GSSW Magazine - University of Denver

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36 spring 12 gssw alumni news
worker/teacher is a perfect combination for working with
these students,” she says. “Now, I teach about Jim Crow and
the wonderful lesson for children: Yes, it was terrible, but
look what you can do. You can change things!”
In 2009, Hathaway’s son was pulled over, without apparent
cause, by Denver Police officers who beat him unconscious.
Transformed that night into a civil rights activist, Hathaway
began a blog on police brutality and racial profiling. After a
long and highly publicized legal battle, Alex Landau received
the fourth largest settlement in Denver’s history, and three
police officers were fired (although one has since been
rehired). Hathaway recently partnered with the ACLU and
a family at the center of another high-profile case of alleged
police brutality in an effort to bring about lasting change.
“Getting my MSW was a seminal step along my career path,”
says Hathaway. “It is powerful to look back. None of it was
easy. But I am no longer on the wrong side of Jim Crow,
and I never have to wonder if my work is important. I am
changing things.”
Ron Langer (MSW ’79), LCSW, BCD, received the Community
Service Award from the Colorado Society for Clinical Social
Work at the Colorado Social Work Month Annual Celebration
on March 9.
Major Arthur P. Moser (MSW, PhD ’76),
USAF (Ret.), took special interest in our
Fall 2011 cover story on social work in
the military. Because he already had
been on active duty as an MSW social
worker, Moser’s PhD studies were fully
funded by the Air Force. He notes that
Col. James L. Jenkins (PhD ’74), USAF
(Ret.), was the only Air Force social
worker to precede him in GSSW’s
doctoral program.
Moser helped establish the first tri-service alcohol and drug
treatment center in Bethesda, MD, where he was primary
therapist to a number of Congressmen and members of
Presidents’ families, as well as higher ranking active duty
personnel. Moser went on to head the largest treatment center
in the Air Force at Sheppard AFB, where he also wrote the
primary regulations for treatment centers on behalf of the Air
Force Surgeon General. Moser completed his military career by
serving in Operation Desert Storm, where he headed a combat
stress field medical unit in the United Arab Emirates.
After retiring from the Air Force, Moser worked in the
first private minimum-security prison in the western U.S.,
which became a treatment model for correctional facilities.
Subsequently he moved to Washington, DC, with his wife,
an architect who headed the group rebuilding the wing of
the Pentagon that was destroyed in 9/11. Moser’s treatment
program for drug-addicted inmates in Virginia’s Arlington
County Jail has a one-year success rate that exceeds 75%,
making the program a treatment model for jails across the U. S.
“I have much to be grateful for from the military for the
experiences and educational opportunities it afforded me,
and I appreciate my education at DU in this regard,” says
Moser. “I am available to any student who would like more
information.”
’80s
Another graduate with strong military ties is Pat Davis-
Hacker (MSW ’88), LCSW, of Yorktown, VA, whose career has
included service to active duty personnel and their families
in the area of domestic violence, and work with active duty
Army personnel regarding pre- and post-deployment issues
like PTSD. She’s also provided day treatment to adolescents
in two inner-city school systems. Currently a doctoral
candidate, Davis-Hacker achieved a 4.0 GPA in her coursework,
successfully completed her comprehensive exams and hopes
to finish her dissertation by fall. She returned home to South
Dakota last summer to conduct part of her dissertation
research.
Davis-Hacker’s husband served in the U. S. Navy for 18 years,
and the family lived in many locations throughout the U.
S., as well as in Japan and Egypt. After her husband’s 2003
suicide rocked the family to its core, Davis-Hacker and her
three children had to deal not only with grief and loss, but
also with the stigma associated with losing a loved one to
suicide. Davis-Hacker says her professional and personal goals
are to continue working with other “survivors of suicide” and
helping eradicate that stigma.
Davis-Hacker says her most rewarding experience has been
seeing both her daughters graduate from college with honors,
Cassandra from DU in 2007 and Caryn from Durango’s Ft.
Lewis College last April. Cassandra also served in the U. S.
Army. Davis-Hacker’s son, Christopher, is a high school
senior.
“Being a Native American female raised with both
contemporary and traditional values, the road to academic
success and achievement has been difficult,” Davis-Hacker
says. “However, with pride, perseverance, a love and
appreciation for education, the rewards and blessings we have
received have far outweighed the difficulties and challenges
that life has thrown our family.”
The U. S. Army sponsored the GSSW doctoral education of
T. Paul Furukawa (PhD ’81), whose studies focused on domestic
violence prevention and intervention and multi-disciplinary
responses to child maltreatment in military settings. In addition
to co-creating and teaching courses on social work with Asian
Americans and domestic violence, Furukawa co-chaired the
student/faculty commission that recommended GSSW change
its doctoral degree from DSW to PhD.
After graduation, Furukawa served as an Army social work
officer for over 20 years. He headed part of a study by the
Walter Reed Army Institute of Research that demonstrated
that military units that train and remain together perform
better and experience fewer stress casualties; these
principles are now an accepted part of military planning
in reservist and guard units. Furukawa’s most unusual
assignment was to create and staff mental health services
for Americans in Iran in the mid-1970s, including over 5,000
family members. His intervention and prevention programs
were so successful that there were no losses among dozens
of potentially suicidal active duty and family members, a
record unmatched in military Europe/Middle East social
services.
After retiring from the military, Furukawa joined the
University of Hawaii faculty. As a member of CSWE’s Board
of Directors, he helped establish the organization’s first
website and e-mail account, began online dissemination of
accreditation reports and helped initiate CSWE sponsorship
of national conferences on services to minority Americans.
Furukawa later developed police/civilian crisis response
teams to follow up on domestic violence reports in San
Antonio, TX, served as president of the state’s NASW
chapter and has served on the Texas Department of Family
and Protective Services Council since 2006. The author of
many peer-reviewed journal articles, Furukawa also serves
on the Board of Directors of Crosspoint, a transitional living
service for federal offenders, and he’s Executive Director
of the Children’s Association for Maximum Potential, a
summer camp for fragile special needs children that has
administrative offices at Lackland Air Force Base.
’90s
John J. Bucholtz (MSW ’98) and
his wife, Laura Owen (MSW
’98), of San Diego, CA, say they
were delighted to read the Fall
2011 cover story, “Social Work
in the Service,” and to learn
that so many GSSW students
are interested in pursuing social
work careers supporting service
members, veterans and their
families. Bucholtz and Owen
were both commissioned as
military social workers with the U. S. Air Force immediately
after graduation. After serving during a time of war, they
went on to careers with the U. S. Department of Homeland
Security and, most recently, have managed programs for
the U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs. “I truly believe my
success as a social worker is a direct result of the education I
received at DU,” writes Bucholtz. “I am now teaching military
social work and social work policy at University of Southern
California’s School of Social Work and am trying to mimic
everything Professors Moran, Molidor and Tedeschi taught
me!”
Belina Nassi Fruitman (MSW ’95), LCSW, CACIII,
continues to teach as an affiliate professor of social work
at Metropolitan State College of Denver. She also runs a
Denver-based program called A Woman’s Way to Recovery
that specializes in gender-specific treatment and DUI
programming for women. To learn more please click here.
“Of course,” Fruitman says, “my most important job is
raising my two awesome kids!”
’00s
Jamie Gulick (MSW ’07) is Pro Bono Outreach Program
Manager at the Denver-based non-profit, Mental Health
America of Colorado (MHAC), overseeing an effort
to provide counseling to those who are uninsured or
underinsured. The program works with volunteer Masters
level therapists, both licensed and in licensure candidacy,
who provide mental health services at the non-profit or
at their own private practice. MHAC provides licensure
candidates with a pro bono LCSW supervisor. For more
information please click here.
In Memoriam
gssw alumni news
Theodore Edward “Ted” Bauch (MSW ’68) of Sturgeon Bay, WI, died on December 11,
2011, at the age of 76. He was employed at Wisconsin’s Brown County Mental Health
Center, where his duties included outreach services to Door County. Later, Bauch became
the full-time Mental Health Coordinator for the Door County Unified Board (now known
as the Department of Community Services). He subsequently became the Program Director
until his retirement in 1995.
Daniel J. Gossert (MSW ’62), MPH, of Westminster, CO, died at his home on August
10, 2011. He was 76. A polio survivor who used crutches or a wheelchair for 60 years,
Gossert devoted his life to advocating for health aid for children with disabilities and for
their families. As Director of the Family Services Division at the Colorado Department of
Public Health and Environment for 18 years, he was involved in women’s and infants’
health programs for people with low incomes, family planning, newborn screening, and
programs for children with special needs. Gossert testified before the CO legislature and
the U. S. Congress, and he helped found the Rivendell School for children with disabilities. Pre-deceased by
one brother and by his wife of 36 years, Virginia Gordon Gossert, Daniel Gossert is survived by two brothers,
five sisters, his partner Marlene Wiske, her three children and four grandchildren.
Ardis M. (Feye) Heine (MSW ’66) of Fresno, CA, died on August 24, 2011, at the age of
68. She began her professional career as a social worker with Lutheran Social Services in
Omaha, NE. She and her husband, Lyman H. Heine, Jr., moved to Fresno in 1968, where
she worked in adoption services for Lutheran Social Services. In 1974, Heine accepted
a clinical social work position with Fresno County Children’s Mental Health, where she
worked for 30 years. After her retirement in 2004, she began a private practice that
continued until 2010. Heine was a member of the Society of Clinical Social Workers and
the National Association of Social Workers.
Survivors include her mother, sister, brother-in-law and two nephews. The family requests that memorial
donations be made to a charity of your choice.
Mary Krane (MSW ’71) died on November 6, 2011, at age 66. As Executive Director of
GSSW’s Bridge Project from 1997 to 2010, Krane dramatically increased the program’s
presence in the lives of children and their families in Denver’s public housing neighborhoods,
and Bridge expanded from one site to four sites under her leadership. Previously, Krane
had a long career with the City and County of Denver, beginning as a caseworker in 1967
and concluding with eight years as Manager of the Department of Social Services and
member of then-Mayor Federico Peña’s cabinet. During the two years before she joined
the Bridge Project, Krane served as Director of the Denver Ear Institute. A member of numerous non-profit
boards, she chaired the Lions Club Social Services Committee, and she cofounded the Colorado Alliance for
the Mentally Ill, serving as its president for two years. Krane’s honors include the 2009 Wall of Fame Award
from the Denver Housing Authority for her efforts to bring education resources to residents and encourage
the attainment of a higher education. She also received GSSW’s 2009 Service Award.
Pre-deceased by her parents and one brother, Krane is survived by two sisters, a brother and a niece, and by
her lifelong companion, Sigmund Krane. A memorial service was held on November 12 on the University of
Denver campus. Memorial donations may be made to the Mary C. Krane Endowment Fund at the University of
Denver Graduate School of Social Work Bridge Project, 2148 So. High Street, Denver, CO 80208.
Felecia Mahaffie (MSW ’97) passed away July 26, 2011. She was 49. A longtime
counselor for troubled youth, Mahaffie worked for 18 years at Mount St. Vincent Home,
a Denver facility for children with mental illness and those who are victims of child
abuse, neglect or trauma. Born with scoliosis (curvature of the spine), Mahaffie was just
over four-and-a-half feet tall, making her shorter than many of the young people she
counseled. Earlier in her career, she taught English in Japan and worked as a counselor at
Samaritan House, a homeless shelter in downtown Denver.
In 2007, Mahaffie earned the Animals and Human Health Certificate through GSSW’s Continuing
Professional Development program and, at the time of her death, was in the process of establishing an
equine-assisted therapy program. A fund for the support of animal-assisted therapy has been set up in her
honor at Mount St. Vincent Home.
Mahaffie is survived by her mother and two sisters.
George Edward “Geordie” Pease (MSW ’84), MA, passed away on July 2, 2011, after a prolonged
illness. He was 71. Born and raised in Denver, he completed his first master’s degree in urban and regional
planning, and he served as chairman of the Greater Park Hill Community. Pease spent the remainder of
his career as an addictions social worker, which he found both rewarding and challenging. He appeared
in Denver clubs and coffee houses as a folksinger in the early 1960s, and his love of music continued
throughout his life. Pease is survived by his wife of 41 years, Patricia, a son and two brothers.
gssw alumni news spring 12 37