CSW General

The FSU College of Social Work (CSW) celebrated its 2020 Distinguished Alumni Award and Student Scholarship recipients through a virtual event on Thursday, November 5, 2020. The event was hosted by Dean Jim Clark and faculty members who serve on the college’s Student Affairs Committee.

The event honored 90 outstanding student scholars. Scholarship awards totaling more than $97,000 were given in support of CSW students, including those studying international programs, child welfare, social policy, and veterans.

The five CSW Alumni Award recipients included:

Florida State University has launched a new online certification in human trafficking prevention and intervention to help professionals develop skills to better understand the dynamics of the various types of human trafficking. 

Fabienne Alexandre, a current MSW student (Clinical Track) at the College of Social Work, was thrilled when she learned that she received a 2020 Leslie N. Wilson-Delores Auzenne Assistantship for Minorities. The assistantship requires a nomination through a student’s department or college and is competitive for students university-wide. Recipients receive a stipend and tuition waiver while completing a research or teaching assistantship with an FSU faculty member.

Two Florida State University faculty members received a $16,000 grant from the Mental Research Institute to launch their project, “Family Therapy and Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Telehealth Response.” Dr. Michele Parker of the FSU College of Human Sciences and Dr.

Undergraduate Student Ashley Rhodd is from Miami, Florida. While volunteering at a Thanksgiving food drive with friends in 2019, she realized through a conversation on social justice just how passionate she was about the subject. Almost a year later, Ashley, who is currently a junior, is a social work major with a minor in education.

Shevaun Harris (MSW, 2004; BA, 2002) was appointed in October 2020 by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as acting secretary of the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA). The agency oversees the state’s $25 billion Medicaid program. She replaces Mary Mayhew, who left the agency to become CEO of the Florida Hospital Association, a group representing more than 200 hospitals in the state.

In 2018, a group of students created the Social Leadership Student Organization (SLSO) with an interest in creating an organization that would allow them to network and share resources related to the social leadership practice track. In a few short years, SLSO has become the Macro Social Work Student Network (MSWSN), affiliated with a nationally recognized organization of the same name.

Robyn Metcalf, the statewide director of Voices for Florida’s Open Doors Outreach Network, has been selected as a 2020 Notable Nole by the FSU Alumni Association.

Karen Keroack was a long-time faculty member in the FSU College of Social Work. She served as an instructor and area coordinator of the MSW program offered in Gainesville, Florida, which is now part of the online MSW program. Karen established and coordinated the Gainesville program for 28 years, providing for the education of a multitude of social workers in the Gainesville area.

FSU College of Social Work Alumnus Dr. Daniel Dunleavy graduated this summer with his social work doctoral degree. His dissertation, titled “Appraising contemporary social work research: Meta research on statistical reporting, statistical power, and evidential value,” (Major professor: Dr. Jeffrey Lacasse) reflects his research interests in research methods and statistical inference. Dr.