THE HEADLINE
"BE THE FACE OF LOVE":
Class of 2026 Enters the Profession with Community and Presence
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On Tuesday, May 19, the Fordham GSS Class of 2026 — over 500 members strong — celebrated the culmination of their academic achievements at our Graduation Diploma Ceremony.
The ceremony took place at 10 a.m. at Fordham’s Rose Hill campus in the Bronx, NY. Graduates were asked to be nimble when they received a day-before email notifying them that, due to the extreme heat, the ceremony would move from outside on Edwards Parade to inside the Lombardi Field House.
Like true social workers, they adapted flawlessly — and the day went off without a hitch.
Becoming the Face of Love for Those Who Need It Most
Keynote speaker Sister Helen Prejean — whose 1993 memoir, Dead Man Walking, about the horrors of the death penalty, inspired an Academy Award-winning film, a play, and an opera — stressed that social workers’ willingness to be present when others are most vulnerable is key to their significant impact.
“What the eye doesn’t see, the heart can’t feel,” she said. “You need to expose yourself to parts of society that need help.”
Prejean learned this firsthand when, after growing up in Jim Crow-era Baton Rouge, LA, she became a nun and moved to the St. Thomas Housing Project. There, she met people who were living without health care, and who were deprived of educational opportunities — many of whom were People of Color.
“[That’s when] I learned the Gospel of Jesus was about more than just being charitable to the people around you … it was about justice,” she said. “[Before moving to St. Thomas]…I never asked the question of justice.”
At St. Thomas, Prejean became a spiritual advisor to Patrick Sonnier, a man on death row. Just two and a half years later, she stood beside him when he was executed. Prejean has spent the decades since bearing witness to what she saw, advocating tirelessly for the abolition of the death penalty.
“I will be the face of love for you,” she’d told Sonnier.
Prejean told graduates that, as professionals, they too would have to be the face of love for others in difficult situations that would test their tenacity. In these moments, perhaps the best thing they can do is see the whole person they are trying to help — and simply serve as a steady presence.
“Maybe the best gift you can give to people is being a listening presence,” she said.
The keynote ended with togetherness. Social work is founded on the bedrock of personal relationships, and as Prejean looked around the packed auditorium, she saw a community. Her advice: stick together. Hard times are more manageable when someone who has been through them is by your side, rooting for your success.
“Lone Rangers don’t make it very long doing this work,” she said. “You need your community around you.”
Sister Helen Prejean
Janet Cohen, MSW ’26
‘When We Feel Tired, We Will Remember This Moment’
Class of 2026 student speaker Janet Cohen MSW ’26 is a mother, nonprofit founder, and role model for her community. As she addressed her peers and their families as the voice of her cohort, she reminded everyone that social workers are world-changers — called to disrupt unjust systems, even when that task seems impossible.
“As we leave here today, we are stepping into a world that is complex — into systems we have studied, challenged, and committed ourselves to improving,” she said. “We must not allow the very systems we have been preparing to disrupt to swallow us.”
Cohen urged her classmates to view the challenges ahead instead as a source of motivation. Because of the resilience and dedication they have shown as a collective throughout their years in the program, they now have the tools to create change. They are the advocates — a voice for those without one.
“We are the ones who kept going when it was hard…who chose purpose over comfort…who were chosen for this work — and that means something,” she said. “It means that when things get difficult, we don’t shrink, we rise. We advocate louder. We care deeper. We stand firmer.”
As she reflected on her mission, Cohen thought of her family — both those who came before, and those following in her footsteps — and felt the pride that can only come after years of passionate work.
“I stand here as a first-generation Dominican woman, the daughter of parents who migrated here and worked tirelessly to give us a life they never had,” she said. “I stand here as a mother to my two beautiful girls, Mila and Sabella, who remind me every single day why I must keep going, who cheer me on even when I’m tired, and who are watching what it means to walk in purpose.”
‘You Embody our Jesuit Mission’
In her remarks, Fordham University President Tania Tetlow told graduates that they should be proud of themselves, not just for their achievement of graduating but for the profession they’ve chosen. Social work’s holistic and strengths-based approach to helping others, she said, embodies the Jesuit ideal Fordham seeks to instill in its students.
“In my other graduation speeches here at Fordham, I urge students to go out and make a difference in the world,” she said, “but I don’t have to say that here, because you’ve already made that decision.”
For over a decade before her Fordham presidency, Tetlow worked alongside social workers as the head of a domestic violence clinic in New Orleans. The experience revealed the issues plaguing the systems in which these professionals operate — and how those systems are rigged against their clients’ escape. It is social workers who tirelessly fight for those lost within the structure’s web of problems, so that they may live whole and fulfilling lives.
“As social workers, you will have the privilege of fighting for your clients, defending their autonomy, and giving them a voice,” she said. “You have learned to listen deeply and make them feel heard; you will counsel and comfort.”
The result of choosing this work? A deep feeling of meaning and happiness foreign to so many jobs, Tetlow said. Because social work is more than a job; it’s a calling.
“Your work will soothe your soul and lift your spirits,” Tetlow said. “Your work will make you happy — not the superficial, sugar high of status, but the profound happiness of knowing that your life has mattered.”
Tania Tetlow
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