In light of the recent tragedy at the FSU Student Union, the College of Social Work relocated its Spring 2025 Graduation Event to Opperman Music Hall in the College of Music’s Kuersteiner Building. The event welcomed spring 2025 graduates and their guests, celebrating 51 BSW, 141 MSW and two doctoral graduates.
Ngondwe Ponsiano, or Pons as he also likes to be called, a doctoral student at the FSU College of Social Work, received a 2025 Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) Doctoral Student Travel Award to help him attend the society’s January conference in Seattle, Washington.
FSU College of Social Work (FSU CSW) participated in the 2025 Society for Social Work and Research Conference in Seattle, Washington. From January 15-19, faculty and doctoral students and affiliates from the Florida Institute for Child Welfare presented more than 40 presentations and sessions at the conference (listed below with FSU CSW participants).
The College of Social Work at Florida State University hosted its 2024 Scholarship and Awards dinner during the 2024 FSU Homecoming week. The event honored six distinguished social work graduates and 112 student scholars.
More than $160K in scholarships was provided to undergraduate and graduate social work students with interests in areas including child welfare, social policy, international social work, social work practice and military veterans.
Alumna Dr. Diana DiNitto (PhD 1980, MSW 1987) is among the 25 newest social workers recognized as an NASW Social Work Pioneer by the National Association of Social Workers Foundation (NASWF).
“Early parenthood is associated with risk factors for both the mother and child and involvement in foster care amplifies these challenges,” stated Esaa Mohammad Sabti Samarah, a doctoral candidate at the FSU College of Social Work.
On May 3, 2024, the FSU College of Social Work celebrated its spring 2024 graduates at its semesterly graduation event. This semester, 37 BSW students and 129 MSW students, including 87 Online MSW students from across the United States, graduated.
The event also included honoring the College of Social Work award recipients, nominated and selected by their peers. Award recipients include:
Dr. Michael Killian, an associate professor at the College of Social Work, was inducted into the 2024 Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) fellows class.
SSWR fellows are members who have served to advance the society's mission to – advance, disseminate, and translate research that addresses social work practice and policy issues and promotes a diverse, equitable, and just society.
Social work doctoral student Beren Crim Sabuncu was accepted into the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care's (ANAC) fourth cohort of HIV and Aging Scholars.
Dr. MaKenna Woods, a three-time Florida State University graduate, joined the University of West Florida (UWF) Department of Social Work staff as an assistant professor this spring.
A Floridian since the age of 10, she’s excited to continue making a difference in her home state. “I am looking forward to affecting so much change in my own little corner of the world,” she shared. “I have so many ideas that I couldn’t pursue as a student as dissertation deadlines loomed.”
