Alumni from Berkeley Social Welfare have gone on to embody our mission nationwide and around the world.
Share your news and announcements by sending them to socialwelfare@berkeley.edu.
Share your news and announcements by sending them to socialwelfare@berkeley.edu.
Next week, Jessica Scortt will open the doors of the Self-i.s.h. Society, a nonprofit that will operate as both a hair salon and resource hub in Oakland.
Her business description explains, "We believe that there is power in the comfort and communication that takes place in...Read more about Meeting people where they are: Jessica Scortt (MSW '21) launches the Self-i.s.h. Society
“I knew I was going to be advocating for unpopular causes and disenfranchised communities,” explains Dylan de Kervor (MSW/JD ‘09), “so I wanted a law degree for the teeth and a social welfare degree for the heart.”
She attributes this commitment...Read more about Situated social work: Dylan Nicole de Kervor (MSW/JD ‘09) at the intersection of social work and federal legislation
New York Mayor Eric Adams has appointed Jess Dannhauser, the former CEO of major child welfare provider Graham Windham, to serve as his commissioner of the Administration for Children's Services (ACS).
In announcing the hire on Twitter, Adams indicated that his administration would...Read more about Jess Dannhauser (MSW '03) appointed to lead New York City's child welfare and juvenile justice systems
Sunday, October 17, 2021 marked the induction ceremony for the California Social Work Hall of Distinction, which recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions to social work and social welfare in California.
This year's inductees were:
Gary Bess Chia-Chia Chien Bart...Read more about Bart Grossman, Virginia Rondero Hernandez, Lillian Matsumoto, and others inducted into CA Social Work Hall of DistinctionInitially active from 1989 to 2010, the Distinguished Alumni Award is being relaunched this year by the School of Social Welfare with support from the...Read more about Berkeley Social Welfare Distinguished Alumni Award: 2021 Honorees
Not long after graduating with an MSW in 1968, alum Ruth A. Davis picketed in front of Sproul Hall to advocate for the creation of a Black Studies department. She then set down her sign, headed to SFO, and boarded a plane to Washington DC to begin a long and illustrious career in the U.S....Read more about Diplomacy and social work: Ambassador Ruth A. Davis (MSW '68) looks back on a groundbreaking career
Lindsey Chung (BASW '21) champions trans and nonbinary voices on campus. Chung received the Charlene Conrad Liebau Library Prize for their thesis, Accessing Gender Affirming Care from the Margins: Comparing the Strategies of Transgender People Pre-1980 to Non-Binary People Today...Read more about Lindsay Chung (BASW '21): There’s No One Way To Be: How One Recent Grad Created Space for Trans and Queer Identities at Cal
"I am a Dream Beyond Bars fellow at Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice. As formerly incarcerated youth and leaders in our community, we are committed to ensuring that the state closes DJJ the right way. To me, this means that youth never belong in cages, period... Young people are...Read more about OP-ed by Katarina Sayally (MSW '19): "It’s On All of Us: Close Youth Prisons, Build Youth Leaders"
San Francisco Democrats elected city native Honey Mahogany as the first transgender and first Black chair of the local party. The first trans person in the U.S. to chair a local Democratic Party, Mahogany is now one of the party's highest-ranking transgender officials in the state and country....Read more about San Francisco Democrats elect Honey Mahogany (MSW '09) as first Black and first transgender local party chair
"In honor of Ambassador (ret.) Ruth A. Davis’s 40-year distinguished career and commitment to diplomatic excellence, the Department of State’s Foreign Service Institute (FSI) is renaming its Director’s Conference Room as the Davis Conference Room [to honor] her legacy as a groundbreaking...Read more about Foreign Service Institute honors Ambassador Ruth Davis (MSW '68)
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona held a virtual roundtable to showcase the importance of providing Pell Grants for incarcerated individuals by speaking with students and former students who took college courses in prison...
Daniela Medina said that having the opportunity to pursue an...Read more about Daniela Medina (MSW '21) meets with US Education Secretary Miguel Cardona on importance of Pell Grants for incarcerated individuals
Daniela Medina still cherishes a 2019 graduation video that captures her walking across UC Berkeley’s Haviland Hall stage, receiving a bachelor’s degree in social welfare. The 26-second clip has taken on new meaning for Medina because of the person behind the camera: Sylvia Bracamonte —...Read more about Passing the torch: Daniela Medina (MSW '21) continues legacy of her slain mentor
When the pandemic closed schools in March 2020, Brian McGhee found himself bagging breakfasts and lunches for students at West Oakland Middle School and providing other support at McClymonds High School. As a social worker, he knew that "once we feed families, then we can talk about educating...Read more about Planting seeds: Brian McGhee (BASW '91) on school social work and West Oakland community power
Mental health. Housing costs. Healthcare access. Employment stability. The impacts of wildfire can be far-reaching. In a recent article published in PLOS ONE,...Read more about Alum Annie Rosenthal (MSW '19): Wildfire’s devastation can linger long after the smoke has cleared
Mayra Alvarez (BASW '03) has been appointed to the Biden-Harris COVID Health Equity Task Force. Currently the president of The Children's Partnership, Alvarez served in the U.S. Department of Health and Human...Read more about Alum Mayra Alvarez (BASW '03) Named to Biden-Harris COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force
Alum Joseph Perales has been awarded the Heart of Social Work Award from the North American Network of Field Educators and Directors as well as the Field Instructor of the Year Award from the School of Social...Read more about Joseph Perales (MSW '08) receives "Heart of Social Work" Award and "Field Instructor of the Year" Award
"They designate every single Native child they remove and place into foster care as disabled." In the latest episode of the Fiat Vox podcast, alum Ella Callow (BASW '97) talks about disability and the Indian Child Welfare Act. Read more about Alum Ella Callow on Berkeley's Fiat Vox podcast: "How state courts use disability to remove Native children from their homes"
Brandon Allen (MSW '20) graduated this past May, and two weeks later his book The Very Lonely Boy was published. We talked to him about the evolution of his project, the importance of giving children a framework to talk about difficult emotions, and his career as a school social worker....Read more about Alumni in Action: Brandon Allen (MSW ‘20), school social worker and children’s book author