-Givens (Ph.D., 2011; MSW, 2001; B.A, 1998) is currently an Assistant Professor of Social Work at the University of North Florida, where she also served as the inaugural Director of the Bachelor of Social Work Program. She received Ph.D. in social work with a research focus on community-based mental health and consumer-directed service delivery and program evaluation, mental health recover, and the history and sociopolitical economy of psychiatry.

Jovita Woodrich – Engaging Your Community Panel

Jovita Woodrich (MSW, 2007; BS, 2003) is the Volunteer Services Director at Volunteer Florida, the Governor’s lead agency for national service and volunteerism and is an adjunct professor at the FSU College of Social Work. She acts as a liaison among volunteer stakeholders, working to promote volunteerism in the state. Jovita serves as a board member for The Sharing Tree, the Dick Howser Center, and Girls on the Run of the Big Bend. She is also a current member of the City of Tallahassee’s Affordable Housing Advisory Committee.