GSSW Magazine - University of Denver

gssw student news gssw news
StuDent neWS
Students, faculty, staff
and a very enthusiastic
Dean Williams participated
in GSSW’s fall 2011
community service day.
GSSW Volunteers
Lend a Hand
What began as part of GSSW’s 80 th Anniversary
Celebration in 2010 is now on its way to
becoming an annual fall tradition. On September
9, 2011, more than 100 student, faculty and staff
volunteers gathered at two Denver locations for
a day of community service. Designed mainly for
entering MSW students the first time around,
this year’s service day included returning
concentration year students as well.
A large contingent performed clean-up and
maintenance tasks at Ruby Hill Park, a favorite
spot for picnics and family gatherings in the
southwest part of the city. Still more volunteers
pitched in at the Denver Warehouse of Food
Bank of the Rockies (FBR), Colorado’s largest
private hunger-relief organization, helping to
package donated food for distribution. FBR’s
clients include the homeless, the working poor,
children, seniors on fixed incomes and people
with health issues.
GSSW’s hard-working volunteers were rewarded
afterward with a barbeque lunch on Craig Hall’s
sunny Shramm Foundation Plaza.
Student-
Sponsored
Event Explores
Grief and Loss
All six GSSW student organizations joined
forces last fall to co-sponsor “El Dia de los
Muertos (Day of the Dead)—a Mexican
Celebratory Perspective on Grief and Loss.”
Held on November 2 in Craig Hall’s Boettcher
Foundation Community Room, the event
was a continuation of the discussion series
entitled “Faith, Religion, Spirituality and
Social Work Conversations,” begun during
the previous academic year.
Day of the Dead co-sponsors included
ECO (Environment + Conservation +
Opportunity) Conscious, Graduate Student
Association (GSA), Multicultural Social Justice
Student Organization (MSJ), Phi Alpha (Xi
Delta Chapter) honor society, Queer Equality
Alliance (QEA) and Shades of Brown Alliance
(SOBA). Each organization created an altar
honoring and celebrating those who have
died. Event participants visited the booths
and, over dinner, shared their thoughts about
grief and loss.
(above) Clinical Assistant Professors
Stephen von Merz and Karen Bensen
welcome guest speaker Julie Marino
(center) from Denver’s Chicano
Humanities & Arts Council. Von Merz,
Coordinator of GSSW’s Social Work
with Latinos/as Certificate, and Bensen,
Student Services Director, provided
faculty support for the Day of the Dead
event.
(right) The altar created by the
Multicultural Social Justice Student
Organization honored “lives lost due
to inhumane trade and immigration
policy.” Pictured here with Professor
von Merz are (L-R) MSJ members Briana
Brower, Stephanie Noll, Gabriela Mohr
and Megan Devenport.
GSA Promotes Sustainability
This spring, GSSW’s Graduate Student
Association (GSA) voted to add a sustainable
purchasing policy to the organization’s
bylaws. The group hosted lunchtime
information sessions and organized a
petition that was signed by more than 225
students, faculty and staff.
The policy states, in part, that “prior to
purchasing apparel, promotional items,
catering or related items, GSA and other
student organizations will investigate . . . where
items were made, under what conditions and
how it benefits people in their environment.
Buyers for all GSSW-associated purchases will
select a vendor using their best judgment in
addition to a combination of as many of the
following generally-trusted certifications as
possible: fair trade, union made, made in the
USA, organic, and locally owned/made.”
Petition organizers (L-R) Brie Brower, Stephanie Noll, April Tuftee, Emily Weiss,
Katie Wilberding Cross, Megan Devenport, Aaron Green and Kelly Ann Shinn
celebrate the passage by GSA of a new sustainable purchasing policy.
Students and
faculty members
celebrated lost
loved ones, both
human and canine,
in this Shades of
Brown Alliance
altar.
Display
Honors
Black
Social
Workers
In celebration of Black History Month in February, members of GSSW’s
Shades of Brown Alliance created a photo display in the Craig Hall main
lobby honoring Black social work pioneers. Associate Professor Michele
Hanna and MSW student Angela Sanders took the lead in creating the
concept and conducting the research. Rebecca Macey, a DU graduate
student in museum studies, created the design and did the printing.
“Our hope was to educate people about the long history of Blacks in
social work, and also to highlight the role of Black women.” Hanna
explains. “It was important to us that we show how far back in history
Blacks have played an important role in our profession.”
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