As a first-generation American, Erika Cuffy calls Florida home after her parents immigrated to the United States from Cuba in the 1970s. She discovered at an early age how much she loved people and finding ways to connect and help them.
Following a national search, Florida State University has named three-time alumnus David W. Springer as dean of the College of Social Work. Springer will begin his new role on August 1, 2023.
Throughout the 2022-2023 academic year, the College of Social Work held an art competition called Color the College to celebrate the values of social work. The event welcomed art entries from students, alumni, faculty, staff and friends of the college to create artwork that personally expressed one or more social work values that would be displayed in the college’s administrative suite in University Center C, Suite 2500.
On Friday, May 5, 2023, the FSU College of Social Work celebrated spring graduates and its annual Award Recipients at a celebration in the social work lobby of University Center, Building C.
Spring graduates included 41 BSW graduates, 145 MSW graduates and two doctoral graduates, Chris Collins and Melissa Murphy.
At the event, awards were presented to exemplary students, faculty and field educators nominated internally for their efforts and dedication at the College of Social Work.
“When it comes to survivors and victims, there has been this perception that when they are no longer being exploited, that ‘they are free,” explained Erica Howard, who works in Northeast Ohio for Empower Her Network.
For more than 25 years, Pamela (Pam) W. Graham MacDill served as a dedicated faculty member and administrator with the FSU College of Social Work before retiring in 2020. After a battle with lung cancer, she passed away in 2023.
Children who need life-changing heart transplants in Florida will be able to receive free support to help improve medication adherence, which can potentially reduce the frequency of organ rejection over the next two years, thanks to a National Institutes of Health (NIH)/National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) award for $1.67M to Scene Health (formerly emocha Health), a leading video medication adherence platform.
This year, Kristel Avilus, a former “Pace girl,” was named the new associate executive director for the Pace Center for Girls Leon in Tallahassee, Florida. She is the first girl to become a director in the Pace Center for Girls 38 year history.
She is a licensed clinical social worker and earned her Master of Social Work degree (2018) from the FSU College of Social Work. She was previously the social services manager, representing the first Pace alumna to serve in a management role for the Leon Center.
Florida State University has chosen alumna Lisa Magruder as the next leader of the Florida Institute for Child Welfare.
Magruder, the institute’s associate director of research since 2020, takes over the director’s role from fellow FSU graduate Jessica Pryce. Pryce, who served as director for six years, will lead the institute’s Alliance for Workforce Enhancement initiative.
At the Florida Perinatal Mental Health Conference – Making a Difference Together, Sharon Ross-Donaldson received the 2022 Excellence in Perinatal Mental Healthcare Award.
The award recognizes an individual for their work providing excellent clinical care, training, support, and leadership in perinatal health in Florida and nationally.
