Dear GSS Community,

The New Year and a new semester always bring a renewed sense of possibility. 

As we welcome our spring semester MSW class, I’m inspired by their commitment and the hope they each represent for the future of the social work profession.

After more than two years of remote classes and meetings, I revel in the simple joy of being fully back on campus this year. As I walk the halls, I watch students rushing to class, a sense of purpose on their faces and the air buzzing with conversation. I revel in the simple joy of greeting a colleague or glimpsing through the window of a classroom and seeing a faculty member engaged with a room of eager students. 

TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Social Worker / Winter 2023

THE SOCIAL WORKER | WINTER 2023

A LIFE AND LEGACY: MEREDITH BARNHART, PH.D., GSS ’20, POSTHUMOUSLY PUBLISHES GROUNDBREAKING RESEARCH IN PEDIATRIC ONCOLOGY

On October 4, 22 social workers from Berlin and Frankfurt, Germany paid a visit to Fordham’s Graduate School of Social Service as a part of an International Federation of Settlements (IFS) international study tour. 

The European Union (EU)-funded program is designed to offer nonprofit and civil society professionals an educational inter-country exchange of information and programmatic ideas. Participants included managers, academic faculty, consultants, and project coordinators. 

GSS Associate Professor Dr. Lauri Goldkind organized the welcoming event at Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus. In addition to an introduction to Fordham GSS, the afternoon also consisted of a conversation on US social work education, a panel discussion on the dimensions of university-community based work in New York City, and an open dialogue about the differences and similarities between German and American social work.

Alumni in Action

FORDHAM/MOLLOY PROGRAM CELEBRATES 25-YEAR PARTNERSHIP IN STYLE ON LONG ISLAND

On Friday, September 30, members of the Fordham GSS and Molloy University communities gathered at the Molloy campus to honor the two programs and their 25-year partnership.

For over two decades, this collaboration has allowed Long Island residents to pursue their passions through an MSW degree that best fits their lifestyles. The Fordham/Molloy MSW program is currently offered through two avenues: traditional face-to-face, and a hybrid option.

In the traditional program, students split their time between the Fordham Lincoln Center campus in Manhattan, and the Molloy campus. This gives Long Island students the opportunity to experience the culture of New York City, while maintaining balance in their schedules by minimizing the commute on “Molloy” class days. 

Additionally, students have the option to attend classes in a hybrid manner, taking in-person classes at Molloy, and online, remote classes through Fordham GSS. This option offers the flexibility of online education, while also letting students form an in-person community of their own on the Molloy campus.

Through both options, graduates receive a Fordham University MSW degree. 

SOCIAL WORK ENTREPRENEURS: CELEBRATING 10 YEARS OF GSS STUDENTS' SUCCES WITH THE FORDHAM FOUNDRY

As a budding social worker getting their MSW, you’re looking forward to a life in service of others. In your career, you will help make the changes your community needs to provide a better future for those who come next.

To accomplish this, your options are unlimited: maybe you want to work in a nonprofit agency or a hospital. You could become a school social worker, or work on policy for the government. 

One thing social workers shouldn’t neglect is the possibility of becoming business owners. After receiving your MSW, you are in a terrific position to start your own business, whether that be a private practice or otherwise. Over the course of your graduate studies, you will be trained to effectively form relationships and build rapport, which are some of the most important skills any entrepreneur could ask for.

Pair that with your natural passion to make the world a better place, and you have what it takes to build a successful business.

However, perhaps you’re struggling to find time between classes to flex your business muscles. Maybe you have an idea, but you have one problem. Where do you start with your startup?

MSW STUDENT ADVOCATES FOR LGBTQIA+ MIGRANTS AS THEY SEEK ASYLUM

Photo by Ralph (Ravi) Kayden on Unsplash

As a social work student, the equation for helping others can seem simple: find a need and fill the gap with your services.

However, when reality sets in — when lives are on the line, and basic human rights are being violated — that gap can rip open and expand. In these situations, it’s your responsibility as a social worker to use the skills and knowledge you acquire through your education and experience to aid those who need you. 

After joining the Board of Directors at the grassroots organization Casa de Colores, GSS MSW student Sen-Pei Hsia is being put to that test. The gap: supply LGBTQIA+ migrants with the guidance and necessities they need to find freedom at the Mexico/Texas border.

“I wanted to work with Casa de Colores because it inspires me to be around and work with people who, in the face of imminent danger and circumstances, found a way to fill a gap in needs and create something pure, good, and necessary,” Hsia said. “I am proud to be a part of an organization that does that.”

THIS YEAR'S  Annual Program Meeting was held in Anaheim, California— and was the first in-person APM for Fordham GSS since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Get a recap of the conference — the keynote speech, our faculty's accomplishments, and our 2022 reception — straight from the Ram's mouth. 

When the pandemic abruptly shuttered every one of New York City’s theater, television, and film productions in 2020, Ani Djirdjirian found herself at a crossroads. Although her undergraduate acting degree had once netted her acting jobs and sketches on Late Night with Seth Myers, she found that her work had completely dried up.

But while the acting scene was silent in New York, things were anything but quiet in Armenia, where Djirdjirian’s family hails from. In September 2020 a war broke out between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, a semi-autonomous state that is populated by ethnic Armenians but lies within the internationally recognized borders of Azerbaijan.

“Many of these folks had long careers and contributions before they came to us,” McPhee said. “So, it’s 154 years not just in the profession and to their research, but to Fordham, our students, and each other.”