The annual FSU Leadership Awards Night event on April 9, 2019 honored individuals and group students across campus who engage in leadership learning.
Among these recipients were undergraduate social work student Kathryn Casello, who received the President’s Undergraduate Humanitarian of the Year Award, given to a student with a tremendous commitment to leadership and service. Read more about her Humanitarian Award here.
On the morning of May 3, 2019, the FSU College of Social Work celebrated its Spring Class of 2019 graduates at the annual spring graduation reception in the Oglesby Union Ballrooms. The event welcomed 49 BSW and 58 MSW graduates and their guests for a special ceremony, which included Keynote Speaker Jeff Binkley and Student Speaker Kathryn Casello. Dean Jim Clark presided over the affair, calling forth program directors to announce winners of the College’s annual awards including:
Dr. Michael Killian (Ph.D., 2012; MSW, 2005; BS, 2003) always took a keen interest in exploring psychological and social issues. While at FSU as an undergraduate student majoring in psychology (B.S., 2003) he worked in several of the university’s psychology labs. His interest to work more directly with families led him to an interest in social work.
William (Bill) Anderson came out of the U.S. Army in 1972 looking for a social work MSW degree program. He had three to choose from, and it was the financial support FSU offered that first brought him to Tallahassee. It would be his experiences in the program and faculty support that made him stay.
FSU College of Social Work students proceeded into the FSU Ballrooms at the Oglesby Union wearing their regalia surrounded by proud family and friends and cameras clicking. The College’s annual Spring Graduation Reception started early Friday morning, May 4th with more than 650 people in attendance to watch FSU social work students graduate among their peers.
Second-year social work doctoral student and Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Sarah Rakes is a lifelong learner in her own right. She spent more than ten years in the field in roles focusing on older adults. These roles included activity consultant at a memory care facility, social services director in a long-term care facility, and an as an inpatient psychiatric social worker working with older adults.
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.
At the 2017 CSWE Annual Program Meeting, many social work scholars were recognized for their contributions to the field, including FSU College of Social Work doctoral program alumna and Virginia Commonwealth University School of Social Work (VCU) Professor Dr. Kia J. Bentley. At the Journal of Social Work Education Reception, Dr.
Social work doctoral student Ruben Lane Forsman is no stranger to service. Forsman served as an intensive outpatient substance abuse counselor in New Orleans, Louisiana, and as a member of the Florida Assertive Community Treatment Team in Leon County, providing community-based mental and behavioral health services to individuals experiencing severe, persistent mental illness prior to entering the Doctoral Program at the FSU College of Social Work.
The social work profession has strong historical roots in the concept of social justice—roots that are acknowledged and promoted within our professional associations and educational standards. For me, the concept of social justice has always been an important cornerstone of the work that I do in the field of maternal-child health. Within this field, my work focuses on understanding the who and what that define access to important resources that help promote healthy families and healthy child development.
