CSSW ALUMNI AND FACULTY RECONGNIZED AT NASW-NYC LEADERS DINNER

Jordana Rutigliano '09
Jordana Rutigliano began her social work career as an intern in 2008 at the Institute for Family Health. She has since held several leadership roles and is currently Assistant Vice President for Psychosocial Services where she assists in the oversight of all mental health, social services and community programs for the social work department, including working with special populations such as HIV-positive, homeless, and the uninsured. Jordana also supervises staff and students, writes grants and provides oversight, conducts budget management, and provides quality assurance oversight of numerous programs. She has been involved in training on behavioral health compliance and collaborative documentation, which has gained her national recognition in the field as an expert. In addition to her work at the Institute, Jordana has served as Compliance Officer and Director of Quality Management at a community based nonprofit.

Barbara Feldmann '06
Upon graduation Barbara Feldmann joined the Parallax Center, a New York Licensed chemical dependence program with ambulatory detoxification and continuing care services, as a research coordinator and therapist. She also worked for two and half years in child welfare at Court Appointed Special Advocates. Since 2010, Barbara has served as Parallax’s Clinical Director, where she plans and directs the operations for two licensed programs, 40 staff, and 200 patients. Barbara has been a member of NASW for several years and is now the Chair of the Addictions Committee for NASW-NYC. She also is a member of the Clinical Improvement Committee for Addiction Treatment Providers Association (ATPA), and the National Association of Professional Women as well as a consultant for the Clinical Advisory Panel on the redesign of Patient Placement Criteria for Continuing Care and Crisis Services for the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS). Barbara also mentors three new caseworkers and social workers through Children’s Corps, Fostering Change for Children.

Irene Chung '79
Dr. Chung is an Associate Professor at Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College teaching clinical practice with individuals and families. She worked previously in the mental health field as a clinician, group worker, community organizer and administrator in a variety of settings that included labor unions, settlement houses and community outpatient clinics. Dr. Chung has published in the areas of Asian immigrant, mental health issues, suicidology, and cross cultural clinical practice. She recently co-authored a book entitled, “Contemporary Clinical Practice with Asian Immigrants: A Relational Framework with Culturally Responsive Approaches” (Routledge, 2013) where she discussed how western theories and concepts can be broadened in an Asian-centric context. In addition to her work in academia, Dr. Chung has maintained an active role in the Asian mental health community supporting research, education and collaboration with medical providers and legislators. Over the past three years, she has served as the President of the New York Coalition for Asian American Mental Health, a volunteer organization that advocates for quality and culturally competent mental health services for Asian Americans. Under the auspices of the Coalition, Dr. Chung piloted culturally relevant suicide prevention campaigns and mental health training workshops for front line providers in the Asian community, as well as a mentoring group for young Asian professionals.

Kalima DeSuze, Adjunct Professor, CSSW
Kalima DeSuze is currently the Community Development Director at Service Women’s Action Network (SWAN) where her chief responsibilities are to create, implement and evaluate innovative healing programs for women service members and veterans. 

A six-year United States Army veteran, Kalima is uniquely positioned to engage and respond to the needs of servicewomen.  After transitioning in 2004, she earned a BA in Social Work (general practice) from Hood College.  Her work toward the completion of the program included providing direct services to mentally ill participants using the clubhouse model, co-facilitating a men's trauma group in the local jail and an internship in Limerick, Ireland where she worked with survivors of domestic violence. 

All of her experiences provided a solid foundation for her tenure at Voices of Women Organizing Project where she served as the chief strategist for their three main campaigns among other duties including staff and member development.

Thank you to NASW-NYC for the biographic information on our alumni.

Students now able to access online alumni directory

Beginning this month, all CSSW students will be able to access our online alumni directory. Along with LinkedIn, the alumni directory is an essential tool for students in exploring career paths, conducting informational interviews, and establishing a professional network. All initial contacts are made via email. Please know that we take your privacy very seriously and unless you have changed your online directory profile to "unhide" your email address, students will not be able to see it until you respond to them. If you are contacted by a CSSW student for an informational interview, please assist them by talking about

• your organization
• your current role
• life after CSSW
• how you conducted your job search (especially if you were moving to a different state after graduation)
  

Remember that you have access to the alumni directory as well. Go to alumniconnections.com/cussw, log in with your UNI and password and conduct a simple or advanced search. Look for alumni based on last name, grad year, city, organization name, etc. Don't forget to update your profile while you are there. If you forgot or don't know your UNI or your password, get assistance here.

Class notes

Joel Blau ‘87DSW is Professor of Social Policy & Director of the Ph.D. Program at the School of Social Welfare at Stony Brook University.  The 4th edition of his textbook (written with Mimi Abramovitz, ‘67,’81DSW), The Dynamics of Social Welfare Policy, has just been published by Oxford University Press.

N. Carrie Cohen ‘04, LCSW, works in the Juvenile Crimes Program Bureau of the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office.  She works for a re-entry program called GRASP (Gender Responsive re-entry and support program) which offers comprehensive services to young women 13-25 re-entering the community after a period of incarceration. 

Libbe Dennard '74, formerly Marion E. Roberts, is now celebrating 10 years of retirement from her last social work position, Medicaid Coordinator at the Division of Alcoholism & Drug Abuse, State of Alaska. Libbe, also a graduate of Brooklyn Law School '78, left New York in 1991 and lived in Juneau, Alaska for twenty years. In 2005-2006 she studied Yoga in a South Indian Ashram and became a certified teacher of Hatha Yoga. In recent years Libbe has focused on writing and this fall completed a work of creative non-fiction,The Kindness of Fate, which is based on her spiritual journey. Continuing the spiritual theme, Libbe also has been working on a poetry collection. In addition to becoming a memoirist and poet, she is writing a novel about black physicians in the early to mid-twentieth century. Libbe, adopted at birth, changed her name from Roberts to Dennard when she connected with her biological family in the mid 1990s. She is enrolled in an MFA program at the University of Arkansas.

Christopher L. Eagar-Finney ‘13 is a Psychiatric Social Worker I at Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health.

Zamantha Gobourne ’98 is a third year PhD student (Social Work) attending Widener University.  She works in foster care, as a Recruiting, Training, and Licensing Specialist for Progressive Life Center (a private foster care agency).

Linda Greenberg ’66 is voluntary faculty for  Department of Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medical School and will be presenting at the American Psychoanalytic Association Annual Meeting in January 2014 on “The Impact of Cultural Issues on Countertransference.”

Ashley Milco’13 is a therapist and intake coordinator at Columbus Park Collaborative, an outpatient eating disorder treatment center in Manhattan. She also recently joined the volunteer advocate staff of Beth Israel Hospital's rape crisis program. 

Amanda C. Rocha ‘13 is now a case worker for the New York Foundation for Senior Citizens in NYC.

Donna Rosenthal ‘67 received the Nicholas Murray Butler medal from the President and Board of Trustees of Columbia University.

Meredith Sherman ’02 is now the Clinical Director of Programs at ENACT, Inc.  For over twenty five years, ENACT has been a pioneer in teaching social, emotional and behavioral skills through a unique combination of group counseling, creative drama, drama therapy, and inquiry-based learning.  We provide programs for students, professional development for teachers and school staff, auditorium performances, and parent and family workshops.

Publications

Natasha Josefowitz '65 (2013), Living Without the One You Cannot Live Without: Hope and Healing After Loss, Prestwik Poetry Publishing Company.

Natasha Josefowitz’s candid, uplifting collection of poems draws from her own personal experiences navigating the loss of her husband to offer hope and healing to anyone working through their own grief. The collection starts with a diagnosis, then travels through the moments experienced in doctors' offices, hospice care, the funeral, and on to the reality of a life alone. It culminates with a strong message of hope, as the grieving person emerges once again as a self-sufficient, confident person who is facing the next adventure life has to offer.

Sam Sterk '75 (2013), Sammy's Journey, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

Sam Sterk's life experiences with asthma, abuse and neglect in his family of origin as well as multiple family separations helped shape this manuscript. During the first ten years of his life he was hospitalized anywhere from ten to thirteen times each year. Soon-to-be eleven year old asthmatic and traumatized Sammy is told that he must leave his family for two years. No face-to-face contact is allowed while he's institutionalized in the Denver, Colorado asthma facility. Sammy faces many changes such as being sent away from his family, learning English, attending an American school, and developing friends in a new country. His courage and resiliency help him to adjust to the challenges that lie ahead.

in memoriam

We acknowledge with great sadness the passing of the following alumni and faculty. They will be missed for the pride that they brought to the school for their work.