MAGAZINE
UNIVERSITY OF DENVER GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK SPRING 10
the human-animal
Exploring our Complex
Relationships with
Animals
page 4
Evidence-Based
Practice Forum
page 2
contents
features
4 Exploring our Complex
Relationships with Animals
6 Training & Ethical Competencies
7 Human-Animal Partnerships
sections
1 scene @ gssw
9 Student News
12 Faculty News
14 GSSW News
16 Four Corners Program
17 Butler Institute
18 Development
22 Alumni News
23 Class Notes
gssw magazine
Volume 2, Number 1
GSSW Magazine is published twice each
year, in spring and fall, by the Graduate
School of Social Work, University of Denver,
2148 S. High St., Denver, CO 80208-7100.
The University of Denver is an Equal
Opportunity Institution.
Dean
James Herbert Williams
Editor
Deborah Jones, Director of
Communications and Marketing
Design and Layout
Art Only, Inc.
Photography
Wayne Armstrong
Ethan Crawford
Michelle Martinez
Araceli Repp
Proofreading
Catherine Newton
Stephanie Panion
© 2010 by the Graduate School of Social Work
at the University of Denver.
Admission: 303.871.2841
Alumni and Development: 303.871.7599
Communications: 303.871.3114
www.du.edu/socialwork
scene @ gssw
FROM THE DEAN
The positive response to our
inaugural edition of GSSW
Magazine has been truly gratifying.
In this, our second issue, we turn our attention to the
many intriguing connections between people and
animals in a wide variety of social work settings.
The Graduate School of Social Work at the University
of Denver has been a leader in this cutting-edge field
since we began offering courses in animal-assisted
social work almost a decade ago. Today, under the
direction of our new American Humane Endowed
Chair Frank R. Ascione and Clinical Associate
Professor Philip Tedeschi, our Institute for HumanAnimal Connection is establishing a national and
international reputation as a center for both research
and education. We invite you to learn more about
the many ways our students, faculty and alumni are
using animal-assisted interventions, both by reading
their stories in this issue of GSSW Magazine and by
visiting us online at www.du.edu/socialwork.
We also hope you’ll keep in touch with us, sharing
your professional achievements and other news by
submitting Class Notes, and making sure we have
your current contact information so we can share
news of the school with you. This fall, GSSW will
begin a series of major events leading up to our 80th Anniversary Celebration
in the spring of 2011. Planning is already underway, and details will be posted
regularly on our Web site.
Meanwhile, GSSW’s faculty, staff and students join me in thanking you for your
continued support and participation. We truly appreciate your interest in our
school!
Sincerely,
James Herbert Williams, PhD, MSW
On the cover: Making a special connection with the elephant on our cover is
concentration year MSW student Kelly Erikson, who’s earning GSSW’s Certificate
in Animal-Assisted Social Work. The photo was taken during a course last
December that included two weeks of experiential service learning in Kenya. Read
more in Professor Tedeschi’s article beginning on page 6.
SCHOLARS-IN-RESIDENCE
PA RT N E R
W I T H
GS S W
Since 2008, GSSW has partnered with community scholars and researchers from Denver area agencies, organizations and academic
institutions. These Scholars-in-Residence collaborate with our appointed faculty and doctoral students on research and scholarship.
MARC BEKOFF, PHD GSSW welcomed Marc Bekoff, PhD, as a Scholar-in-Residence in October, 2009.
Bekoff is a world-renowned researcher and author in the field of animal behavior, cognitive ethology (the study of
animal minds), behavioral ecology and animal protection. Professor Emeritus of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
at the University of Colorado, he is also a Fellow of the Animal Behavior Society and a former Guggenheim Fellow.
With Jane Goodall, Bekoff co-founded Ethologists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals: Citizens for Responsible Animal
Behavior Studies in 2000. A member of the Ethics Committee of the Jane Goodall Institute, Bekoff also serves as an
ambassador for Goodall’s Roots & Shoots program. In 2009, he was named a member of the Scientific Expert Advisory Panel
of Voiceless, The Fund for Animals, and a faculty member of the Humane Society University. The recipient of numerous
national and international honors, Bekoff has published more than 200 papers, three encyclopedias and 25 books.
SARAH M. BEXELL, PHD Sarah M. Bexell, PhD, also named a GSSW Scholar-in-Residence in 2009,
has been engaged in wildlife conservation, conservation education and humane education for many years. She has
served since 2006 as the Director of Conservation Education and Communications at the Chengdu Research Base of
Giant Panda Breeding and an Education Specialist in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Black-footed Ferret Recovery
Program. Bexell was instrumental in helping the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding and Chengdu
Zoo establish their conservation and education departments. She was an Instructor in the Environmental Sciences
Department of China’s Sichuan University in 2007-08.
Bexell has been an Invited Lecturer at Georgia State University, the University of Georgia’s Institute of Ecology and Shorter
College. The author of many scholarly works, she is the recipient of numerous research grants, both here and abroad.
MYLES EDWARDS, PHD
One of GSSW’s first Scholars-in-Residence appointed in 2008, Myles
Edwards, PhD, has been on the staff of the American Humane Association since 1993 and has served as Director
of Research for Children and Animals in its Children’s Division since 2004. He has conducted human services
research and evaluation in settings that include child welfare, mental health, health services, criminal justice,
and alcohol and substance abuse. While Director of Research and Evaluation at a community mental health center
for twelve years, Edwards served as Chair of the Research and Evaluation Division of the National Council of
Community Mental Health Centers, and he was a member of its Board of Directors. He has had consulting contracts
in 22 states, with the Federal government, and with numerous local governments and agencies.
The author or co-author of many scholarly publications, Edwards also has addressed numerous national and
international meetings and conferences since 1973.
JOHN FLUKE, PHD
Another Scholar-in-Residence since 2008, John Fluke, PhD, is the founder and
director of the American Humane Child Protective Services Research Center, whose purpose is to improve public
child protective services through the development of evidence-based policies and practices. For 28 years, Fluke
has led, designed, supervised and participated in research and evaluation efforts to improve services to children
and child welfare populations. His efforts have served both the public and private sectors, including all levels of
government, non-profit organizations, and national and international associations.
Nationally recognized for his research in assessing and analyzing decision-making in human services delivery
systems, Fluke is also acknowledged for his innovative and informative evaluation work in the areas of child welfare
administrative data analysis, workload, cost analysis, performance and outcomes measurement for children and
family services. He is the author or co-author of numerous scholarly publications, and he has presented papers at
both national and international meetings and conferences.
For more information about GSSW’s Scholars-in-Residence, please visit www.du.edu/socialwork and click on “Faculty Directory.”
scene @ gssw spring 10
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scene @ gssw
scene @ gssw
GSSW’s 80th
EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICE FORUM
Attracts
Anniversary
EBP Forum speakers included (L-R) Dr. Tonya Edmond,
Dr. Jeff Jenson (event chair), Sen. Moe Keller, Todd Saliman,
David Bernstein (MSW ‘75) and Dr. Aron Shlonsky.
Diverse Group
Planning Underway
In 2011, the Graduate School of
Social Work will mark the 80th
social work graduates “who are open to new ideas, capable of asking
questions and able to evaluate the literature.”
Panelists discussing the morning plenary included (L-R) Dr. Aron Shlonsky; Kristi Mock (MSW ‘83), LCSW; Dr. Kathleen Ohman; Dr. Stacey Freedenthal;
Ann Petrila, MSW, MPA, LCSW, GSSW Field Education Director; Dr. Marc Winokur, Director of Colorado State University’s Social Work Research Center;
and Kevin Bert, LCSW, CAC III, Assistant Director of Outpatient Services at Denver’s Synergy Substance Abuse and ADHD Treatment Program.
Imagine scholars, researchers, practitioners and legislators
all coming together in support of a single concept. That’s what
happened last November when GSSW hosted a forum on recent
developments and challenges in evidence-based practice (EBP).
“We need to know what works and what doesn’t,” explained forum chair Jeff Jenson
in his introduction, “then use this knowledge to improve social work education and
practice.” Jenson, the Philip D. and Eleanor G. Winn Professor for Children and Youth
at Risk, is GSSW’s Associate Dean for Research.
Keynote speaker Tonya Edmond, Associate Professor and Associate Dean for
Academic Affairs at Washington University’s George Warren Brown School of Social
Work, led the forum’s first plenary session. She described the school’s ongoing effort
to infuse evidence-based practice into every aspect of its social work curriculum.
“Ethical practice must be informed by the best available evidence,” she said. “We
have to recognize and respect what we’ve gained from our own practice experience,
but be flexible enough to try new interventions that are supported by research.”
Panelists responding to Edmond’s presentation included Kristi Mock (MSW ‘83),
LCSW, who described how the Mental Health Center of Denver has implemented
EBP during the past 15 years. She applauded GSSW’s efforts to expand the pool of
GSSW
to Host
Four Major
Spring
Events
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spring 10 scene @ gssw
GSSW will host the Group for the Advancement of Doctoral Education in Social Work (GADE) 2010
Annual Conference April 15-17 in Denver. Speakers will include Dr. George Walker, Senior Scholar and Director
of the Carnegie Initiative on the Doctorate, and Dr. Peggy Maki, formerly Senior Scholar and Director of Assessment
at the American Association for Higher Education.
GSSW’s Institute for Human-Animal Connection will present “Animals Matter” on April 20, 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.,
in the Boettcher Foundation Community Room of Craig Hall. The agenda includes nationally renowned speakers
and a televised welcome from anthropologist Jane Goodall.
On May 13, GSSW will simulcast the University of Denver’s TEDx Conference in the Boettcher Foundation
Community Room of Craig Hall. The conference, featuring eight notable speakers on a broad range of topics, will be
Professor Kathleen Ohman, another panelist and GSSW’s Associate
Dean for Academic Affairs, said she supports the move toward EBP but
cautioned against relying too much on research that may not take into
account marginalized populations. She also noted that some agencies
lack the financial and technological resources that EBP requires.
Anniversary of its 1931 founding.
In preparation, a committee made
up of faculty, staff and alumni is
hard at work planning a series of
anniversary-related events for the
2010-11 academic year. Tentative
The forum’s luncheon speakers were Colorado State Senator
Maryanne “Moe” Keller and Todd Saliman, Director of the Office of
State Planning and Budget. Both emphasized the economic impact of
EBP. At a time when budgets are stretched to the limit, Keller noted,
“the practice community must ensure their programs are data-driven
in order to get funding. Business as usual just isn’t good enough.”
plans to date include a lecture
Afternoon keynote speaker, University of Toronto Associate Professor
and Factor-Inwentash Chair in Child Welfare Aron Shlonsky,
summarized the current state of EBP and its future within the
social work profession. “Social workers can be the glue that holds
interdisciplinary teams together,” he observed. “But what we need to
improve on is bringing EBP to the practice.”
culminate in an 80th Anniversary
Panelists responding to Shlonsky’s address included David Bernstein
(MSW ‘75), Director of the Center for Effective Interventions at
Metropolitan State College of Denver; William Hildenbrand (MSW
‘76), Executive Director of Denver’s Savio House; Sharon Mihalic, MA,
Director of the Blueprints Initiative at the University of Colorado’s
Center for the Study and Prevention of Youth Violence; and Michelle
Neal, MS, RN, Program Director of the Nurse-Family Partnership
Program at Denver’s Invest in Kids.
series, a symposium on aging, a
Black History Month celebration,
social events and a community
service day. The events will
Celebration in the spring of 2011.
The 80th anniversary planning
committee is co-chaired by Alumni
Association Interim President
Jae McQueen (MSW ‘00), LCSW,
and Lynda Ricketson, Director of
Development and Alumni Giving.
Watch for additional information
on our Web site at www.du.edu/
socialwork.
held at DU’s Gates Concert Hall. The Craig Hall simulcast will make the conference more widely available
to students, faculty, staff, alumni and other members of the community.
For additional information
GSSW will co-sponsor the Twenty-Second Annual National Conference on Social Work and HIV/
AIDS, May 27-30, at the Hyatt Regency at Denver’s Colorado Convention Center. Produced by the Boston
College Graduate School of Social Work, this year’s conference is entitled “Direct Social Work Practice with
HIV/AIDS Clients: Current Approaches.”
NOTE: Reduced registration is available to GSSW students and alumni, as well as our field liaisons and
field agency personnel. For information on reduced fees, please contact Dr. Vincent Lynch, Conference
Founder and Chair, at [email protected].
visit the GSSW Web site at
on all of these events, please
www.du.edu/socialwork.
Look for the “What’s Happening”
box, and click on “Upcoming
Events.”
scene @ gssw spring 10
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gssw the human-animal connection
gssw the human-animal connection
GATHERING CELEBRATES
ENDOWED CHAIR INSTALLATION
the human-animal
A badly injured child regains strength and
self-con�dence while riding horseback. A
prisoner learns patience and responsibility as
he cares for a rescue dog. An elderly woman
is arrested for hoarding more than 100 sick
and malnourished cats in her home. An
abusive husband terrorizes his wife by killing
her beloved pet.
I have long been fascinated by the myriad, intricate
and sometimes challenging ways the lives of animals
and people intersect. Now, as Executive Director of
the Institute for Human-Animal Connection, I look
forward not only to continuing the excellent training
in evidenced-based, animal-facilitated social work
practice provided by my colleague, Phil Tedeschi, but
also to expanding student and faculty research.
Human-animal relationships, both positive
and negative, are every bit as complex as
those we share with our fellow humans.
Yet, until recently, not a single human
services academic institution housed a
center speci�cally devoted to human-animal
research and education.
My own research journey began when I participated
in a large-scale evaluation of programs designed to
teach school-aged children caring and compassion
for animals, especially those we call pets or
companion animals. Our study demonstrated
that empathy toward animals could be
enhanced and, even though this was not
specifically targeted in our training program,
generalized to empathy toward people.
That changed with the founding of GSSW’s
Institute for Human-Animal Connection
(IHAC) in 2006. Funded by generous gifts
from the American Humane Association and
the Animal Assistance Foundation, IHAC
had its roots in a single animal-assisted
social work course that was added to the
MSW curriculum in the late 1990s. That
course led to the 2004 creation of the MSW
Certi�cate in Animal-Assisted Social Work,
then to development of a highly successful
continuing education online certi�cate called
“Animals and Human Health,” and �nally to
the founding of IHAC itself.
Today, with newly appointed American
Humane Endowed Chair Frank R. Ascione
as its Executive Director, IHAC is poised to
become a national and international leader
in this cutting-edge �eld. On these pages
Ascione, IHAC Clinical Director Philip Tedeschi,
current students and recent graduates share
their thoughts on the Institute’s impact and
its vision for the future.
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spring 10 gssw the human-animal connection
EXPLORING
OUR COMPLEX
RELATIONSHIPS
WITH ANIMALS
by American Humane
Endowed Chair
Frank R. Ascione, PhD
I then turned my attention to the darker side of
human-animal relations, cases of animal abuse
perpetrated by young people and by adults.
Our research found that children who were
maltreated or exposed to domestic violence
were more likely to abuse animals than were
children from non-violent homes. We also
found that other children, in spite of their own
victimization, were strongly attached to their
pets who often served as a buffer or safe haven
in the midst of family distress.
My more recent research, published in 2007, shows that animal abuse is ten
times more likely to occur in homes with domestic violence than in nonviolent homes. This work was replicated in a 2008 Australian study that used
the assessment methods developed in my research.
Those of us studying this phenomenon also found that victims of domestic
violence delayed seeking shelter at battered women’s programs out of concern
for their pets’ welfare. This knowledge has helped to increase the number of
shelters willing to admit the pets of the domestic violence victims they house.
Additionally, a number of states now include pets in orders of protection or
restraining orders. At this writing, similar legislation is pending in Colorado.
My current research progresses on two paths. In collaboration with the
Colorado Coalition against Domestic Violence, I recently submitted an
application for research funding to the National Institute of Child Health and
Human Development (one of the National Institutes of Health)
to better understand the effects of exposure to both domestic
violence and animal abuse on children’s mental health. I am
also working with my GSSW colleagues and the National Adult
Protective Services Association to continue examining animal
welfare and abuse issues among elder adults.
Meanwhile, I see almost unlimited possibilities for our Institute
for Human-Animal Connection in both teaching and research.
Our vision for the future includes:
• expanding the integration of animal-assisted curriculum
content into each of the five MSW practice tracks (child
welfare, high-risk youth, families, adulthood and late life
challenges, and community practice)
• enhancing our reputation as a center for the study and
dissemination of information about evidence-based practices
and scholarly research; this includes developing funding
resources for research and community-based programs,
developing community collaborations, enhancing doctoral
student mentoring and training, hosting conferences and
symposia, establishing IHAC as an information clearinghouse and facilitating development of an advisory council,
our Scholars-in-Residence program and IHAC Fellows
• continuing development of a research focus on problems in
human-animal relations, as well as prevention and intervention programs directed at human and animal welfare
• exploring emerging opportunities for research, training and
applications in conservation social work, i.e., expanding the
social work ecological model to include respectful appreciation
of natural environments and resources, nonhuman animals,
and environmental health and sustainability
• serving as a model for the ethical treatment of animals in
research and practice
We have set an ambitious agenda for IHAC, one that we cannot
begin to achieve in isolation. We invite interested alumni and
friends of GSSW to learn more about our efforts and to consider
supporting our work.
Learn how you can support the Institute for Human-Animal
Connection on page18. Visit IHAC online at
www.humananimalconnection.org.
American Humane Endowed Chair Frank R. Ascione (center) is �anked by (L-R) Provost
Gregg Kvistad, Chancellor Robert Coombe, former American Humane Association
President and CEO Marie Belew Wheatley, and Dean James Herbert Williams.
Faculty, staff and students joined University administrators and
other honored guests in October, 2009, to celebrate the installation
of Professor Frank R. Ascione, PhD, as GSSW’s American Humane
Endowed Chair. The $2 million Endowed Chair, established in
2008 by the American Humane Association, is the first for GSSW
and one of the first in the nation created to explore the expanding
field of animal-assisted social work and research the bond between
humans and animals. Ascione also serves as Executive Director of
GSSW’s Institute for Human-Animal Connection, another recipient
of substantial financial support from American Humane.
“Joining the GSSW faculty as the first American Humane Endowed
Chair is a distinct honor and an unparalleled opportunity,” says
Ascione, whose family was on hand for the event. The installation,
which included a lecture by Ascione on his recent research, was
followed by a gala reception.
Before coming to GSSW, Ascione was a professor in the Psychology
Department at Utah State University in Logan, as well as an
adjunct professor in Family and Human Development. He is an
internationally acclaimed researcher, lecturer and author.
“Dr. Ascione is the perfect scholar to lead the kind of rigorous research
this endowment will allow,” says Dean James Herbert Williams.
“American Humane and DU have forged a dynamic partnership to
advance research nationally into the human-animal bond.”
Ascione also serves on the Child and Animal Abuse Prevention
Advisory Council of the Latham Foundation, is past president of the
Southwestern Society for Research in Human Development, and is
a member of the cadre of experts for The American Psychological
Association’s Presidential Task Force on Violence and the Family. He
has been a visiting professor at GSSW since December, 2008.
gssw the human-animal connection spring 10
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gssw the human-animal connection
Why should social workers study human-animal
interactions? And why are an increasing number of people
in all helping professions choosing to add animal-assisted
interventions to their clinical skills?
Consider that more American children currently live in a home
with a companion animal than with a father. Early proper
care of animals has been found to be supportive of healthy
child social-emotional learning and a protective factor in
healthy child development. Conversely, cruelty to animals has
been correlated with the development of anti-social attitudes
and increased risk
for violent behavior.
Across the lifespan,
the quality of people’s
relationships with
animals appears to be
an important measure
of their quality of life.
In therapeutic
settings, animals can
enhance and expedite
rapport-building and
trust. The presence
of animals stimulates
communication
with individuals
who are socially
marginalized, isolated
or no longer trust
human relationships.
Animals provide a
socially normative
source for touch
by Clinical Associate Professor and physical contact
while reducing blood
Philip Tedeschi, MSSW, LCSW-CO pressure, anxiety,
loneliness and
depression. They have been shown to decrease the debilitating
impacts of trauma and stress-related conditions, as exemplified
by the psychiatric service dogs that assist combat veterans with
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
TRAINING & ETHICAL
COMPETENCIES
Animal-assisted therapy can address cognitive and perceptual
deficits and assist clients to self-regulate, develop empathy,
provide inspiration and motivation, socialize, help maintain
focus and attention, reduce aggressive behaviors and increase
self-esteem. Caring for an animal can reduce neediness
and learned helplessness and encourage optimism, a sense
of mastery and control in life. Animal-assisted activities
are a stimulus for exercise and provide social support as
companions, social facilitators and adjunct therapists.
In short, animal-assisted social work is a relational
empowerment and experientially based approach that is
applicable across multiple settings and populations.
Since 2004, GSSW’s Certificate in Animal-Assisted Social
Work (AASW) has offered concentration year MSW students
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spring 10 gssw the human-animal connection
gssw the human-animal connection
the opportunity to integrate animals into diverse social work
environments and populations. The certificate includes two
sequential courses, along with a specialized field internship
where students apply their developing animal-assisted skills.
Some AASW students train certified therapy dogs, graduating
together as professional human-canine therapy teams. Other
students choose training toward national certification as an
equine therapist, humane educator or conservation social
work specialist. Partnerships with the American Humane
Association, animal control and humane care specialists,
leading assistance dog organizations and the Denver Zoo
expand the experiential and service-learning opportunities
open to our students.
A fundamental goal of our AASW Certificate is that our
students understand the interrelationship between
themselves, their families and their communities, including
the natural environment and its non-human inhabitants.
For the first time this academic year, our students had the
opportunity to enroll in a course that included two weeks of
experiential service learning in Kenya. This innovative course
explored the relationship between poverty, displaced persons
and the unsustainable activities of poaching, the bushmeat
trade and their detrimental impact on wildlife and local
communities.
Another key element of the AASW Certificate is the
tremendous responsibility we bear to ensure proper care
for the animals we include in social work practice. If an
intervention is not beneficial to an animal, it is by definition
ethically problematic and non-therapeutic for people. The
Institute for Human-Animal Connection therefore adheres to
national and international peer-reviewed standards and best
practices set forth by the Delta Society and the International
Association of Human-Animal Interaction Organizations.
In recent years, the Institute for Human-Animal Connection
has also reached out to a national and international audience
with its continuing education certificate, “Animals and Human
Health.” The certificate, which includes three online courses,
followed by a capstone session taught on the DU campus, is
offered to professionals in a wide variety of fields. Students
completing this certificate can earn a total of 35 CEUs.
This spring, for a second time, I am teaching an enrichment
course on the human-animal bond through DU’s University
College. When this course was offered for the first time in Fall
Quarter, it quickly filled to capacity, once again demonstrating
what fascination these powerful relationships hold for us.
As the Institute’s Clinical Director, I take pride in the
outstanding clinical education we are providing both oncampus and online. Like my colleagues, I am committed to
ensuring that GSSW remains at the forefront of this rapidly
evolving, ground-breaking field.
For information about our MSW Certificate in Animal-Assisted
Social Work and our continuing education certificate, “Animals
and Human Health,” please visit GSSW online at
www.du.edu/socialwork and click on “Programs of Study.”
HUMAN-ANIMAL PARTNERSHIPS
Working as a Team
At Colorado’s Arapahoe County Department of Human Services, Amber Garrison-Ahmed (MSW ‘08) and
Banjo are a team, so much so that the dog’s name appears alongside Amber’s in the signature line of her
e-mails. The two have been together since Amber’s concentration year, when she trained Banjo as her
therapy dog while earning her Certificate in Animal-Assisted Social Work.
Although Banjo’s behavior kept him from becoming a companion for people with disabilities, the nonprofit Freedom Service Dogs matched him with Amber because he showed potential as a therapy dog.
Sure enough, Banjo quickly became an integral part of Amber’s internship, facilitating her work with
children experiencing adoption-related problems. Learning to trust and bond with Banjo helped them
develop skills they could take with them to their future adoptive homes.
Shortly before Amber’s graduation, Arapahoe County offered her (and Banjo) a job. Today, as an intake
caseworker investigating child abuse and neglect, Amber finds Banjo’s help invaluable in interviewing
children. “They open up a lot more when he’s there,” she explains, adding that he’s at his
best with autistic children and those with other special needs.
As if their day jobs weren’t enough, Amber and Banjo recently won an award for
volunteering at Kidz Night Out, where they provide evening supervision for foster children
while their foster parents enjoy a night off. This spring, Banjo adds a third project to his
busy work schedule, appearing with children in videos that Arapahoe County will show to
prospective adoptive parents.
Creatures Great and (Very) Small
Carri King-Bussard, MA, LPC, lifts two skittish guinea pigs from their carrier. “I wonder what
it would be like to feel this small and scared,” she says to the child she’s counseling. Hypervigilant by nature, the animals race inside the dark recesses of their “pigloo” enclosure.
“Where is your safe space?” King-Bussard asks the little girl. As therapist and client discuss
how to calm Orville and Wilbur, the child’s own traumatic story slowly begins to unfold.
King-Bussard, whose private psychotherapy practice is called Animal-Assisted Counseling
of Colorado, enrolled in GSSW’s online continuing education certificate, “Animals and Human Health,” when it was offered for the first time in
2006-07. Today, she incorporates a variety of animals into therapy sessions, depending upon the needs and behaviors of her clients. Besides the
guinea pigs, King-Bussard owns three trained therapy dogs. She’s also a licensed provider of equine-assisted therapy for Larimer County Social
Services, working with horses from the Fort Collins non-profit, Wings to Change.
“Horses are great mirrors for kids to interpret their own behaviors,” she explains. “And
the power of a horse can be humbling for the big, tough kid who needs to put aside his
bravado before he can work on his problems.”
Not Just Another Pretty Horse
Yoda, a beautiful seven-year-old Norwegian Fjord Horse, is hard to resist. “His presence alone
starts the process of breaking down a youth’s resistance as they ask questions about him,”
says PhD candidate Maureen Fredrickson MacNamara, MSW. But, she adds, Yoda provides
“much more than a point of interest” in the equine-assisted therapy sessions she conducts.
Sensing that the young person attempting to ride or drive him is a beginner, Yoda can be
quite resistant in his own right. That gives MacNamara a chance to address the youth’s
reactions as they occur. As her client tries out new behaviors to get Yoda to cooperate, the
horse’s responses provide valuable feedback.
In addition to her clinical work with at-risk youth, MacNamara has incorporated animals into programs targeting such diverse populations as
adults with developmental disabilities, trauma survivors, and professionals studying leadership development and organizational management.
Widely respected in the field of animal-assisted interactions, MacNamara is Past Vice President of Programs for the Delta Society and created its
internationally recognized Pet Partners Program. She’s a founding member of the Equine Facilitated Mental Health Association and a member of
the Certification Board for Equine Interaction Professionals.
“It has been my pleasure to be one of the people who helped to advance the field by developing resources, creating collaborations between
multidisciplinary organizations and professionals, and bringing credibility to a new and unique form of intervention,” says MacNamara.
gssw the human-animal connection spring 10
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gssw student news
gssw the human-animal connection
DOCTORAL STUDENTS HONORED
An Activist for Animals and People
Foundation year MSW student Shelby McDonald first saw the horrific effects of animal abuse as a middle school
Humane Society volunteer. It hit her even harder when, years later, she adopted Kozmo Kramer from a shelter and
realized the border collie/greyhound mix had cigarette burns on his back. Still, it took a while before McDonald
knew she was destined for a career that would help not only abused and neglected animals, but people as well.
“I started off wanting to be a vet,” she recalls, “but then I realized you can’t change anything for animals until you
change people.” That led McDonald to an undergraduate psychology major, and eventually to a doctoral program
in the same field. Seven months into the doctorate, she realized something was missing.
“Being an activist for vulnerable populations is what drives me as a person,” she says. McDonald took a twoyear break from academia, then discovered GSSW and its Institute for Human-Animal Connection. Now she’s
completing her first-year internship at IHAC and couldn’t be happier. “GSSW is the only place I could go and do
exactly what I wanted to do,” says McDonald. “This has been an amazing experience for me!”
McDonald’s internship centers on IHAC’s Colorado LINK Project, an effort
funded by the Animal Assistance Foundation to examine how animal
abuse may be related to interpersonal violence and other crimes. The
project’s goal is to enhance prevention and treatment methods used by
law enforcement, human services, animal-control and other professions,
establishing Colorado as a national model for handling abuse cases.
Since pet-owners tend to think of their pets as family members, McDonald
explains, “violence against pets is an act of family violence.” Social workers
who don’t make that connection may miss crucial information about child
abuse and other interpersonal violence within the families they serve.
The key, says McDonald, is education—something she sees herself
providing in the future as a professor and scholar in the field.
Bridge Kids Making a Difference
If you were in Denver’s public housing neighborhoods last summer, you
might have noticed something unusual: teams of elementary school kids
wearing official-looking orange vests and using enormous glue guns to attach labels to storm drains. Their efforts, aimed at
keeping residents from dumping toxic substances into the drains, were part of an environmentally focused humane education
program implemented at GSSW’s Bridge Project in affiliation with the international organization, Roots & Shoots.
A program of the Jane Goodall Institute, Roots & Shoots is a youth-driven global network whose service learning projects promote care and concern for animals, the
environment and the human community. Mandy Jeffries (MSW ‘05), Health Case Manager at the Bridge Project, first heard about the program from Professor Philip Tedeschi. Jeffries registered as a Roots & Shoots group leader, then worked with “ecoteams” at three Bridge sites to identify and remedy a neighborhood problem.
“I wanted the kids to take ownership,” says Jeffries, “so I let them come up with the plan.”
Speakers at January’s doctoral program
reception included (L-R) Associate Provost
for Graduate Studies Barbara Wilcots, PhD;
JFK Partners CoLEND Fellowship recipient
Kate Trujillo, MSW ‘01; University of
Colorado Assistant Professor M. Kay Teel,
MSW ‘80, PhD ‘05; Walter LaMendola, PhD,
Director of the PhD Program; and Dean
James Herbert Williams, PhD.
The second annual doctoral program reception, held on
January 8 at Craig Hall, provided an opportunity for faculty,
staff and administrators to get better acquainted with GSSW
doctoral students and learn more about their research. The
reception also honored PhD candidate Kate Trujillo, who
received the JFK Partners CoLEND (Colorado Leadership
Education in Neurodevelopment and Related Disabilities)
Fellowship Award from the Department of Psychiatry at
the University of Colorado (CU) School of Medicine. CU
Assistant Professor M. Kay Teel, PhD ‘05, Tujillo’s mentor and herself a former recipient of the
Fellowship, presented the award.
The JFK Partners CoLEND Fellowship was established in the 1960s to support research and
training in the field of developmental disabilities. Calling the fellowship a “great opportunity”
to explore animal-assisted interventions with children with autism, Trujillo works as part of
an interdisciplinary team that includes a pediatrician and a clinical psychologist, as well as
physical, occupational and speech therapists.
Other PhD candidates honored at the reception included Jessica Haxton, MSW, LCSW,
recipient of the 2009 GSSW Dissertation Support Award for her research on interactions among
chronically ill older adults and their caregivers.
PhD candidate Susan Roll (far right) received the
2009 Feminist Scholarship Award from the Council
on Social Work Education at their Annual Program
Meeting in November. The award recognizes innovative
scholars who contribute to the advancement of
feminist knowledge as it pertains to social work theory,
research, practice and education. Roll’s paper was
entitled “The Coping Strategies of Low Income Women
2
Using Work Support Bene�ts from a Socialist Feminist
Perspective.” Pictured with Roll is her dissertation
advisor, Associate Professor Jean East.
The children first mapped the storm drains in their communities and tested water using kits donated by Denver-based non-profit, FrontRange Earth Force.
When they researched where water from the storm drains ended up, the kids were surprised to discover it flowed straight into the city’s rivers and creeks
without ever passing through a water treatment facility. The group sought the help of Denver’s Public Works Department, which provided the glue guns,
tools and even the snazzy orange vests. On a hot July day, the children split up into teams and glued warning labels on as many drains as they could.
Bridge undertook three other Roots & Shoots projects during the past year, led by GSSW student interns earning GSSW’s Certificate in Animal-Assisted Social
Work. Kelsey Hopson helped a group of children raise money to support a Kenyan girls’ soccer team. Devon McClurken led a contest to create a design for
reusable shopping bags and a neighborhood trash and recycling inventory they hope will convince the City of Denver to provide recycling services in the
city’s public housing neighborhoods. Both Hopson and McClurken plan to graduate from GSSW in June.
“The children who participate in these projects really take pride in what they accomplish,” says Jeffries. “They know they’re making a difference in their own
neighborhoods and in other communities as well.”
PhD Candidate Ziblim Abukari received the Fahs-Beck Fund for Research and
Experimentation/New York Community Trust Dissertation Fellowship for 2009-10 in
support of his dissertation entitled “Risk and Protective Factors Associated with Academic
Achievement among Ghanaian Youth.” He’s pictured here during his recent return home
to Ghana to begin his dissertation data collection.
GSSW’s Bridge Project has served children and their families in Denver’s public housing neighborhoods since 1991. Learn more at www.du.edu/bridgeproject.
8
spring 10 gssw the human-animal connection
gssw student news spring 10
9
gssw student news
gssw student news
SPOTLIGHT
ON
HONOR SOCIETY MEMBERS LEND A HAND
STUDENT NEWSMAKERS
You might think GSSW students have enough on their plates already: classes,
internships, part-time jobs, family responsibilities, even dissertations. Yet
many students, like these members of the Phi Alpha Honor Society, also
find time to volunteer.
A national social work honor society, Phi Alpha seeks to provide a closer
bond among students and to promote humanitarian goals and ideals.
Membership in GSSW’s Xi Delta Chapter is based on grade point average
and adherence to the Code of Ethics established by the National Association
of Social Workers.
In addition to the activities pictured below, the group also sponsored APA
Style workshops for MSW students and actively supported a Universitywide blood drive benefitting Denver’s Bonfils Blood Center.
Professors Michele Hanna (5th from left) and Daniel Brisson (far right) join GSSW alumni and members of the Shades of Brown Alliance (SOBA) at
Denver’s ‘marade,’ a combination march and parade marking Martin Luther King, Jr., Day in January. SOBA was founded by GSSW students in 2008. The
marade, which drew a record 30,000 participants this year, is one of the largest events of its kind in the country.
Concentration year MSW student Karen Albright received a Graduate
Internationalization Grant in July, 2009, from DU’s Office of
Internationalization to support her travel to Canada to conduct research
on Canadian attitudes toward same sex marriage. Albright is working
with Tina Fetner, PhD, a professor of sociology at McMaster University
in Hamilton, Ontario.
Concentration year MSW student Kari Baars received a Consuelo W.
Gosnell Memorial Scholarship for the 2009-10 academic year from
the National Association of Social Workers Foundation. The award
letter from NASW Executive Director Elizabeth Clark notes that the
Scholarship Award Panel was “extremely impressed [by Baars’] desire and
commitment to work with American Indian and/or Latino populations,”
as well as by her academic record and supporting documentation.
Concentration year MSW student and Phi Alpha Honor Society President
Antoinette Gomez was selected as one of 45 new Fellows for the Center
for Progressive Leadership Fellowship Program. This award includes
leadership development and training in community organizing.
10
spring 10 gssw student news
Foundation year MSW student Julie Shiller received
the 2009 Outstanding Young Alumnus Award from
the University of Hartford’s Hillyer College, where
she earned her AA degree in 2005, prior to attending
the University’s College of Arts and Sciences. The
award recognized Shiller’s work with the AmeriCorps
National Civilian Community Corps, through which
she rebuilt homes for Hurricane Katrina victims,
cleaned flood-ravaged houses in the Midwest, set
up emergency shelters and distributed supplies to
hurricane survivors in Texas, and helped victims of
Florida’s devastating wildfires.
Flanked by University of Hartford provost
Lynn Pasquerella (L) and Hillyer College Dean
David Goldenberg, GSSW’s Julie Shiller
accepts Hillyer’s 2009 Outstanding Young
Alumnus Award.
Photo credit: University of Hartford
Professor Karen Bensen (left), GSSW’s
Regan Linton, another concentration year MSW
student, won the 2009 Denver Post Ovation
Award for her powerful performance as Aldonza
in the PHAMALy theater company’s production of
“Man of La Mancha.” PHAMALy is a Denver-based
nonprofit theater company for actors who have
physical and/or developmental disabilities. Linton
joined the company two years after a car accident
resulted in a spinal cord injury that means she will
have to use a wheelchair for the rest of her life.
Read her Spotlight profile online at www.du.edu/
socialwork.
GSSW’s Graduate Student Association and
Latino/a Center for Community Engagement
and Scholarship were among the sponsors of the
Laramie Project: Ten Years Later, Epilogue show at
DU’s Newman Center on October 12, 2009. About
90 GSSW students attended the sold-out show.
Director of Student Services, joined Phi Alpha
members, their families and friends for a
cold but rewarding day helping Food Share
America package frozen foods to sell at
deeply discounted prices to disadvantaged
Coloradans. Pictured with Bensen are PhD
candidate Karen Scarpella (center),
Phi Alpha Vice President, MSW student
Catherine Hintz (hugging a friend) and
MSW student Antoinette Gomez (right),
Phi Alpha President.
Even before classes started last fall, Phi
Alpha members like MSW student Tiko
Hardy (left) volunteered at this dental clinic
sponsored by Colorado Mission of Mercy.
The two-day clinic in Brighton, CO, provided
nearly $1 million of free dental services to
the state’s underserved populations.
MSW student Crystal Colussi (far left) delivers
more than 100 pairs of socks, collected during
the Phi Alpha’s “sock drive,” to Kelly Holland,
Shelter House Manager at the SafeHouse
Denver domestic violence shelter.
Read more about Phi Alpha and GSSW’s other student organizations online at www.du.edu/socialwork. Click on “About Us,” then “About GSSW.”
gssw student news spring 10
11
gssw faculty news
FA C U LT Y
Mary Krane Bridge Project
Director,
with two
“Bridge kids”
Wanda Ellingson
Jeff Jenson
with the
Leadership
La Plata
Barbara
Conrad
Award
was elected
to a three-year
term on the
SSWR Board
of Directors
Colleen Reed discusses the
“sandwich
generation”
Karla von Merz
12
spring 10 gssw faculty news
with a display
of student
projects
from their
2009
experiential
learning class
in Mexico
HIGHLIGHTS
Associate Professor Jean East (MSW ‘79, PhD ‘95) and Mary Krane (MSW ‘71), Executive Director
of GSSW’s Bridge Project, received 2009 Wall of Fame Awards from the Housing Authority of the
City and County of Denver for their outstanding community work. East’s award recognized her
“support and encouragement to students on their path to self-sufficiency.” Krane, who has led
the Bridge Project’s service to Denver’s public housing neighborhoods since 1997, was recognized
for her “efforts to bring education resources to residents and encourage the attainment of a
higher education.”
Clinical Associate Professor Wanda Ellingson, Site Director of the Four Corners MSW program
in Durango, CO, received the Leadership La Plata (LLP) Barbara Conrad Award at the Durango
Chamber of Commerce Annual Awards Celebration in January. LLP is the Chamber’s leadership
skills training and broad-based community education arm. The award recognizes LLP graduates
who are consistently involved and active in leadership roles throughout the community and
who demonstrate collaborative leadership skills and creative, independent thinking.
Philip D. and Eleanor G. Winn Professor for Children and Youth at Risk Jeff Jenson, Associate
Dean for Research, was elected to a three-year term on the Society for Social Work and Research
(SSWR) Board of Directors. The results of the online election were announced at the SSWR
Annual Conference in January. Jenson also was an invited presenter at the Conference on
Intervention Research in Social Work held in October at the University of Southern California
in Los Angeles. His presentation was entitled “Preventing Childhood Aggression and Bullying:
Implications for School-Based Intervention Research from the Denver Public Schools Trial.”
In November, Associate Professor Debora Ortega was elected president of the Association
of Latino Social Work Educators (ALSWE), an organization dedicated to the professional
development of Latino social work educators and doctoral students. ALSWE has worked with
the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) on a variety of initiatives including research on
barriers to doctoral education for Latinos in social work, the development of a scholarship fund
for Latino doctoral students and the inclusion of paper presentations in Spanish at CSWE’s
Annual Program Meeting, something Ortega considers “a significant move of inclusion, especially
for our colleagues at the Puerto Rican schools of social work.”
Assistant Professor Colleen Reed, co-director of GSSW’s Institute of Gerontology, appeared on a
Denver CBS Channel 4 news segment in January about challenges facing the so-called “sandwich
generation,” those who are raising children while simultaneously caring for their own aging
parents.
Adjunct Professor Karla von Merz (MSW ‘03) is the new Coordinator of the Certificate in Social
Work with Latinos/as. Assistant Professor N. Eugene Walls serves as the Faculty Liaison. Von
Merz, who completed the certificate during her own MSW studies, teaches one of the courses
required for the certificate and also led the students’ experiential learning visit to Cuernavaca,
Mexico, last summer.
Dean and Professor James Herbert Williams traveled to Nairobi, Kenya, in November to attend
a United Nations Expert Group Meeting on National Sustainable Development Strategies in
countries emerging from conflict. The meeting was part of an ongoing effort to increase the
likelihood of lasting peace by improving the capacities of these countries to integrate sustainable
development principles into their development strategies. Williams, who is also conducting a
research project in Kenya, was the only American invited to attend the conference.
R E C E N T
FA C U LT Y
SCHOLARSHIP
Editorials
Williams, J. H. (2009). The challenges of meeting community service needs for
post incarcerated adolescents [Invited Editorial]. Journal of Adolescent Health,
44(6), 518-519.
Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles
Thompson, S. J., Bender, K., Windsor, L., & Flynn, P. M. (2009). Keeping families
engaged: The effects of home-based family therapy enhanced with experiential
activities. Social Work Research, 33(2), 121-126.
gssw faculty news
assessment in child welfare. Conference of the American Evaluation Association,
Orlando, FL.
Morales, J., Leake, R., Green, S., Potter, C. & Williams, N. (2009) Utilizing
a randomized control trial study in child welfare: The Jeffco Community
Connection Project. Conference of the American Evaluation Association,
Orlando, FL.
The following papers were presented in November, 2009, at the Council on
Social Work Education Annual Program Meeting in San Antonio, TX:
Bender, K. & Tripodi, S.J. Empirical evidence for reducing adolescent substance
use: Implications for social work curriculum.
Brisson, D., Roll, S. & East, J. (2009). Race and ethnicity as moderators of bonding social
capital for employment in low-income neighborhoods. Families in Society, 90(4).
Brisson, D. & Roll, S. Neighborhood social cohesion for low-income Latina
mothers’ experience of hardship.
Tuitt, F., Hanna, M., Martinez, L.M., Salazar, M., & Griffin, R. (Fall, 2009). Faculty
of color in the academy: Teaching in the line of fire. Thought and Action.
Roll, S., Brisson, D. & East, J. Welfare policy and families on the cliff.
Jenson, J. M. (2010). Advances in preventing childhood and adolescent problem
behavior. Research on Social Work Practice.
Howard, M.O., Himle, J., Jenson, J.M., & Vaughn, M.G. (2009). Revisioning social
work clinical education: Recent developments in relation to evidence-based
practice. Journal of Evidence-Based Practice, 6, 256-273.
Kumssa, A., Jones, J. F., & Williams, J. H. (2009). Conflict and human security
in the Northern Rift and North Eastern Kenya. International Journal for Social
Economics, 36, 1008-1020.
Laser, J. & Campos Schutte, E. (2009). A journey to China: Embarking on a
professional and personal experience of growth. Reflections, 15(3), 23-31.
Laser, J. & Leibowitz, G. (2009). Promoting positive outcomes for healthy youth
development: Utilizing social capital theory. Journal of Sociology and Social Work.
Parker, L. (2009). Disrupting power and privilege in couples therapy. Clinical
Social Work Journal, 37(3), 248-255.
Potter, C., Comstock, A., Brittain, C. & Hanna, M. (2009). Intervening in multiple
states: The Western Regional Recruitment and Retention Project. Child Welfare
(Special Issue on Recruitment and Retention), 54(4), 22-36.
Walls, N. E. (2009). Grappling with the relationship between men’s endorsement
of positive stereotypes of women and women’s rights. Advances in Gender
Research, 13, 81-112.
Walls, N. E., Griffin, R., Arnold-Renicker, H., Burson, M., Johnston, L., Moorman,
N., Nelsen, J., & Schutte, E. C. (2009). Graduate social work students’ learning
journey about heterosexual privilege. Journal of Social Work Education, 45, 289-307.
Walls, N. E., Potter, C., & Van Leeuwen, J. (2009). Where risks and protective
factors operate differently: Homeless sexual minority youth and suicide
attempts. Child & Adolescent Social Work Journal, 26(3), 235-257.
Wei, H. & Williams, J. H. (2009). Instrumental or emotional aggression: Testing
models of bullying, victimization and psychological maladjustment among
Taiwanese seventh-graders. Social Work Research, 33, 231-242.
Wei, H., Williams, J. H., Chen, J., & Chang, H. (2010). The effects of individual
characteristics, teacher practice, and school organizational factors on students’
bullying: A multilevel analysis of public middle schools in Taiwan. Children and
Youth Services Review, 32, 137-143.
Van Dorn, R. A., Williams, J. H., Del-Colle, M. & Hawkins, J. D. (2009). Substance
use, mental illness, and violence: The co-occurrence of problem behaviors among
young adults. Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research, 36, 465-477.
Peer-Reviewed Presentations
Bender, K., Ferguson, K., Pollio, D., Thompson, S.J., & McClendon, J. (2009,
November). Technology as an underutilized tool for providing health services
and support to street youth. Paper accepted for presentation at the American
Public Health Association 136th Annual Meeting and Expo, Philadelphia, PA.
Thompson, S.J., Jun, J., Pollio, D., Ferguson, K., & Bender, K. (2009, November).
Predictors of addiction to alcohol and drugs among street youth in three U.S.
cities. Paper accepted for presentation at the American Public Health Association
136th Annual Meeting and Expo, Philadelphia, PA.
Nicotera, N., Altschul, I., Munoz, A. & Webman, B. (2009, October). Conceptual
and analytic development of the civic engagement and social development
survey. International Research Conference on Service-learning and Community
Engagement, Ottawa, Canada.
Morales, J., Leake, R., Green, S. & Potter, C. (2009) Roundtable: Methodological
successes and challenges in conducting comprehensive organizational health
Laser, J., Parker, L., Seelman, K. & Boeckel, J. Increasing social justice awareness
through international education: Two models.
Woodford, M., Mule, N., Onishenko, D., & Walls, N.E. Legal recognition of samesex relationships: Advancing understanding to inform practice and research.
The following papers were presented in January, 2010, at the Annual Conference
of the Society for Social Work and Research in San Francisco, CA:
Altschul, I. & Nicotera, N. Connecting civic engagement with positive academic
development in adolescents.
Bender, K., Brisson, D., Powell, A., Forrest-Bank, S., & Anthony, E.K. Effects of
an urban afterschool program on behavior and academic performance among
high-risk youth.
Bender, K., Jenson, J.M., Thompson, S., Postlethwait, A.W., & Springer, D.W.
The mediating effect of school engagement in the relationship between child
maltreatment and juvenile delinquency.
Bender, K., Tripodi, S.J., Litschge, C., & Vaughn, M. Empirical evidence for
reducing adolescent marijuana use: New findings from the adolescent substance
abuse treatment database.
Komlo, C., Bender, K., Thompson, S., Ferguson, K.M., & Pollio, D.E. Factors
associated with trauma and PTSD among street youth in three U.S. cities: The
importance of youth transience.
Mahmood, S., Tripodi, S.J., & Bender, K. Women coping in prison: An empirical
examination.
Pollio, D.E., Bender, K., Ferguson, K.M., & Thompson, S. Technology use in
homeless youth.
Thompson, S., Bender, K., & Montgomery, K.L. Predicting alcohol use among
detained adolescents: Parents’ and youths’ perspectives.
Thompson, S.J., Jun, J., Bender, K., Ferguson, K.M., & Pollio, D.E. Extending the
estrangement model to examine factors associated with alcohol/drug addiction.
Tripodi, S.J., Bender, K., Litschge, C., & Vaughn, M. Reducing alcohol use among
adolescent substance abusers: A meta-analytic review.
Tripodi, S.J., Bender, K., Thompson, S.J., & Aguilar, J. The importance of both self
control and social control in preventing arrest in young adulthood: A nationally
representative longitudinal study.
Tripodi, S.J., Kim, J.S., & Bender, K. Is employment associated with reduced
recidivism? The complex relationship between employment and crime.
Brisson, D. & Roll, S. Predicting material hardship from social cohesion and
immigrant status in low-income neighborhoods.
Roll, S., East, J. & Brisson, D. A study of the coping strategies of families moving
from welfare to work.
Freedenthal, S. Adolescent help-seeking after a suicide prevention program:
Evidence from staff and students.
Hanna, M. & Matera, D. Happily ever after? The journey from foster care to adoption.
Jenson, J.M. Advancing the efficacy of afterschool interventions for high-risk
youth: Findings from the Denver Bridge Project. [Symposium Presentation]
Jenson, J.M. An empirical classification of children involved in bullying and
bully victimization using latent class analysis.
Jenson, J.M., Anthony, E.K., & Bender, K. A theoretically-based afterschool
program for high-risk youth in public housing communities.
Nicotera, N. & Matera, D. Building civic leadership skills through a neighborhood
afterschool program.
gssw faculty news spring 10
13
gssw news
gssw news
Chancellor Robert Coombe and Dean James
Herbert Williams have appointed the first 14
members of GSSW’s new Board of Visitors. The
Board, which met for the first time in October,
will provide advice and counsel to the Dean, as
well as advocating to the Chancellor, Provost and
community on behalf of GSSW and the social work
profession. In addition to the Board’s primary
focus on fundraising, resource development
and sustainability initiatives, it will also work to
expand GSSW’s national exposure and broaden
its community networks.
NEW BOARD
OF VISITORS
to Advise Dean
“I view the establishment of this Board of Visitors as
key for GSSW’s future,” says Williams. “Our school
will benefit immeasurably from the range of knowledge and expertise these people bring with them.”
Gary Yourtz
The Board, which may have up to 25 members
at a time, includes friends of the school and
the University of Denver, in addition to a select
number of GSSW alumni. Board meetings take
place twice each year, with each Board member
serving a three-year term.
Gary Yourtz, former President and owner of Du-Wald
Steel Corporation, has been appointed Chairperson of
the Board. Members to date include Libby Bortz, MSW
‘67, LCSW; Jana Edwards, MSW ‘78, LCSW, BCD; Troy
Eid, JD, former U.S. Attorney for the District of Colorado;
David L. Gies, MS, MPA, Executive Director of the
Animal Assistance Foundation; Grover “Cleve” Gilmore,
PhD, MA, Dean of the Mandel School of Applied Social
Sciences at Case Western Reserve University; Alberto
Godenzi, PhD, MBA, Dean of the Boston College Graduate
School of Social Work; Charles Jordy, President of Jordy
Construction, who also chairs the Bridge Project Board
of Directors; Evi Makovsky, MA, MSW ‘78, JD; Margaret
Roath, MSW ‘68, LCSW; Youlon Savage, MSW ‘64; Clara
Villarosa, MSW; Marie Belew Wheatley, MBA, former
American Humane Association President and CEO; and
Phil Winn, former U.S. Ambassador to Switzerland, who
will receive an Honorary Doctorate in Public Service at
DU’s June Commencement.
The Board of Visitors is staffed by the Director of
Development and Alumni Giving, with the Dean and
Associate Deans serving as ex-officio members.
TILT sent surveys on e-learning to the deans and directors
of all accredited graduate social work programs, 60% of
whom responded. This was followed by six focus groups
with fifteen social work deans regarding their perceptions
of the relationship between ICT and the missions of their
schools. TILT also created a faculty development model
to support social work educators in using ICT to achieve
expected educational outcomes. Finally, TILT investigated
the use of various e-learning approaches in social work
practice courses, arguably the most challenging courses
to deliver effectively in online and blended formats.
GSSW TAKES
UNIQUE PATH
to Reaccreditation
All social work programs accredited by the
Council on Social Work Education (CSWE)
must go through a process of reaffirmation
every eight years. But GSSW, which has
been continuously accredited since 1933,
is one of just a handful of graduate schools
to successfully pursue an alternative
reaffirmation method.
To the traditional reaffirmation process, led
by Associate Dean and Professor Kathleen
Ohman, GSSW added a two-year study of
the use of information and communication
technologies (ICT) to deliver social work
education.
Chaired by Associate Professor Jean East,
GSSW’s Technology Integration Learning
14
spring 10 gssw news
Team (TILT) began work on the project in 2006,
funded in part by a grant from DU’s Center for
Teaching and Learning. TILT faculty members
included Professor Walter LaMendola, Dean
Emerita Catherine Alter, Associate Professor Julie
Laser, Professor John Kayser (pictured above),
Assistant Professor N. Eugene Walls and Clinical
Assistant Professor Michele Sienkiewicz. TILT
also included GSSW staff members Ryan Garrett,
Manager of Technology Operations, and Ethan
Crawford, Digital Instruction Specialist.
The project is documented in a 225-page report, “Social
Work Learning Environments in the Twenty-First
Century,” submitted to CSWE in 2009 as part of GSSW’s
successful bid for reaffirmation until October, 2016. A
key conclusion: While many social work educators focus
mainly on whether e-learning can effectively replace
face-to-face instruction in the teaching of practice skills,
learning can and does thrive in both modes of course
delivery, as well as in approaches that blend the two.
“The opportunities to use technology to enhance
learning are vast and only increasing,” explains East,
“but there will always be a place for the traditional oncampus experience.”
For more information on this project, please contact
Associate Professor Jean East at [email protected].
STAFF NEWS
As part of a move to centralize DU’s
technology services, Mary Carver has left her
position as GSSW’s Systems Administrator to
become a Support Specialist with University
Technology Services (UTS). A GSSW staff
member for the past eleven years, Carver also
worked at UTS for seven years before joining
our school.
Lynette Jones retired from her staff position
in February, following fourteen years of service
to GSSW. Most recently, she supported faculty
and assisted with multiple special events.
Prior to joining GSSW, Jones was employed
at Penrose Library and then at Institutional
Advancement.
We wish these two valued staff members all
the best in their future endeavors.
Debbie Jones, Director of Communications and Marketing, received a
Certificate of Appreciation from the
Denver International Program’s
incoming Board President Ron
Marquez. An independent non-profit organization housed within GSSW,
DIP fosters cross-cultural communication through the immersion of
foreign professionals in the society and workplaces of Denver. Jones served
on the DIP Board of Directors from 2005 to 2009 and was its President for the
last three years of that period.
Visit the Denver International Program online at www.dipusa.org.
Lynda Ricketson, Director of
Development and Alumni
Giving, joined Dean James
Herbert Williams at the Emerging Leaders in Development
awards ceremony. Funded by
a collaborative of local foundations, and hosted by DU’s
University College, Emerging
Leaders is a nine-month program of development classes and mentoring experiences. Ricketson was one
of twelve development professionals selected to attend the first Emerging
Leaders program, following a competitive application and interview process.
gssw news spring 10 15
gssw four corners
Dr. Stephen Roderick, Fort Lewis College Provost
Five members
(2nd from left) and Dr. Beverly Chew, Chair of the
of the Native
Fort Lewis Psychology Department (center) accept
American Training
plaques from GSSW honoring the two schools’
Institute work
“shared spirit of partnership and innovation” in
on the Western
creating the new Cooperative Undergraduate/
Workforce
Graduate Degree program. Presenting the plaques
project, a
are (L-R) Clinical Associate Professor Wanda
collaboration with
Ellingson, Four Corners Site Director; Dean James
GSSW’s Butler
Herbert Williams; and Associate Professor
Institute for
Jean East, Distance Education Director.
Families.
four corners msw program
PARTNERSHIP WITH
FORT LEWIS COLLEGE
BENEFITS
FOUR CORNERS
STUDENTS
erna & brad butler institute for families
Of the 64 women and men who have graduated from GSSW’s Four Corners MSW program since it
began in 2002, more than half earned their Baccalaureate degrees from Fort Lewis College. Now a new
partnership between the two schools is creating a unique opportunity for Fort Lewis students even
before they graduate.
Not all human services organizations are healthy places to work. But a new collaborative project at
the Erna and Brad Butler Institute for Families is helping to improve both the climate and culture of
child welfare agencies, which research has linked to better outcomes for the children and families
they serve.
Beginning this fall, psychology and sociology majors at Fort Lewis will be eligible to complete both
a Bachelor’s degree and an MSW in five years rather than six. The new Cooperative Undergraduate/
Graduate Degree program, which received final approval late last year, is similar to a degree option that
GSSW has offered to DU’s own undergraduates since 2006.
At many child welfare agencies, workers and managers face a host of stressors. These may include
chronic budget limitations, recurring reorganizations and loss of positions, high staff turnover and
ongoing threats to staff productivity from secondary trauma, the stress that results from working with
children and families in crisis. The combination can have a negative impact on an agency’s organizational climate (“what it’s like to work here”) and its organizational culture (“how we do things here”).
The first group of Fort Lewis seniors will enter the Four Corners MSW program, along with a new
cohort of two-year students, in September.
“This partnership between a public and a private institution allows GSSW to maintain a strong presence
in the Four Corners area,” says Dean James Herbert Williams. “Both of our schools are committed to
the goal of educating practitioners to meet local needs.”
Under terms of the Cooperative Degree program, Fort Lewis psychology and sociology majors may
apply to begin taking Four Corners MSW classes during their senior year. Fort Lewis will accept courseby-course equivalency of the GSSW courses, so the students will complete their Bachelor’s degrees
during their first year of the two-year MSW program. Earning both degrees in five years represents a
substantial saving of time and money, while giving graduates a full year’s head start on their careers.
“It’s great for us because we are invested in launching students out to be really successful in their chosen
professional fields,” says Professor Beverly Chew, Chair of the Fort Lewis Psychology Department.
“This is a phenomenal opportunity for them.”
Read more about GSSW’s Four Corners MSW program by visiting www.du.edu/socialwork and clicking
on “Programs of Study.”
A
The Graduate School of Social Work lost a valued friend when Morley Cowles Ballantine,
GOOD FRIEND
2009. She was 84. A member of the University of Denver’s Board of Trustees from
REMEMBERING
longtime chairman and editor of The Durango Herald, passed away on October 10,
1989 to 1993, Ballantine was an early and enthusiastic supporter of GSSW’s distance
education efforts that led to the founding of its Durango-based Four Corners MSW
program in 2002. “Morley cared about the school and what we were trying to do, and
she felt strongly that Durango needed what we had to offer,” recalls Dean Emerita
Catherine Alter, whom Ballantine advised frequently during the planning of the Four
Corners program. Articles and columns published in the Herald have been instrumental in student recruitment
16
spring 10 gssw four corners
gssw butler institute
Six years ago, the Children’s Bureau, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Administration for Children, Youth and Families, funded a number of projects aimed at improving
recruitment and retention of child welfare personnel. Findings from these projects, including one
at the Butler Institute, highlighted the importance of organizational factors in supporting the child
welfare workforce.
WESTERN WORKFORCE
IMPROVES
ORGANIZATIONAL
HEALTH
by Associate Professor Cathryn Potter,
Butler Institute Executive Director
and Associate Provost for Research
Western Workforce, a collaboration among the Children’s Bureau, the Butler Institute and the Native
American Training Institute (NATI), represents the next step in the process. The project is developing
and testing an organizational intervention at three western sites: the Denver Department of Human
Services, the Department of Family Services in Casper, Wyoming, and a consortium of Native American
tribes in North Dakota.
To assess the health of an organization, the Western Workforce team has developed a mixed-method
organizational assessment that includes an agency survey, focus groups, and interviews with clients,
agency staff and community stakeholders. The Comprehensive Organizational Health Assessment
(COHA) is conducted at each site, examining a wide variety of factors including professional quality of
life, vicarious traumatization and coping, as well as team and organizational factors such as supervisor
competence, team cohesion and leadership. Tribal-specific scales are included when the COHA is
administered within the Native American consortium.
The COHA findings provide data for the agency teams to use in developing a plan for improving
organizational health. Later, the COHA is re-administered as a longitudinal evaluation measure.
At each site, the organizational intervention also includes the formation of a team that develops
strategic responses at the policy and community collaboration level. Another team, composed of
people from all levels of the agency, builds internal agency responses. Learning Circles at the unit
level provide an opportunity for supervisors to lead an intervention with their team that focuses on
improvements in practice and in organizational climate. Butler and NATI staff members, led by Butler’s
Senior Research Associate Julie Morales, support and coach each of these intervention elements.
and continue to keep the community informed about the program’s positive impact on the Four Corners region.
Improving organizational health isn’t easy, but it’s satisfying to know that we’re having a positive impact.
GSSW sends its sincere condolences to Ballantine’s family and her colleagues at the Herald.
Read more about the Butler Institute online at www.thebutlerinstitute.org.
gssw butler institute spring 10
17
gssw development
gssw development
FROM
THE
DIRECTOR OF
DEVELOPMENT
AND ALUNMI
GIVING
Dear Alumni
and Friends:
We hope you enjoy
learning more about our
Institute for HumanAnimal Connection in this
issue of GSSW Magazine.
The Institute provides
truly unique learning
experiences, not only in our on-campus animal-assisted
social work classes, but also for members of the Denver
metropolitan community and an ever-increasing
number of local, national and international online
continuing education students.
Meanwhile, IHAC’s research focus on problems in
human-animal relations, as well as prevention and
intervention programs, is helping to improve services
for at-risk populations such as victims of domestic
violence and child abuse.
As Professor Frank R. Ascione, our new American
Humane Endowed Chair, notes in this issue’s cover
story, the ambitious agenda he has set for IHAC is “one
that we cannot begin to achieve in isolation.” With that
in mind, we hope you will consider a special donation
to our Institute for Human-Animal Connection as part
of your ongoing support for our school. We have added
IHAC as a giving option on the enclosed donation
envelope, or you may choose to direct all or part of your
online donation to the Institute.
We deeply appreciate the generosity of all those
who support the Graduate School of Social Work, its
students, faculty, researchers and institutes, as well as
our non-profit community agency, the Bridge Project. As
always, we welcome your comments and suggestions,
and we encourage you to contact us with any questions
you may have.
CLASS
Donation Funds
Butler Scholars
Program for
Doctoral Students
GSSW gratefully acknowledges a generous
donation from Erna Butler (pictured above)
and the Butler Family Fund to support
social work doctoral students working with
the Butler Institute for Families. Butler
Scholars will receive financial support
during their third and fourth years of
doctoral study, including support for their
dissertation work. The Butler Institute
research experience during all four years
in the areas of intervention research and
implementation science.
“Butler Scholars will leave GSSW uniquely
qualified to do high-quality intervention
research for children, youth and families,
in partnership with community settings,”
Executive Director of the Butler Institute
“Butler Scholars also will be skillful in the
For a complete list of giving opportunities, please visit
www.du.edu/socialwork and click on “Support GSSW.”
18
spring 10 gssw development
A
GENERous LEGACY
Richard C. Hardes was studying for the priesthood when he discovered that social work was his true calling. Well-funded
at the time, the Minnesota Department of Human Services paid not only Hardes’ GSSW tuition, but his living expenses
as well. In return, he was required to work for the department for two years after graduation. “They certainly got their
money’s worth,” he laughs, noting that his DHS career actually lasted 31½ years, until he retired in 1996. His wide-ranging impact included work on adoptions, guardianships and foster care, then contracting, monitoring and evaluation.
In retirement, Hardes stays busy volunteering for his church, conducting communion services at local nursing homes
and helping out at the senior living complex where he moved a year ago. Recently, he signed a bequest intention naming
GSSW as a beneficiary. “I got really good preparation for my career at GSSW,” he explains. “It’s my philosophy that when
I’ve been given to, I have an obligation to give back.”
GSSW students huddled over their computers in Craig Hall’s Margaret W. Page Library might be surprised to learn
that the library is named for a generous, fun-loving 1964 MSW graduate whom a classmate recalls as “a real live
wire.” Margaret Williams Page was a long-time social worker for Denver Public Schools, where she touched the lives of
hundreds of students and their families. Colleagues and friends alike remember her positive, outgoing personality and
her delightful sense of humor.
Page liked to tell her friends she had “three great loves” in her life: Skidmore College (from which she graduated in 1943), the
Denver Art Museum (where she was a frequent volunteer) and the Graduate School of Social Work. When Page died in 2006,
she left substantial estate gifts to all three. Her gift to GSSW created not only Craig Hall’s technology-enhanced library, a favorite
spot for today’s students to study and write papers, but also a loan fund which students can access on an emergency basis.
will also provide intensive mentoring and
and DU’s Associate Provost for Research.
Lynda Ricketson
Director of Development and Alumni Giving
‘64 LEAVES
That was the turbulent world in which GSSW’s Class of 1964 launched their social work careers. Since then, three of those graduates not only have
enhanced the communities and lives of the people they served, but they also have created a financial legacy that benefits GSSW students to this day.
notes Associate Professor Cathryn Potter,
Cordially,
OF
Perhaps Bob Dylan best characterized
1964 in the title of the record album he released that year: the times, he sang, they were a-changin’. Just weeks after the Ku Klux Klan murdered
three civil rights workers in Mississippi, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act outlawing racial segregation in the nation’s schools,
public places and employment. Johnson’s War on Poverty initiated a series of domestic programs in health, education and welfare, even as the
“Vietnam conflict” was rapidly escalating into a full-blown war abroad.
Recognizing the importance of scholarship aid to GSSW’s efforts to recruit a diverse student body, 1964 alumnus
Youlon D. Savage created an endowed scholarship fund a decade ago. Since then, thirteen students have received the
Youlon D. Savage Scholarship, based on their academic merit and demonstrated financial need.
Savage, who grew up in the heart of the segregated South, retired several years ago after a long career as Executive Director of Adams Community Mental Health Center (now Community Reach Center). He also chairs Colorado’s State Human
Services Board, was a member of The Denver Foundation’s Health Committee and continues to serve on many GSSW
committees, including the Advisory Council on Racial Diversity and the Board of Visitors. “I know what it is like to have
to prove oneself over and over again because some people choose not to believe you can do what you can do,” he says. “I
like the idea of giving back to the institution that made it possible for me to give.”
As our GSSW community continues to benefit from the support of these three generous donors, we have to agree with Richard Hardes’ opinion
of the Class of 1964. “We were a rather illustrious class,” he says with pride.
implementation of evidence-based practices
in these complex organizations.”
For additional information, please visit
www.thebutlerinstitute.org.
AND THE WINNER IS . . . The “DU on the Road” event that the Alumni Relations Office hosted in Colorado Springs
last September included a drawing whereby the winning attendees could choose a unit on campus to receive a $1,000 gift. We’d like to thank
Tracy Wilson, MSW ‘03, for selecting GSSW. Way to go, Tracy!
gssw development spring 10
19
gssw development
GSSW
DONORS
We gratefully
acknowledge the donors
listed here whose
support during these
challenging financial
times represents a
commitment to GSSW,
the Bridge Project and
the success of our
students. Thank you!
We strive to make
this list as accurate as
possible, but if your
name has been omitted
or listed incorrectly,
please accept our
apologies and let us
know so we can correct
our records. Please
notify Lynda Ricketson,
Director of Development
and Alumni Giving, at
303.871.7599 or lynda.
[email protected].
20
spring 10 gssw development
gssw development
GSSW Donors
January 1–June 30, 2009
Patricia Abbott  and Michael Tappan
Sharif Abdelhamid
Gina Nicole Abdella 
Pamela Gay Alberts Abraham
Lyndsay J. Agans
Rebecca Albright
Dina Marie Allen
Janey B.  and Harmon Alpert
Animal Assistance Foundation
Anonymous
Anschutz Foundation
Philip F. and Nancy Anschutz
Karen C. Arnold
Carolyn Atwater
Susan and Arlyn C. Baak
Stacey and Ira Bahr
James Banning
Marjorie R. Beatty  
Rodney D. Bell
Katherine D.  and John M. Benbow
Beverly Bennett-Roberts
Karen J. Bensen  
Linda Black
Janis S. Bohan
Susanna Dusan Bozinovski
Laura and Adiel Brasov
Holly and Jeff Brekke
Janice Marie Brenner 
Lindsey Truscott Breslin
Leah Parker Bry
Angela S. Buchanan
Butler Family Fund at the Denver
Foundation
Emilie K. Camp
Corey Candelaria
Stephen L. Canges
Caring for Colorado Foundation
Robert W. and Margaret M. Charlton
Frédérique Chevillot
Ellen and James Ming Chien 
Chubb and Son, Inc.
Linda K.  and Roger W. Clark
Rose A. Clement 
William Clifton
John L. Cogley
Rebecca Koo Anne Cory
Kelly Costello
Enid Opal Cox 
Douglas Crews
Michael Cuddehe
Lynnette A. and Steve A.
Cunningham
Ann Curry-Stevens
Linda K. Daubers 
Constance M. Davis
William DeGroot
The Denver Foundation
Veronica and Gene DeSimone
Leilani and H. Alan Dill
Richard C. and Debra M. Duke
Marye and Charles R.  Dunbar
Jean F. East  
Pamela Jane Egerton-DeLazaro 
Ward and Patricia J. EgglestonMahanke
Anne Enderby 
Sandra E. Erlach
Feiner Family Foundation
of Colorado
Debbie and Michael A. Feiner
Cary Mark and Nancy J. Feldman
Brian Field
Fleishman & Shapiro P.C.
Laura Jean Folkwein 
Carrie L. Forbes
Iris Foster
Diana R. and Charles H. Fowler
Virginia H. and Charles Fraser
Elizabeth R. Fredrickson 
Stacey Lynn Freedenthal 
Rebecca R. and Fernando Freyre, Jr.
Mary T. Friedrichs 
David C. Fronczak
Gamma Phi Beta Foundation
Richard D. Garcia
Gay & Lesbian Fund for Colorado
Colleen Gibley-Reed
Rathel D. Gincig
Martin B. and Sandra B. 
Goldhaber
Antoinette Maria Gomez
Carol A. Gosselink
Julia Wall Gough 
Dani E. Haese
Nicole Genna Halperin
Jane Austin Hand 
Tracy L. Hanf
Jodie Hanzlik
Jennifer Christine Harris 
Laura W. and Guy B. Harris, Jr.
Marcy M. and Daniel M. Haskell
Lewis Hatcher
Ann Sharon Hawkins 
Jessica Ellen Haxton
Hedge Funds Care
Patricia A. Hertzler
Martin H. and Marie F. Herzog
Andrea M. Hill
Gail Hollander
Nancy D. Holtgraves 
Denise and Jay Horton
Stacy and Bryan W. Hursh
Susan Reed Hutchinson
IBM Employee Service Center
Marshall Jeffries
Mary and Jeffrey M. Jenson 
Deborah M. Jones 
Lois and John F. Jones 
Nancy Elaine Joseph-Gould
JP Morgan Chase
Betty Karsh
John Kayser  
Connor Kaylor Keese
Elizabeth S. Kelchner 
Verne R.  and Patricia Kelley
James Ryan Kennedy
Megan Suzanne Kennedy
Susan J. Kenney 
Jeffrey R. Kisicki 
William and Lorie Bohm
Klumb 
Jeannette Marie Kneifel 
Rhonda Adams Knop
Dawn Kathleen Koltiska 
H. Pearce   and Marilyn
Konold
Olga C. Kopcha
Paul Jacob Kosempel and
Meredith Elizabeth Wakelyn
Mary C. Krane  
M. Louise and Donald F. Krill 
Walter F. LaMendola  and
Nancy R. Van Demark 
Erin Landeck
Jennifer Landers
Jewel A. and Aubrey Lavizzo
Richard and Sandra Laws
Susan B.  and Jerrold L.
Lazerwitz
Howard R. and Blanca T. Lerman
Alison Spicer Levy 
May E. Lihtz 
Elizabeth Wilson Llovet 
Celedonio F. Lucero 
M.D.C. Holdings, Inc.
Donna J. Mahnen
Barry and Anne Rankin Mahoney
Robert and Christina Mahoney
Susan Schissler Manning  
Nancy Beers Marshall
Rachel Martin
Adrian R. Martinez
Michelle Gwenn Martinez 
Donald S. Mayer
Robert McGoey
Jodi and Paul Messenich
Valerie K. Middleton
Brian P. Midtbo
Mile High United Way
Elizabeth Cadregari Milhaupt 
Daryl L. Miller
Elaine Millman
Debbie Mixon Mitchell
Larry A. and Carol Mizel
Rachel T. and Daniel D. Moen
Susana Molina
MoneyGram International
Candace A. and David L. Mowers
Edward R.   and LuVerne S. Murray 
Charles B. and Ruth S. Needham
Lindsay Anne Neuner
Mary Anna Newby 
Newmont Mining Corporation
Hang T. Nguyen
Marianne E. Nick 
Nicole Nicotera 
Wayne George and Nyia Jane Nielsen
Ann Marie Norris 
Hadidja Nyiransekuye 
Kathleen Ohman 
Rachael E. Oyer 
Sharon Piper
Robert Pleasants
Janice J. Podoll
Cathryn C.   and Christopher J. Potter
Betty L. Proctor 
James M. Pyle 
Carol A. Quigley-Zipp
Susan C. Rabenhorst 
Rebecca L. Ray
Kimberly Jean Reeves 
Kinette Richards
Virginia Richardson
Lynda A. Ricketson 
Margaret Roath 
Keller R. Roberto
Rose Community Foundation
Rose Medical Center
Amy Rowland 
Joanne Z. Saccio 
Sherrilynn L. Salas 
Saltzman Hamma Nelson Massaro LLP
Sam’s Club Foundation
Steven R. Samuels
Debra Sandy
Saunders Construction, Inc.
Richard C. and Jeanne Saunders
Leslie Erin Schaefer
Schlessman Family Foundation, Inc.
Dolores J. and Lee E. Schlessman
M. Carol and Gary Lee Schlessman
Diane Schmitz
Syreeta W. Scott
Kristie Lynn Seelman 
Isaam Shamsid-Deen
Caroline K. Sherman 
Tracie J. Shoe
Janet Shriberg
Emily Elizabeth Shull 
Teresa Simoneau
Lynn Q. and Robert E. Smith, Jr.
Donald O. Southwick
Sports Plus
Deryk Standring
Brett A. Stanislao
Susan S. Stark
Mary Catherine Stone 
Michelle D. Stone
Mary Jo Strassburg-Aldal
Melissa Sugar
Elan Allison Sutton
Michelle Tijerina
Amy Marie and Gerardo Topelson
Jesùs G. Treviño
Jennifer Loud Ungar
University of Northern Colorado
Urban Peak Denver
Beth Velde
Tara Vellinga
Venoco, Inc.
Elizabeth Vierck
Wagner Equipment Company
Judith B. and Joseph Wagner
Alice Waldron
Thomas Edward Walker
N. Eugene Walls 
Christine Walsh
Janelle Hanlon Washburne 
Christopher Travis Webb
Jennifer Weiler
Lynne P.  and Bryan L. Wilky
Lorain C. Will 
James Herbert Williams 
Melissa J. and Scott G. Williams
Ellen J. Winiarczyk
Eleanor and Philip D. Winn
Pamela A. and Robert I. Wolper
Young Americans Education Foundation
Irene B. Zimmer
 GSSW Alumna/Alumnus
 Appointed and Emeritus Faculty/Staff
 Deceased
CHALLENGING TIMES CREATIVE SOLUTIONS
There are many ways to make a gift to GSSW even in challenging economic times.
We can show you how you can make a gift that will bene�t you, your family
and GSSW without impacting your current cash �ow. Here are just a few ideas:
• Non-cash assets such as real estate, securities, collectibles or artwork can be given to GSSW as an
alternative to donating cash.
• You can designate GSSW as a bene�ciary of an IRA, a life insurance policy, a bank/brokerage
account or your estate plan.
• Boost your retirement income with a GSSW gift annuity.
• Maximize your impact by combining a smaller gift today with a larger future gift.
These are just a few of the �exible options our experts can help you explore.
For more information on creative ways to give, go to:
1.800.448.3238 or 303.871.2739 email [email protected]
www.giftplanning.du.edu and click on the Ways of Giving brochure.
gssw development spring 10
21
gssw alumni news
gssw alumni news
FROM THE
ALUMNI
Dear Fellow Graduates:
As the GSSW Alumni Association’s Interim President, I’m
pleased to have this opportunity to share my excitement
ASSOCIATION
INTERIM
PRESIDENT
with all of you. A big “thank you” from all of us to Ben
Leonard for his leadership as President last year. We
sincerely appreciate the enthusiasm and commitment he
brought to the position.
And another big “thank you” to all of you whose generous
support of our school is such an inspiration, especially to
the next generation of GSSW alumni. It just goes to show
how much we can accomplish when we join together in
support of a common goal.
Now, as we anticipate the beginning of GSSW’s 80th
Anniversary celebration next fall, I hope you’ll join with me once again to
‘60s
Rexford L. Thompson (MSW ‘64) and Joyce M.
Thompson (MSW ‘61) moved to Key Biscayne, FL, last
October to be closer to their youngest daughter and
family in Coral Gables. Contact them at Key Colony, 121
Crandon BL, #449, Key Biscayne, FL 33149 or via e-mail
at [email protected].
‘70s
Pat Ferullo Halperin (MSW ‘76), who has retired
from private practice, lived aboard the M/V Reflection
for 2½ years with her husband, “Captain Ray.” Their
travels took them from Maine to Key West with visits
to Washington, DC, and the Chesapeake, then on to the
Bahamas last winter. They’ve just traded that lifestyle
for “cruising on land” in an RV. The Halperins wish
everyone “time for reflection on the road less travelled!”
More online at www.patrayreflection.vox.com/.
support and strengthen our Alumni Association and the school from which
we’re so proud to have graduated.
First, right now while you’re thinking about it, please drop us a quick line
at [email protected] and tell us what’s happening in your personal
and professional life. We’d love to include your news in our next GSSW
Magazine Class Notes. We’re also compiling a list of GSSW alumni who
have, at any time in their careers, founded an agency or program. So if that
list should include you, please let us know that, too.
Next, keep watching the GSSW Web site at www.du.edu/socialwork for
updates on our 80th Anniversary plans. I’m pretty sure you’ll find at least
one (and probably several) events to interest you.
Finally, please consider using the enclosed envelope to make a donation to
GSSW. You can designate your gift for a specific purpose, like supporting
the path-breaking research and teaching at our Institute for Human-Animal
Connection. Or you can direct the school to apply your gift to student
scholarships, or wherever financial support is needed most. Whatever
option you choose, your gift of any amount really does make a difference!
I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible this year, and I thank
you so very much for your continued support of our school.
Sincerely,
Jae McQueen (MSW ‘00)
Alumni Association Interim President
22
spring 10 gssw alumni news
Melanie (Livengood) Tem (MSW ‘75) is director of the
Waiting Child Program at Adoption Alliance, a nonprofit child placement agency in Denver. She also has
a second career as a writer. The short story collection
In Concert (written in collaboration with her husband,
Steve Rasnic Tem) will be published in the spring of
2010, and her play “Comfort Me with Peaches” will be
produced this May at the Academy Theater in Meadville,
PA. She is also a professional storyteller. The Tems have
4 adult children and 4 granddaughters.
CA State Senator Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto)
selected Naomi Nakano-Matsumoto
(MSW ‘86) as the 11th State Senate
District’s Woman of the Year for 2009.
A social services advocate for 27 years,
she has served since 2005 as Executive
Director of West Valley Community
Services, a non-profit organization that provides food,
shelter and emergency assistance to more than 4,000
local residents annually. Nakano-Matsumoto also serves
on the Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits Leadership
Team, the Housing and Community Development
Advisory Commission of Santa Clara County and
the United Way Silicon Valley Board of Directors,
and she is the Director at Midori Kai, a professional
organization for Japanese American women. “Naomi is
one of our local heroes,” Simitian said in making the
award. “Through her leadership, our neighbors have
somewhere to turn in their time of need.” Read more at
www.wvcommunityservices.org.
Nancy Sarchet (MSW ‘84) of CO plans to retire in May
after 25 years working in public education. A past
president of her school board, she also served on the
Executive Committee of the CO Association of School
Boards. She recently passed her social work licensure
exam and says she’s excited to do something with her
MSW degree outside of public education.
Class Notes
Got News?
Please email your
personal and
professional updates to
[email protected].
Be sure to include the
degree(s) you earned at
GSSW and the year(s)
you graduated. Feel free
to attach a digital photo
if you’d like. Class Notes
may be edited or held
for a future issue due to
space limitations.
‘80s
Diane Keller (MSW ‘82) was promoted to senior
campaign manager of the Steier Group, a national
fundraising and development firm based in Omaha,
NE, and specializing in feasibility studies and capital
campaigns. Keller works out of the Steier Group’s
Denver office and has managed numerous successful
projects including church, high school and community
projects. Before joining the Steier Group in 2005, Keller
served as a medic in the U.S. Army and spent 16 years
working in development with Catholic churches in
Denver.
Lorie Bohm Klumb (MSW ‘82), MPA, has been named
Manager of Volunteer Services at Denver’s PSL/Rocky
Mountain Hospital for Children. At the invitation of
Ginny Cruz, PhD, director of the Social Work Dept.
at Metropolitan State College of Denver, Klumb also
serves on the planning committee for the school’s
new MSW program, slated to begin in fall, 2011. The
program will have a macro focus, Klumb’s practice area
for 30+ years. Klumb served on the GSSW staff from
1997 to 2009, most recently as Director of Outreach.
Seven members of GSSW’s Classes of 1986 and 1987
traveled from near and, in one case, very far for a minireunion over the holidays. They became close friends
while living or “hanging out” at DU’s Aspen Hall and
have stayed in touch all these years. Front row (L-R):
Renee Johnson, MSW ‘86, Clinical Director at Denver’s
Third Way Center, Inc. and Denise Byrne, MSW ‘86, Sole
Proprietor of Canning Vale Counseling Center in Perth,
Australia. Standing (L-R): Tina Pittman-Wagers, MSW
‘86, PsyD, Senior Instructor in the University of Colorado
Psychology Department; GSSW Professor William
Cloud, PhD ‘87; Steven Kennedy, MSW ‘86, author and
retired school administrator; Maureen Dobson, MSW
‘86, gerontology social worker and Certified Sage-ing®
Leader; and Virginia Eiseman, MSW ‘86, Denver Hospice
social worker, at whose home this photo was taken.
gssw alumni news spring 10
23
gssw alumni news
Class Notes
gssw alumni news
‘90s
Since 1990, Steve Allred (MSW ‘90), LCSW, has been
serving men, women and their families in the U.S. Air
Force. With Holly, his wife of 25+ years, and their 4
children, he’s been stationed in Japan, OK, CO, WA,
Guam and TX. Now in the Colorado Springs area, he’s
a Lieutenant Colonel, serving as Flight Commander
(Director) of the Mental Health Clinic at Peterson Air
Force Base. The clinic provides services for military
members assigned to Peterson, Schriever Air Force Base
and Cheyenne Mountain Air Station, and it supports
Thule Air Base in Greenland. Previously, Allred has
served as program director for domestic violence
programs, director of mental health clinics, director of
drug and alcohol abuse programs, deputy director of
a college counseling center at the Air Force Academy,
director of a family support center and executive officer
for a General Officer. But the biggest challenge of the
past 19+ years was beating the odds of surviving two
rounds of surgery to remove a brain tumor in 2004 and
then learning daily life over again. Allred will officially
retire from the Air Force this October 1st and says he’s
not sure where his social work journey will take the
family next.
Amelia Daniel Caudle (MSW ‘97) of Winston-Salem,
NC, is the mother of 2 boys, Ellis and Bailey, ages 7
and 4. She is a PRN therapist for Behavioral Health
Resources at Forsyth Medical Center and works in
the outpatient substance abuse and mental health
treatment facility. She is also a contract social worker
for Carolina Adoption Services.
Jennie L. Winters Creasey (MSW ‘97), LCSW, is thrilled
to be celebrating her 10th anniversary with the Senior
Solutions/Care Connection department of Jewish Family
Service of CO, where she had her foundation year
placement. She enjoys the community she experiences
with her colleagues, the honor of working with her
clients and the variety of her responsibilities. Creasey
provides counseling and care management services and
supervises four senior companions. A field instructor
for DU and Metropolitan State College of Denver, she’s
now instructing her 22nd, 23rd and 24th students. She
also serves on several advisory boards at DU, Metro and
with Denver’s Senior Companion Program.
Sue Eilertsen (MSW ‘91) received an Excellence in
Practice award at the CO Summit for Children, Youth
and Families. She was honored for her service and
dedication to helping the children of Colorado and for
making the community a better, safer place for families.
Eilertsen won the award as a member of the Family
Visitation Center unit, which she supervises at the El
Paso County Department of Human Services in Colorado
Springs, CO.
Susan Nofziger (MSW ‘91) has a private practice in
Louisville and Boulder, CO, with a special interest in
relationship, and other adult, issues.
Mary Overington (MSW ‘98) is one of the founding
members of the non-profit “Clothes to Kids of Denver,
24
spring 10 gssw alumni news
Inc.” Their mission is to provide low-income schoolage children with a week’s worth of free clothes to
encourage school attendance and self-esteem. They
have served over 2,000 Denver children since opening
in September, 2008. Learn more online at www.
clothestokidsdenver.org.
Erin (Wilde) Stang (MSW ‘91), LCSW, works at the
University of Colorado at Denver Hemophilia &
Thrombosis Center in Aurora, CO.
‘00s
Amy Bishop (MSW ‘04) is the SB94 Education Advocate
for Colorado’s 17th Judicial District. Currently, she’s the
state’s only Education Advocate.
Sarah Moore Curry (MSW ‘03) and Patrick Curry
welcomed daughter Amelia Ann Curry on March 7,
2009. Sarah works part-time as a social worker at a life
care community center in Fayetteville, AR, and Patrick is
an accounting controller at the WACO Title Company.
Laura Folkwein (M.Div, MSW ‘05) changed jobs last
June. She’s now Program Director at Growing Home,
a small, growing non-profit in Westminster, CO, that
“houses the homeless, feeds families and cares for
children.” She’s supervising 4 GSSW interns this year.
This spring, Folkwein plans to fulfill her requirements
for ordination as a pastor in the United Church of
Christ, a progressive Protestant denomination.
Sara (Becker) Forist (MSW ‘08) is a Victim Advocate for
the Children’s Advocacy Center in Holland, MI. She and
her husband Alex are expecting their first child in July.
Jessica Ham (MSW ‘06) has been an elementary school
social worker for Douglas County, CO, since 2006. She’s
currently on leave, caring for her triplet girls, Nora Cate,
Adelyn Sophia and Emma Grace, born May 13, 2009.
Stephanie Hannum (MSW ‘08), LCSW, lives in
southeastern MA and works as a mental health and
substance abuse clinician at Seven Hills, serving clients
of all ages. She’s looking forward to getting her LICSW
this fall.
Hillary Jonas (MSW ‘06) is a medical social worker at
a home health agency in WA, assisting people with
new and chronic illnesses by finding them resources to
alleviate social stressors so that they are successful with
therapies and/or medical treatment. She also addresses
end-of-life issues, providing both grief counseling and
crisis intervention. She and her husband are enjoying
life with their son, Cody, born in 2008.
Azusa Kijima (MSW ‘04) lives in Toronto and works
at a Children’s Aid Society in Ontario. She’s spent the
5 years since her graduation working in Children’s
Services.
Eva Klemens (MSW ‘05), LCSW, is a mental health
therapist with Imagine! Behavioral Health Services in
Lafayette, CO.
Beth Wilson Llovet (MSW ’07), LCSW, is a clinician on
an adult unit at the CO Mental Health Institute at Ft.
Logan.
Michele McCandless (MSW ‘05) has been
promoted to Director of the University of
Denver Disability Services Program and just
celebrated her ninth year with the program.
She calls her grandsons Connor (age 5,
pictured here as a future DU student!) and
Foster (age 2) “a great source of joy.”
Diana Rarich (MSW ‘00) completed a Trauma Touch Therapy
certification program to complement the massage therapy
license she earned in 2008 and integrate her skills as an
LCSW. She describes this technique as “a somatic level of
client-directed recognition of body sensations and releasing
trauma (abuse, emotional, combat, surgical, etc). Sessions
include boundary work, finding voice, accessing internal
resources and integration of these lessons to empower the
client.” Learn more at www.backtocentermassage.com, or
contact Rarich at 303-829-4111.
Amy Salins (MSW ‘09) lives in Seattle, WA, and works
as a Youth Advocate/Case Manager for New Horizons
Ministries. She calls her work with the organization,
helping homeless and street-involved young people get
off the streets, “a true blessing.” Salins misses the fun at
GSSW and says hello to all.
Aaron J. Shipman (MSW ‘07) is a training specialist at the
Denver STD/HIV Prevention Training Center, providing
behavioral training on evidence-based interventions to local
and state health departments, CBOs and ASOs throughout
a 16-state region to reduce the acquisition and transmission
of HIV and STDs. He co-authored two abstracts that were
accepted for oral presentation at the 2009 National HIV
Prevention Conference, one on translating behavioral
theory into effective behavioral interventions, and the
other on integrating HIV/STD/HCV/TB screening into the
intake process at the methadone clinic at Denver Health
Medical Center. Shipman also co-authored a new course,
“Using Focus Groups for Adapting Effective Behavioral
Interventions,” for the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention for use by the National Network of STD/HIV
Prevention Training Centers.
Athena Terry (MSW ‘07) is a clinical social worker in the
Emergency Department at Denver Health Medical Center.
She lives in Denver with her partner and their 1½-year-old
daughter.
Amanda Wagner (MSW ‘06) has relocated to Georgia with
her husband and works as a Mental Health Professional at
Saint Joseph’s Mercy Care Services, providing psychiatric
care to the chronically homeless and mentally ill in
metropolitan Atlanta. She enjoys the versatility her
education and employer provide her. She conducts
community outreach, mental health and substance
abuse assessments, psychotherapy, referrals and linkage
to community resources. Wagner’s 2-year-old daughter,
Alexandra, volunteered at her agency’s 2009 Fall Festival
where she enjoyed helping her mommy “feed her friends.”
Perhaps we have a future GSSW student in the making!
In Memoriam
H. Pearce Konold, MSW ‘65, of Mount Vernon, IL, died
August 6, 2009, after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.
He was 70. Before graduating from GSSW, Konold received
his BA in social work from Wartburg College in Waverly, IA.
He worked at various children’s homes and mental health
centers in IA, IL, WI and KY, and he served as director of
Tri-County Mental Health Center in Reedsburg, WI for
several years. His most recent position was with Catholic
Social Services in Mount Vernon. Konold is survived by a daughter, 2 sons and 4
grandchildren. He is also survived by his mother, 2 brothers, 2 sisters and several
nieces and nephews. Memorial gifts may be made to Prince of Peace Lutheran Church
in Mount Vernon, to Redeemer Lutheran Church in Centralia, IL, or to your local
Habitat for Humanity.
Vicki Rae Marks, MSW ‘85, died September 23, 2009, after
a long illness. She was 59. Born in Winner, South Dakota,
she earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work from Black
Hills State College in 1979. During her career, she worked
with children, then later with the terminally ill as a home
health worker. She spent the past �ve years living in San
Felipe, Mexico, believing that the warm sun and clear blue
ocean waters would help heal her cancer. After 10 years
of living with cancer, she died peacefully near her family in
Dickinson, ND. Marks is survived by her daughter, Heather
Spaulding, two grandchildren, a brother and three nephews. Memorial gifts may be
made to Heartland Hospice in Dickinson.
Edward R. Murray, MSW ‘48, MSC LT. COL., retired, died June 9, 2009, at age 94.
Born in Eaton, CO, Murray earned his BA at the University of Northern Colorado prior
to attending GSSW. He served in the Army for 24 years and was a consultant for the
American Foundation for the Blind for 10 years. He is survived by his wife, LuVerne, 3
sons, 6 grandchildren and 2 greatgrandchildren. Memorial donations may be made to
St. Mark’s Lutheran Foundation, 111 Del Mar Circle, Aurora, CO 80011 or to the St.
Labre Indian School, Ashland, MT, 59003.
Former GSSW staff member Judy Wallace died on December
5, 2009, after a long illness. She was 64. Originally from
Portsmouth, OH, Wallace worked for many years as a
Meeting Planner and Continuing Education Coordinator with
The Institute of Certi�ed Financial Planners, a professional
membership organization. She served as GSSW’s Field
Program Administrator from October, 2000, to January,
2005, when she accepted a position at The Women’s
College. Passionate about her community, Wallace started a
“Share the Care” program at her church that continues to this day. She also created
a “National Night Out” program in her neighborhood that now attracts up to forty
participants each year. Wallace’s son, Jeffrey, preceded her in death. Her survivors
include her spouse, Janet Wallace, and two children, Jennifer and Jonathon.
gssw alumni news spring 10
25
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Graduate School
of Social Work
Craig Hall
2148 South High Street
Denver, CO 80208-7100
The Last Word
mo•tif
mō-′tēf noun:
Craig Hall’s tiniest
work of art
Visitors to Craig Hall can’t help but
notice the magnificent stainedglass window crowning the building’s
east side. But look more closely and you’ll find the window’s fanciful tree
design echoed along every hallway in a signature motif once sketched
on a napkin by a GSSW staff member.
By the time Spruce Hall—a former student apartment building—was
being transformed into Craig Hall, it had become a DU tradition to
include a signature window in each new campus building. The
Newman Center has its rose, the Chambers Center its nautilus. For
the Craig Hall window, a group of faculty and staff chose a tree as
a metaphor for human growth and change. A design by nationally
renowned stained-glass artist Larry Zgoda was selected, and he set to
work on his colorful creation.
Meanwhile, architects and builders huddled with GSSW staff to prepare
for the building’s August, 2005, opening. At one such meeting, the
discussion turned to signage. What sort of small motif, reflecting the
tree theme, should be used on the name plates beside each office and
conference room door? A leaf? A branch?
Then Jennie Ratico, GSSW Office Manager and self-described “artist
at heart,” spied Zgoda’s window sketch lying on the conference table,
alongside a sheet of letterhead bearing the DU logo. Why not combine
the logo’s capital D with a section of the tree, she suggested,
quickly sketching her idea in marker on a paper napkin.
The “bubbly D,”as it came to be known, was born.
Look for it the next time you visit Craig Hall.
Denver, CO
Permit No. 321