Alumni & Friends

Jessica Pryce, the director of the Florida Institute for Child Welfare at Florida State University, has been appointed to the advisory board of the National Child Welfare Workforce Institute. 

The board is a nationally representative panel for expert consultation that guides the development and effectiveness of child welfare professionals. Board members will serve through September 2023 and meet three times a year. 

The Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare Foundation along with the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) Big Bend Chapter celebrated National Philanthropy Day on Thursday, February 22nd at the FSU University Club.

Each year, Philanthropy Day pays tribute to the generous contributions philanthropists and those active in the charitable sector have made in the Big Bend area and their communities.

This year, the National Association of Social Worker’s (NASW) theme for Social Work Month (March 2019) is “Elevate Social Work.” NASW explains that Social Work Month is an opportunity for social workers around the nation and world, along with their supporters, to educate the public about the invaluable contributions of the profession.

My friend and fellow MSW Student Savannah Pierce was at a doctor’s appointment when her nurse started talking about her family in Bay County lost everything during Hurricane Michael and were feeling the cold now that the temperature was dropping in the area. 

She texted me about it and we realized we had not even considered how the winter weather would affect those impacted by the storm that hit the Gulf Coast in October 2018. We decided to do something about it. 

Poverty may be the most troubling and complex social problems we face. According to the World Bank, more than 768.5 billion people were experiencing poverty around the world in 2017. Despite being one of the richest countries in the world, the United States is home to around 40 million people in poverty. 

The Florida State University College of Social Work will host a daylong conference that examines the challenges of poverty and ways that they can be addressed.

The National Research and Training Center on Blindness and Low Vision at Mississippi State University named Sylvia Stinson-Perez as the new director of the Older Individuals who are Blind Technical Assistance Center.

Stinson-Perez has more than 20 years of experience in the field of vision rehabilitation and five years in higher education. She received her MSW (1993) and BSW (1991) along with a Master's degree (2010) in education witha specialization on visual disabilities at Florida State University. She assumes her new leadership role Monday, Jan. 7.

The College of Social Work ended the semester with a graduation reception for its Fall 2018 graduates and their guests at the Oglesby Union Ballrooms. The reception celebrated 5 BSWs, 57 MSWs, and 1 Ph.D. graduate. The event’s program featured remarks by Dean Jim Clark, Reception Speaker Dana Brooks, and Student Speaker and MSW Graduate Amanda Nicole Sholty.

Alumna Machelle Madsen Thompson is known at the FSU College of Social Work, where she is a researcher and adjunct professor, and in the local community for her multi-faceted community outreach. This fall, Dr. Thompson was on the front line for two major events in the Tallahassee area, assisting with recovery after both Hurricane Michael and the mass shooting at a yoga studio in Tallahassee, Florida.

The FSU Alumni Association honored its 2018 cohort of Notable Noles and its three 2018 Reubin O’D. Askey Young Alumni Award recipients in November at their annual Young Alumni Awards Dinner. Among this year’s Notable Noles are two FSU College of Social Work graduates, Sabrina Kinslow, and Tiffanie Williams.

On Wednesday, November 28^th, the Center for the Study and Promotion of Communities, Families, and Children (CFC) is hosting a presentation Dr. TK Logan from the University of Kentucky entitled: “Assessing and Addressing the Hidden Crime of Stalking. The presentation is the second lecture in the CFC’s inaugural research lecture 2018-2019 series, Engage, Invest, Respond. The presentation will take place at the FSU Alumni Association (1030 W. Tennessee Street) from 3 until 4:30 p.m., followed by a reception.