Alumni & Friends

Business savvy and nonprofit know-how are often seen as opposing skill sets, the yin and yang of career pursuits. But for graduate student Kelly O’Sullivan, combining both interests made perfect sense.

“I knew I wanted to do more than clinical social work; I wanted to manage,” said O’Sullivan, Florida State University’s first graduate of its Master of Business Administration/Master of Social Work (MBA/MSW) joint degree program. She participated in the May 3 afternoon graduation ceremony.

For the fifth year running the Law Enforcement Families Partnership, a vital part of the FSU College of Social Work’s Institute for Family Violence Studies, was awarded a Prudential Productivity Award. The partnership was honored, along with other recipients, at an awards luncheon on June 3, 2014 at Florida State.

The third annual College of Social Work Arts & Athletics Camp, a program for Big Bend-area middle school students that provides opportunities for personal growth through artistic, athletic and college preparatory activities, is taking place on the Florida State University campus through Thursday, July 3.

At the end of July, Dr. Beverly Atkeson will retire from her position as the director of the College of Social Work’s Louise R. Goldhagen Evaluation and Consulting Center (The Multidisciplinary Center or MDC).  Dr. Atkeson joined the MDC in 1983 as a psychologist after serving as an assistant professor at the University of Georgia. She became the director of the MDC in 1996.

In June 2014, Governor Rick Scott signed Senate Bill 1666 that aims to strengthen laws and improve resources to protect children from abuse or neglect.  An important component of this legislation created the Florida Institute for Child Welfare at the FSU College of Social Work.

Through her work with the FSU MeasureUp program, social work doctoral candidate Annelise Mennicke along with Principle Investigator (PI) Rick Howell and fellow co-PI Kori Pruett received a $5,000 Avon Campus Grant to Activate Bystanders to Reduce Sexual Assault, Dating Abuse and Stalking from the Avon Foundation for Women through its Speak Out Against Domestic Violence initiative.

Florida State University’s College of Social Work Institute for Family Violence Studies and the Domestic Violence Coordinating Council sponsored “Behind the Door,” an event to help end the silence surrounding domestic violence on September 24, 2014. The event was free, open to the public and featured a rallying march followed by speakers and dinner.

Five alumni of the Florida State University College of Social Work were honored for exceptional commitment and dedication to social work service, research and practice at the college’s annual Student Scholarship and Distinguished Alumni Dinner on Thursday, October 16, 2014. Sixty-six social work scholarship recipients and the donors who made these scholarships possible were honored (click here for the program list of scholarship recipients and donor names).

After months of reports about problems in Florida’s child-welfare system, lawmakers this year approved a sweeping reform bill that included establishing an institute to guide state leaders, in part, by evaluating the success of their policies.

Now, as the Florida Institute for Child Welfare at Florida State University prepares its first report to Gov. Rick Scott and the Legislature, people responsible for improving the lot of the state’s children hope the institute will provide important perspective.

Beginning in 2015, the FSU College of Social Work will partner with the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregiving to offer the program Operation Family Caregiver (OFC)to military caregivers. Offering free, confidential support to family and friends of service members and veterans, the OFC program aids caregivers in managing difficult transitions and obstacles.